BILL NUMBER: S1666
SPONSOR: HARCKHAM
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public officers law, in relation to accessing
records under the freedom of information law
 
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to clarify certain provisions of the Freedom
of Information Law (FOIL).
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one amends the public officers' law to make various technical
and clarifying amendments.
Section two states the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
There are two provisions of FOIL that state an unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy includes the disclosure of a list of names and
addresses if a list may be used for solicitation or fundraising
purposes. The ability to deny access pertains to a list of natural
persons and their residential addresses, since the language includes
personal privacy. The exception should not apply to a list of vendors or
others engaged in a business or professional activities.
Additionally, FOIL does not require an agency to create new records to
respond to a request. The principle is that FOIL pertains to existing
records and does not require that an agency create new records to
respond to a request. Additionally, there is a need to clarify the
existing provisions relating to the time in which an agency is required
to respond to a FOIL request.
This bill addresses these technical considerations. The changes to FOIL
proposed by this bill were recommended by the Committee on Open Govern-
ment.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2022-2024: S1726A/A5613B - Died in Investigations and Government
Operations/Passed Assembly
2021-2022: S4280/A7544 - Died in Investigations and Government
Operations/Died in Government Operations
2019-2020: S6608/A119 Died in Investigations and Government
Operations/Passed Assembly
2017-2018: S6816/A8255 - Advanced to Third Reading/Passed Assembly
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.