The public’s right to know the process of governmental decision-making and to review the documents and statistics leading to those determinations should not be thwarted by shrouding such information in secrecy or confidentiality. The legislature hereby declares that the people of this state, individually and collectively, with a free press, must have access to the records of government without restriction. The following provisions are designed to ensure such access.
Each bill that comes before a House committee is accompanied by a committee report prepared by the staff of that committee. The staff’s report explains the purpose and scope of the bill, and gives its recommendation for its approval or rejection by the full House. In addition, the staff’s report sets forth the bill’s sections and the reasons for those sections. This section of the law, known as the Ramseyer rule, is the basis for one of the nation’s most comprehensive and effective open government laws.
This bill would require City agencies that have suffered a security breach involving the private identifying information of persons to promptly disclose such information to New York’s Chief Privacy Officer, the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, and any affected persons; and to clarify that this type of disclosure is a requirement under the City’s data breach notification laws. It also would expand the definition of “private identifying information” to include a person’s social security number and driver’s license or passport numbers.
This bill would require the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, in consultation with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), to prepare a notice regarding federal and State student loan forgiveness programs for DCWP and other City agency employees and job applicants to provide such notice to such employees and job applicants.
