Bill Text: NY S02169 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Creates a temporary state commission relating to local correctional facilities in upstate New York; emphasis shall be placed on medical and mental health care, overcrowding, inmate deaths, use of force, restraints, and all segregation and confinement practices and solitary confinement.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-25 - RECOMMIT, ENACTING CLAUSE STRICKEN [S02169 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S02169-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          2169
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    January 23, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  BAILEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance
        AN ACT creating a temporary state commission relating to  local  correc-
          tional facilities in upstate New York; and providing for the repeal of
          such provisions upon expiration thereof
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. A temporary state commission is hereby created to study and
     2  make recommendations relating to local correctional  facilities  located
     3  outside  of  the boundaries of a city with a population of more than one
     4  million people. The commission will place particular emphasis on medical
     5  and mental health care (including the use of private contractors), over-
     6  crowding, inmate deaths, use of force, restraints, and  all  segregation
     7  and  confinement  practices  and  solitary  confinement, but will not be
     8  restricted to those topics.
     9    § 2. The commission shall consist of eleven members to be appointed as
    10  follows: five shall be appointed by the governor; two shall be appointed
    11  by the temporary president of the senate and one by the minority  leader
    12  of the senate; and two shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly
    13  and  one  by  the  minority  leader of the assembly. The members of such
    14  commission shall serve at  the  pleasure  of  the  official  making  the
    15  appointment  of such member. Of the five members appointed by the gover-
    16  nor, none shall be an elected official or current employee  of  a  local
    17  correctional facility or other branch of county government, one shall be
    18  from the state commission of correction and one shall be from Disability
    19  Rights  New  York.  The  remaining  nine  members of the commission must
    20  reside in counties under the purview of this commission.   Vacancies  in
    21  the  membership of the commission shall be filled in the manner provided
    22  for original  appointments.  Membership  on  the  commission  shall  not
    23  constitute  a public office. The governor shall appoint the chair of the
    24  commission.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05627-01-9
        S. 2169                             2
     1    § 3. The members of the commission shall receive no  compensation  for
     2  their services, but shall be allowed their actual and necessary expenses
     3  incurred in the performance of their duties pursuant to this act.
     4    §  4. The members of the commission shall be given unrestricted access
     5  to all local correctional facilities in the state, including the ability
     6  to conduct confidential interviews of  inmates  and  employees  of  such
     7  facilities  and to receive unredacted copies of any documents maintained
     8  by such facilities, although documents that are confidential under state
     9  or federal law may not be  disclosed  to  individuals  or  organizations
    10  otherwise unauthorized to obtain such documents by the commission or its
    11  members.  The  commission shall also hold at least one public hearing in
    12  each of  the  cities  of  Albany,  Buffalo,  Plattsburgh,  Poughkeepsie,
    13  Rochester, Syracuse and Utica, and shall have all the powers of a legis-
    14  lative committee pursuant to the legislative law.
    15    § 5. The commission shall issue periodic reports, no less than annual-
    16  ly,  of its findings and publish a final report of its findings and make
    17  any recommendations it may deem necessary and appropriate to the  gover-
    18  nor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly,
    19  the  chairperson  of  the  senate  crime  victims,  crime and correction
    20  committee, and the chairperson of the assembly committee  on  correction
    21  no  later  than  three  years  after the effective date of this act. The
    22  report shall also make recommendations for needed regulatory changes  to
    23  the chairperson of the state commission of correction.
    24    §  6.  This  act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be
    25  deemed repealed 3 years after such date.