Bill Text: NY S03926 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to the discoverability of recordings found on police body worn cameras and vehicle cameras.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-30 - REFERRED TO JUDICIARY [S03926 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-S03926-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3926 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 30, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. MYRIE, COMRIE, HOYLMAN-SIGAL -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules and the criminal proce- dure law, in relation to recordings found on police cameras The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision (i) of section 3101 of the civil practice law 2 and rules, as added by chapter 574 of the laws of 1993, is amended to 3 read as follows: 4 (i) In addition to any other matter which may be subject to disclo- 5 sure, there shall be full disclosure of any films, photographs, video 6 tapes or audio tapes, including, but not limited to, all recordings made 7 or received in connection with a police or peace officer's body worn 8 camera and/or a camera installed in or on a police or peace officer's 9 vehicle, including transcripts or memoranda thereof, involving a person 10 referred to in paragraph one of subdivision (a) of this section. There 11 shall be disclosure of all portions of such material, including out- 12 takes, rather than only those portions a party intends to use. The 13 provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to materials compiled for 14 law enforcement purposes which are exempt from disclosure under section 15 eighty-seven of the public officers law. 16 § 2. Paragraph (g) of subdivision 1 of section 245.20 of the criminal 17 procedure law, as amended by section 2 of part HHH of chapter 56 of the 18 laws of 2020, is amended to read as follows: 19 (g) All tapes or other electronic recordings, including all electronic 20 recordings of 911 telephone calls made or received in connection with 21 the alleged criminal incident and including, but not limited to, all 22 recordings made or received in connection with a police or peace offi- 23 cer's body worn camera and/or camera installed in or on a police or 24 peace officer's vehicle, and a designation by the prosecutor as to which EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05400-01-5S. 3926 2 1 of the recordings under this paragraph the prosecution intends to intro- 2 duce at trial or a pre-trial hearing. If the discoverable materials 3 under this paragraph exceed ten hours in total length, the prosecution 4 may disclose only the recordings that it intends to introduce at trial 5 or a pre-trial hearing, along with a list of the source and approximate 6 quantity of other recordings and their general subject matter if known, 7 and the defendant shall have the right upon request to obtain recordings 8 not previously disclosed. The prosecution shall disclose the requested 9 materials as soon as practicable and not less than fifteen calendar days 10 after the defendant's request, unless an order is obtained pursuant to 11 section 245.70 of this article. The prosecution may withhold the names 12 and identifying information of any person who contacted 911 without the 13 need for a protective order pursuant to section 245.70 of this article, 14 provided, however, the defendant may move the court for disclosure. If 15 the prosecution intends to call such person as a witness at a trial or 16 hearing, the prosecution must disclose the name and contact information 17 of such witness no later than fifteen days before such trial or hearing, 18 or as soon as practicable. 19 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
