Recently Enacted Legislation Supported by the City Bar

The New York City Council enacted legislation supported by the New York City Affairs Committee which will require reporting on the number and disposition of civil actions filed against the NYPD. The Committee argued that tracking and monitoring claims against police officers would allow the NYPD to identify problem officers, discern patterns of misconduct, identify better training opportunities, and take corrective action accordingly. 

Governor Cuomo signed legislation supported by the Trusts, Estate and Surrogate’s Courts Committee that will provide that adjustments made by a trustee, under the Prudent Investor Act, be deemed to be re-characterizations for the purposes of the payment of commissions. The new law goes into effect on January 1, 2018. 

Governor Cuomo signed legislation supported by the Social Welfare Committee that will prohibit charges for certain health records needed for government benefits or programs. Current public health and mental hygiene law already prohibits charging for access to medical records for those who cannot afford to pay. However, disregard of the fee waiver provision, the difficult process of establishing eligibility for the waiver, and providers’ use of outside copying services have prevented eligible low income New Yorkers from receiving free access to their own medical records. The new law went into effect on September 13th.