S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 6806 2013-2014 Regular Sessions I N A S S E M B L Y April 19, 2013 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. CERETTO -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Codes AN ACT amending the penal law, in relation to allowing a member of the Niagara county clerk's office to access mental health records for firearm license applications THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 400.00 of the penal law, as 2 amended by chapter 331 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 4. Investigation. Before a license is issued or renewed, there shall 5 be an investigation of all statements required in the application by the 6 duly constituted police authorities of the locality where such applica- 7 tion is made. For that purpose, the records of the appropriate office of 8 the department of mental hygiene concerning previous or present mental 9 illness of the applicant shall be available for inspection by the inves- 10 tigating officer of the police authority OR IN NIAGARA COUNTY RECORDS 11 MAY BE ACCESSED BY A CERTIFIED EMPLOYEE OF THE COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE WHO 12 IS AUTHORIZED TO ACCESS CLINICAL RECORDS IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 13 33.12 OF THE MENTAL HYGIENE LAW. In order to ascertain any previous 14 criminal record, the investigating officer shall take the fingerprints 15 and physical descriptive data in quadruplicate of each individual by 16 whom the application is signed and verified. Two copies of such finger- 17 prints shall be taken on standard fingerprint cards eight inches square, 18 and one copy may be taken on a card supplied for that purpose by the 19 federal bureau of investigation; provided, however, that in the case of 20 a corporate applicant that has already been issued a dealer in firearms 21 license and seeks to operate a firearm dealership at a second or subse- 22 quent location, the original fingerprints on file may be used to ascer- 23 tain any criminal record in the second or subsequent application unless 24 any of the corporate officers have changed since the prior application, EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02349-02-3 A. 6806 2 1 in which case the new corporate officer shall comply with procedures 2 governing an initial application for such license. When completed, one 3 standard card shall be forwarded to and retained by the division of 4 criminal justice services in the executive department, at Albany. A 5 search of the files of such division and written notification of the 6 results of the search to the investigating officer shall be made without 7 unnecessary delay. Thereafter, such division shall notify the licensing 8 officer and the executive department, division of state police, Albany, 9 of any criminal record of the applicant filed therein subsequent to the 10 search of its files. A second standard card, or the one supplied by the 11 federal bureau of investigation, as the case may be, shall be forwarded 12 to that bureau at Washington with a request that the files of the bureau 13 be searched and notification of the results of the search be made to the 14 investigating police authority. The failure or refusal of the federal 15 bureau of investigation to make the fingerprint check provided for in 16 this section shall not constitute the sole basis for refusal to issue a 17 permit pursuant to the provisions of this section. Of the remaining two 18 fingerprint cards, one shall be filed with the executive department, 19 division of state police, Albany, within ten days after issuance of the 20 license, and the other remain on file with the investigating police 21 authority. No such fingerprints may be inspected by any person other 22 than a peace officer, who is acting pursuant to his special duties, or a 23 police officer, except on order of a judge or justice of a court of 24 record either upon notice to the licensee or without notice, as the 25 judge or justice may deem appropriate. Upon completion of the investi- 26 gation, the police authority shall report the results to the licensing 27 officer without unnecessary delay. 28 S 2. Subdivision 4 of section 400.00 of the penal law, as amended by 29 chapter 1 of the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows: 30 4. Investigation. Before a license is issued or renewed, there shall 31 be an investigation of all statements required in the application by the 32 duly constituted police authorities of the locality where such applica- 33 tion is made, including but not limited to such records as may be acces- 34 sible to the division of state police or division of criminal justice 35 services pursuant to section 400.02 of this article. For that purpose, 36 the records of the appropriate office of the department of mental 37 hygiene concerning previous or present mental illness of the applicant 38 shall be available for inspection by the investigating officer of the 39 police authority OR IN NIAGARA COUNTY RECORDS MAY BE ACCESSED BY A 40 CERTIFIED EMPLOYEE OF THE COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE WHO IS AUTHORIZED TO 41 ACCESS CLINICAL RECORDS IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 33.12 OF THE MENTAL 42 HYGIENE LAW. In order to ascertain any previous criminal record, the 43 investigating officer shall take the fingerprints and physical descrip- 44 tive data in quadruplicate of each individual by whom the application is 45 signed and verified. Two copies of such fingerprints shall be taken on 46 standard fingerprint cards eight inches square, and one copy may be 47 taken on a card supplied for that purpose by the federal bureau of 48 investigation; provided, however, that in the case of a corporate appli- 49 cant that has already been issued a dealer in firearms license and seeks 50 to operate a firearm dealership at a second or subsequent location, the 51 original fingerprints on file may be used to ascertain any criminal 52 record in the second or subsequent application unless any of the corpo- 53 rate officers have changed since the prior application, in which case 54 the new corporate officer shall comply with procedures governing an 55 initial application for such license. When completed, one standard card 56 shall be forwarded to and retained by the division of criminal justice A. 6806 3 1 services in the executive department, at Albany. A search of the files 2 of such division and written notification of the results of the search 3 to the investigating officer shall be made without unnecessary delay. 4 Thereafter, such division shall notify the licensing officer and the 5 executive department, division of state police, Albany, of any criminal 6 record of the applicant filed therein subsequent to the search of its 7 files. A second standard card, or the one supplied by the federal bureau 8 of investigation, as the case may be, shall be forwarded to that bureau 9 at Washington with a request that the files of the bureau be searched 10 and notification of the results of the search be made to the investigat- 11 ing police authority. Of the remaining two fingerprint cards, one shall 12 be filed with the executive department, division of state police, Alba- 13 ny, within ten days after issuance of the license, and the other remain 14 on file with the investigating police authority. No such fingerprints 15 may be inspected by any person other than a peace officer, who is acting 16 pursuant to his special duties, or a police officer, except on order of 17 a judge or justice of a court of record either upon notice to the licen- 18 see or without notice, as the judge or justice may deem appropriate. 19 Upon completion of the investigation, the police authority shall report 20 the results to the licensing officer without unnecessary delay. 21 S 3. This act shall take effect immediately, provided, however, that 22 the amendments to subdivision 4 of section 400.00 of the penal law made 23 by section two of this act shall take effect on the same date and in the 24 same manner as section 48 of chapter 1 of the laws of 2013, takes 25 effect.