BILL NUMBER: S9124
SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general municipal law, in relation to interagency
data sharing by agencies of a city with a population of one million or
more for providing benefits, services or care coordination
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To improve the delivery of benefits, services, and care coordination by
New York City to its populace through cooperative data-sharing arrange-
ments enabling its agencies to act, in effect, as a single coordinated
entity, "one city," for such purposes. government.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill would provide for the short title of this act.
Section 2 of this bill would provide a legal basis for interagency data
sharing solely for providing benefits, services, or care coordination in
New York City.
Section 3 of this bill sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill would provide a new, lawful pathway for New York City agencies
to share data while retaining important safeguards on data privacy and
security. While confidentiality restrictions exist to protect client
information and create a safe environment to seek government assistance,
many of these laws fail to take into account new technology, and their
inconsistent frameworks can make the sharing of certain data between
agencies difficult, if not impossible.
The new pathway for data sharing envisioned by the One City Act will
replace this patchwork of restrictions with a single, consistent process
that permits data sharing for the narrow purposes of benefits, services,
and care coordination to their clients as well as research studies
concerning the same.
For instance, mental health information protected under Mental Hygiene
Law § 33.13 may be disclosed by an agency in limited circumstances, but
those circumstances do not include disclosure to coordinate with other
city agencies participating in a social services initiative to improve
services or care to a person receiving mental health services. The One
City Act could enhance coordination among agencies supporting mental
health initiatives.
This could, for example, strengthen the Mayor's Subway Safety Plan by
providing a pathway for city agencies to share client information to
better analyze needs and connect individuals to services, such as perma-
nent housing, supplemental nutrition assistance programs, and health-
care. Another benefit to the alternative pathway for interagency data
sharing created by this bill would be the expansion of the MyCity
portal, a one-stop shop for New Yorkers to apply for a range of munici-
pal services and benefits.
Information governed by state sealed records statutes is expressly
excluded from the data sharing authorized by this legislation, and any
data sharing must still be conducted in accordance with federal law.
Data would not be able to be shared among agencies without such agencies
first entering into a data sharing agreement, which would impose
requirements for the secure transmission, storage, use, and access of
the data by limited personnel and which must be approved by legal coun-
sel and information security officers at each agency as well as the
city's Chief Privacy Officer prior to being finalized.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate