A 204: Requires annual reports of legal settlement payments related to law enforcement activity; provides such report shall include, but not be limited to, monetary amounts, plaintiffs and named parties, and shall be published on the website of the comptroller.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 204 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. CRUZ -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations AN ACT to amend the executive law and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring annual reports of legal settlement payments related to law enforcement activity The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 837-y 2 to read as follows: 3 § 837-y. Settlement reporting. 1. The comptroller shall make an annual 4 report which details all payments made for legal settlements relating to 5 law enforcement activity. Such report shall include, but not be limited 6 to, monetary amounts, plaintiffs and named parties, and shall be 7 published on the website of the comptroller, provided, however, that 8 every plaintiff whose name would be included in the report shall have 9 the option to have a pseudonym used in place of such plaintiff's name. 10 Any named party in a legal settlement relating to law enforcement activ- 11 ity who is or was a defendant in such action shall be named in the 12 report and shall not have the option to use a pseudonym in place of such 13 defendant's name. As used in this section, "law enforcement" means 14 every local police department, local correctional facility, each county 15 sheriff, the division of the state police, the department of corrections 16 and community supervision, and every agency that employs a peace officer 17 in this state. 18 2. The person in charge of every local police department, local 19 correctional facility, each county sheriff, the superintendent of the 20 division of the state police, the commissioner of the department of 21 corrections and community supervision, and the person in charge of every 22 agency that employs a peace officer in this state shall promptly report 23 to the comptroller all payments made for legal settlements relating to EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00732-01-5 
 A. 204 2 1 law enforcement activity, including but not limited to, all information 2 required to be reported pursuant to subdivision one of this section, and 3 details and descriptions of any allegations or misconduct involved in 4 each case, and shall provide each plaintiff the opportunity to elect to 5 use a pseudonym. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, 6 failure to report all information required pursuant to the provisions of 7 this subdivision by a law enforcement agency shall result in a loss of 8 both eligibility for state funding and accreditation by the division for 9 such agency. Such eligibility for funding and accreditation by the divi- 10 sion shall be restored once such law enforcement agency is in compliance 11 with the provisions of this subdivision. 12 3. The comptroller, in consultation with the division of criminal 13 justice services, shall promulgate regulations to effectuate the report- 14 ing of data from law enforcement departments sufficient to make the 15 reports required by subdivision one of this section. 16 4. The comptroller together with the division of criminal justice 17 services, shall identify law enforcement departments that fail to report 18 the required information. The division of criminal justice services 19 shall, as part of any process to accredit police agencies, require all 20 such agencies to report any settlements as described under this section. 21 § 2. The administrative code of the city of New York is amended by 22 adding a new section 14-198 to read as follows: 23 § 14-198 Settlement reporting. The comptroller shall make an annual 24 report which details all payments made for legal settlements relating to 25 law enforcement activity. Such report shall include, but not be limited 26 to, monetary amounts, plaintiffs and named parties, and details and 27 descriptions of any allegations or misconduct involved in each case, and 28 shall be published on the website of the comptroller, provided, however, 29 that the comptroller shall provide every plaintiff whose name would be 30 included in the report the option to have a pseudonym used in place of 31 such plaintiff's name. Any named party in a legal settlement relating 32 to law enforcement activity who is or was a defendant in such action 33 shall be named in the report and shall not have the option to use a 34 pseudonym in place of such defendant's name. Notwithstanding any 35 provision of law to the contrary, failure to report all information 36 required pursuant to the provisions of this section by a law enforcement 37 agency to the comptroller shall result in a loss of both eligibility for 38 city funding and accreditation for such agency. Such eligibility for 39 funding and accreditation shall be restored once such law enforcement 40 agency is in compliance with the provisions of this section. 41 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.