Members LoginAs your Second Vice President and Legislative Director, I am pleased to let you know that after working tirelessly with our legislative counsel during the 2024 Legislative Session to move our critical FOIL protections legislation (S.5500-B/A.6146-B) through the Legislature and to the Governor’s desk, we have succeeded in our mission. The Governor has signed this bill into law!
Because of the efforts of the NYSTPBA, all state agencies must now develop policies to address employee notification whenever an employee’s disciplinary records are subject to a FOIL request by the public. Make no mistake about it, there were many advocates and interest groups that formally opposed this legislation, both with opposition advocacy on the hill during the Legislative Session and with correspondence to the Governor requesting a veto after the bill’s passage. Some of those groups that opposed our legislation include, NYCLU, the Legal Aid Society, Freedom of the Press Foundation, the League of Women Voters of New York, Common Cause New York and Citizens Union of NYC.
While other groups remained silent following the repeal of section 50-a of the Civil Rights Law, which removed long-standing privacy protections for law enforcement personnel, we began pushing for legislation which would provide at least some privacy protections to our members and for other members of law enforcement. With the efforts of the NYSTPBA, we were finally able to gain some traction with this bill this year after it remained in committee the previous year. Our daily treks with our counsel to the LOB and Capitol aggressively pushing for this proposal at a time when other affected groups did very little, coupled with our selections of the appropriate sponsors for this legislation (Senator Skoufis – Democrat from Cornwall and Assemblywoman Buttenschon – Democrat from Utica) were key to this victory. To that end, we thank both legislators for their willingness to stand up for law enforcement at a time when many won’t. And we certainly will not forget that!
We have much more to accomplish through our governmental relations advocacy in the years to come and look forward to future victories. I thank you for placing your trust in me and vow to continue the fight as we move forwards.
Stay safe!
Jason Sheridan
Second Vice President/Legislative Director