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Home/Bills/A 4491New York · 2025–2026 Legislative Session
Assembly BillIntroducedCPL

A 4491: Authorizes a court to order the division of criminal justice services to compare fingerprints of the defendant against the statewide database.

New York · Assembly · 2025–2026 Legislative Session · last verified January 8, 2026

What A 4491 does, verified January 8, 2026

The bill aims to allow courts to order fingerprint comparisons between a defendant's fingerprints and a statewide automated fingerprint identification system. This comparison is only allowed if the fingerprints comply with federal and state requirements. The court must determine that the comparison would have significantly impacted the outcome of the trial, whether it was a verdict or a plea of guilty. The results of the comparison must have been available to the defendant before the plea or verdict, if applicable. If the comparison would have resulted in a more favorable outcome, the court may allow the comparison to be considered in the trial.

Bill journey
1IntroducedCurrent
2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: referred to codes (2026-01-07)Alert me
Author and sponsors
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Coauthors
William ColtonPhil SteckMaryJane ShimskyJen LunsfordDana LevenbergDavid McDonough
Recent actions2 total · showing 2
Jan. 07, 2026referred to codes
Feb. 04, 2025referred to codes
Latest bill textIntroduced version, February 4, 2025 · 301 words
  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4491 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY February 4, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. LAVINE, COLTON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to the compar- ison of fingerprints The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 440.30 of the criminal procedure law is amended by 2 adding a new subdivision 1-b to read as follows: 3 1-b. In response to a motion under this section, the court may order 4 the division of criminal justice services to compare a fingerprint 5 obtained in connection with the investigation or prosecution of the 6 defendant against the statewide automated fingerprint identification 7 system, or its successor system, and the national integrated automated 8 fingerprint identification system, or its successor system, upon the 9 court's determination that (1) such fingerprint complies with federal 10 bureau of investigation or state requirements, whichever are applicable 11 and as such requirements are applied to law enforcement agencies seeking 12 such a comparison and (2) if such comparison had been conducted, and if 13 the results had been admitted in the trial resulting in the judgment, a 14 reasonable probability exists that the verdict would have been more 15 favorable to the defendant, or in a case involving a plea of guilty, if 16 the results had been available to the defendant prior to the plea, a 17 reasonable probability exists that the conviction would not have 18 resulted. 19 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06030-01-5 
Text of A 4491 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions
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