Bill Text: NY S00188 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Amended

New York Senate Bill 188 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Authorizes and directs the committee on open government to study proactive disclosure as a means of increasing transparency and access to government information.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-04-29 - PRINT NUMBER 188A [S00188 Detail]

Download: New_York-2015-S00188-Amended.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         188--A
                               2015-2016 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                       (Prefiled)
                                     January 7, 2015
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by Sen. SQUADRON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern-
          ment Operations -- recommitted to the Committee on Investigations  and
          Government  Operations  in  accordance  with  Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 --
          committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as  amended  and
          recommitted to said committee
        AN  ACT  in  relation to authorizing and directing the committee on open
          government to study proactive disclosure  as  a  means  of  increasing
          transparency and access to government information
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1.  Legislative  findings.  The  legislature  finds  that  the
     2  current  freedom  of  information  law, enacted in 1977, has served as a
     3  critical vehicle under which the public has gained access to records  of
     4  state  and  local  governmental  entities. The legislature further finds
     5  that the freedom of information law places the burden on the  individual
     6  to  request  information  from  an  agency,  but that the use of current
     7  information technology, combined with a commitment to proactive  disclo-
     8  sure,  has the potential to provide information to the public to an even
     9  greater degree than does the current law.
    10    § 2. The New York state committee on open government is hereby author-
    11  ized and directed to: (a) study the feasibility of  requiring  agencies,
    12  as defined in subdivision 3 of section 86 of the public officers law, to
    13  proactively disclose documents that are available under article 6 of the
    14  public  officers  law; (b) make specific findings and legislative recom-
    15  mendations relating to mandatory proactive disclosure by  agencies;  (c)
    16  estimate  the  costs  or savings of proactive disclosure; and (d) report
    17  its findings to the governor, the temporary president of the senate  and
    18  the speaker of the assembly no later than January 31, 2019.
    19    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00182-02-6