Bill Text: NY A08574 | 2011-2012 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Allows a member of the Niagara county clerk's office to access mental hygiene records to assist in the firearm permit application investigation process.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-04 - referred to codes [A08574 Detail]

Download: New_York-2011-A08574-Introduced.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                         8574
                              2011-2012 Regular Sessions
                                 I N  A S S E M B L Y
                                  September 13, 2011
                                      ___________
       Introduced  by M. of A. CERETTO -- read once and referred to the Commit-
         tee on Codes
       AN ACT amending the penal law, in relation to allowing a member  of  the
         Niagara  county  clerk's  office  to  access mental health records for
         firearm license applications
         THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section  1.  Subdivision  4  of  section  400.00  of the penal law, as
    2  amended by chapter 331 of the  law  of  2005,  is  amended  to  read  as
    3  follows:
    4    4.  Investigation.  Before a license is issued or renewed, there shall
    5  be an investigation of all statements required in the application by the
    6  duly constituted police authorities of the locality where such  applica-
    7  tion is made. For that purpose, the records of the appropriate office of
    8  the  department  of mental hygiene concerning previous or present mental
    9  illness of the applicant shall be available for inspection by the inves-
   10  tigating officer of the police authority OR IN  NIAGARA  COUNTY  RECORDS
   11  MAY BE ACCESSED BY A CERTIFIED EMPLOYEE OF THE COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE WHO
   12  IS  AUTHORIZED  TO  ACCESS  CLINICAL  RECORDS IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION
   13  33.13 OF THE MENTAL HYGIENE LAW. In  order  to  ascertain  any  previous
   14  criminal  record,  the investigating officer shall take the fingerprints
   15  and physical descriptive data in quadruplicate  of  each  individual  by
   16  whom  the application is signed and verified. Two copies of such finger-
   17  prints shall be taken on standard fingerprint cards eight inches square,
   18  and one copy may be taken on a card supplied for  that  purpose  by  the
   19  federal  bureau of investigation; provided, however, that in the case of
   20  a corporate applicant that has already been issued a dealer in  firearms
   21  license  and seeks to operate a firearm dealership at a second or subse-
   22  quent location, the original fingerprints on file may be used to  ascer-
   23  tain  any criminal record in the second or subsequent application unless
   24  any of the corporate officers have changed since the prior  application,
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD13352-02-1
       A. 8574                             2
    1  in  which  case  the  new corporate officer shall comply with procedures
    2  governing an initial application for such license. When  completed,  one
    3  standard  card  shall  be  forwarded  to and retained by the division of
    4  criminal  justice  services  in  the  executive department, at Albany. A
    5  search of the files of such division and  written  notification  of  the
    6  results of the search to the investigating officer shall be made without
    7  unnecessary delay.  Thereafter, such division shall notify the licensing
    8  officer  and the executive department, division of state police, Albany,
    9  of any criminal record of the applicant filed therein subsequent to  the
   10  search  of its files. A second standard card, or the one supplied by the
   11  federal bureau of investigation, as the case may be, shall be  forwarded
   12  to that bureau at Washington with a request that the files of the bureau
   13  be searched and notification of the results of the search be made to the
   14  investigating  police  authority.  The failure or refusal of the federal
   15  bureau of investigation to make the fingerprint check  provided  for  in
   16  this  section shall not constitute the sole basis for refusal to issue a
   17  permit pursuant to the provisions of this section. Of the remaining  two
   18  fingerprint  cards,  one  shall  be filed with the executive department,
   19  division of state police, Albany, within ten days after issuance of  the
   20  license,  and  the  other  remain  on file with the investigating police
   21  authority. No such fingerprints may be inspected  by  any  person  other
   22  than a peace officer, who is acting pursuant to his special duties, or a
   23  police  officer,  except  on  order  of a judge or justice of a court of
   24  record either upon notice to the licensee  or  without  notice,  as  the
   25  judge  or  justice may deem appropriate. Upon completion of the investi-
   26  gation, the police authority shall report the results to  the  licensing
   27  officer without unnecessary delay.
   28    S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.