S 9765: Enacts the "sunshine in litigation act" regarding protective orders to prohibit settlement agreements which conceal a public hazard or any information that would identify a public hazard.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 9765  IN SENATE April 6, 2026 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to enact- ing the "sunshine in litigation act" regarding protective orders The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision (a) of section 3103 of the civil practice law 2 and rules, as amended by chapter 205 of the laws of 2013, is amended to 3 read as follows: 4 (a) Prevention of abuse. [The] Subject to the provisions of section 5 thirty-one hundred forty-three of this chapter, the court may at any 6 time on its own initiative, or on motion of any party or of any person 7 from whom or about whom discovery is sought, make a protective order 8 denying, limiting, conditioning or regulating the use of any disclosure 9 device. Such order shall be designed to prevent unreasonable annoyance, 10 expense, embarrassment, disadvantage, or other prejudice to any person 11 or the courts. 12 § 2. The civil practice law and rules is amended by adding a new arti- 13 cle 31-A to read as follows: 14 ARTICLE 31-A 15 SUNSHINE IN LITIGATION ACT 16 Section 3141. Short title. 17 3142. Definitions. 18 3143. Sunshine in litigation; concealment of public hazards 19 prohibited. 20 § 3141. Short title. This article shall be known and may be cited as 21 the "sunshine in litigation act". 22 § 3142. Definitions. When used in this article, unless otherwise so 23 stated, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 24 (a) Governmental entity. "Governmental entity" shall mean the state 25 and any county, city, town, village or any other political subdivision 26 of the state, and every department, board, bureau, agency, public 27 authority or other governmental instrumentality of the state or a poli- 28 tical subdivision of the state. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06224-01-5 
 S. 9765 2 1 (b) Public hazard. "Public hazard" shall mean any condition of any 2 device, instrument, person, procedure, product or property that has 3 caused injury to the person or property of another, or which, unless 4 altered, removed, reassembled or changed in some manner, creates a risk 5 of injury to person or property in the future. 6 (c) Trade secret. "Trade secret" shall mean information, technical or 7 non-technical, including, but not limited to, a formula, pattern, compi- 8 lation, program, device, method, technique or process that: 9 1. derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not 10 being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper 11 means, by other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclo- 12 sure or use; and 13 2. is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circum- 14 stances to maintain its secrecy. 15 § 3143. Sunshine in litigation; concealment of public hazards prohib- 16 ited. (a) Except in strict compliance with the provisions of this 17 section, no court shall enter, order or render a judgment in any action 18 or proceeding brought in this state which has the purpose or effect of 19 concealing a public hazard or concealing any pertinent information that 20 would identify a public hazard, nor shall the court enter an order or 21 render a judgment which has the purpose or effect of concealing any 22 information that may be useful to members of the public in protecting 23 their person or property from damage or injury that may result from 24 contact with a public hazard. 25 (b) Trade secrets which are not directly related to public hazards 26 shall be protected and not ordered to be released. In addition, the 27 provisions of this section shall not apply to other information that is 28 confidential because it is privileged under any provision of state or 29 federal law. 30 (c) Any provision of any agreement or contract entered into within 31 this state or pertaining to persons or property within this state, which 32 has the purpose or effect of concealing a public hazard or concealing 33 any information that would identify a public hazard, which information 34 may be useful to members of the public in protecting their person or 35 property from damage or injury resulting from contact with a public 36 hazard, is hereby declared to be void and contrary to public policy, and 37 shall not be enforced by the courts of this state, or otherwise. 38 (d) Any substantially affected person or representative of the estate 39 of such person, including but not limited to a representative of the 40 news media, shall be deemed to have standing to bring an action or 41 proceeding in a court of competent jurisdiction to contest an order, 42 judgment, agreement or contract on the grounds that it violates the 43 provisions of this section requiring disclosure of the existence of a 44 public hazard. Such person may contest such an order, judgment, agree- 45 ment or contract by motion brought before the court that entered the 46 order or judgment. 47 (e) Upon motion and good cause shown by a party attempting to prevent 48 release of information or materials allegedly concealing the existence 49 of a public hazard, including but not limited to disputes wherein such 50 information is alleged to be a trade secret protected by law, the court 51 shall examine the disputed information or materials in camera. If the 52 court determines that the information or materials or portions thereof 53 consist of information concerning a public hazard or information that 54 may be useful to members of the public in protecting themselves from 55 injury to person or property that may result from contact with such a 56 public hazard, the court shall order release of the information or mate- 
 S. 9765 3 1 rials. If such release is ordered, the court shall allow release of only 2 that portion of the information or materials necessary or useful to the 3 public in identifying the public hazard, and in protecting their person 4 or property from damage or injury that may result from contact with the 5 public hazard. 6 (f) Any provision of any agreement or contract entered into within 7 this state, or pertaining to persons or property within this state, that 8 has the purpose or effect of concealing information relating to the 9 settlement or resolution of any claim or action against any governmental 10 entity and that may be useful to members of the public in protecting 11 their person or property from damage or injury that may result from 12 contact with a public hazard is hereby declared to be void and contrary 13 to public policy, and shall not be enforced by the courts of this state, 14 or otherwise. Any document, record, contract or agreement relating to 15 any settlement, as set forth in this subdivision, shall be deemed a 16 public record subject to disclosure pursuant to article six of the 17 public officers law. The failure or refusal of any party to an action or 18 proceeding, or other person in custody of such a record, to disclose and 19 provide any document, record, contract or agreement as set forth in this 20 subdivision shall be subject to the sanctions as set forth in article 21 six of the public officers law, pursuant to the applicable law or rule. 22 § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall 23 have become a law.