Bill Text: NY A00825 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires police departments and agencies to provide district attorneys' offices access to such departments' and agencies' electronic record systems for discovery purposes.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-08 - referred to codes [A00825 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-A00825-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           825

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                       (Prefiled)

                                     January 8, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. LASHER -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Codes

        AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to giving prose-
          cutors'  offices  access  to  law  enforcement  records  for discovery
          purposes

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1. Legislative intent. The legislature enacted reforms of the
     2  discovery process in two thousand twenty  to  enhance  transparency  and
     3  fairness in criminal proceedings by ensuring that defendants have timely
     4  access  to  the  evidence  against  them. However, the implementation of
     5  these reforms has placed significant burdens on both district attorneys'
     6  offices and law enforcement agencies, which must  meet  tight  deadlines
     7  for  the  collection  and  disclosure  of  vast  amounts of records. The
     8  effects of this burden are exacerbated by the  current  lack  of  direct
     9  access  by  district  attorneys'  offices  to  law  enforcement evidence
    10  systems, forcing prosecutors to rely on a manual and delayed process for
    11  obtaining critical materials.
    12    To address these challenges, this act seeks to improve the  efficiency
    13  of  the discovery process by granting district attorneys' offices direct
    14  access to law enforcement records and databases related to  the  subject
    15  matter of criminal cases. This access will help alleviate delays, reduce
    16  the  administrative  burden on both prosecutors and law enforcement, and
    17  ensure that cases are resolved based on their merits rather than  proce-
    18  dural  failures.  By  allowing  staff  in district attorneys' offices to
    19  directly retrieve records, the act also aims to return  police  officers
    20  to their core responsibilities of maintaining public safety.
    21    The  legislature  finds that these reforms will promote the timely and
    22  fair resolution of criminal cases, advancing the  interests  of  justice
    23  for both defendants and the public at large.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00487-02-5
        A. 825                              2

     1    § 2. Section 245.20 of the criminal procedure law is amended by adding
     2  a new subdivision 8 to read as follows:
     3    8.  Prosecutor  access to law enforcement materials. (a) Each district
     4  attorney's office shall have access to  all  electronic  record  systems
     5  including  but  not  limited to documents, audio files, and video files,
     6  containing information related to the subject matter of a criminal case,
     7  or information that a court has ordered the prosecutor  to  disclose  to
     8  the  defense,  of every police department or agency certified in accord-
     9  ance with paragraph (d) of subdivision  one  of  section  eight  hundred
    10  forty-six-h of the executive law that operates within the county of such
    11  district attorney.
    12    (b)  Every  police  department or agency shall issue no fewer than one
    13  login credential to each district attorney's office with access to  such
    14  department's  or  agency's  computer system pursuant to paragraph (a) of
    15  this subdivision and shall issue no  fewer  than  one  additional  login
    16  credential  for  every twenty thousand residents of the county as deter-
    17  mined by the most recent federal  census.  The  credentials  issued  may
    18  restrict the user to viewing, printing, downloading, or otherwise saving
    19  the  materials accessed with no ability to generate, edit, or delete any
    20  documents, and may restrict a district  attorney's  office's  access  to
    21  materials related to the subject matter of an actual case.
    22    (c)  The  login  credentials  issued pursuant to paragraph (b) of this
    23  subdivision shall grant access to all electronic files maintained in the
    24  department's or agency's computer systems for every case brought to  the
    25  district  attorney's office to include, but not be limited to, all docu-
    26  ments required for full compliance with this article.
    27    (d) All departments and agencies with one  hundred  thousand  or  more
    28  individuals  living in the area over which such department or agency has
    29  jurisdiction shall provide the relevant district  attorney's  office  or
    30  offices  with  access  to  such  computer  systems  within  the physical
    31  location of such district attorney's office or offices. All  departments
    32  and  agencies with fewer than one hundred thousand individuals living in
    33  the area over which such department or  agency  has  jurisdiction  shall
    34  provide  the  relevant district attorney's office or offices with access
    35  to such computer systems in an easily accessible police precinct.
    36    § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
    37  have become a law.