STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3925 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 30, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. LAVINE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to ensuring the priva- cy of name change actions and of sex designation change actions; and to repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 64-a of the civil rights law is REPEALED and a new 2 section 64-a is added to read as follows: 3 § 64-a. Ensuring privacy of name change actions. 1. At no time shall 4 any paper or document filed by electronic or paper means in a name 5 change action be available for public inspection in-person, online, or 6 at any computer terminal in the courthouse or the office of the county 7 clerk, except for access by the petitioner, the person changing their 8 name if different from the petitioner, the attorney of record, or upon a 9 finding of good cause. No order of the court shall be required for a 10 petitioner, or a person whose name change a filing pertains to, to 11 access their own file. 12 2. Any entity responsible for processing and maintaining court records 13 shall ensure matters filed under this article are inaccessible to the 14 public immediately upon filing, regardless of whether a petitioner makes 15 a showing of risk and regardless of the reason for the name change. This 16 section applies to all matters filed under this article regardless of 17 whether a petitioner has made a specific request for their information 18 to be kept private and regardless of whether a court has ordered seal- 19 ing. 20 3. The office of court administration, clerks, and all other records 21 custodians shall develop policies and procedures to ensure no identify- 22 ing information or documentation relating to a matter filed under this 23 article is visible or retrievable in any electronic database maintained 24 by the state of New York or a subdivision thereof. Non-identifying EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06096-01-5
A. 3925 2 1 administrative information including but not limited to index numbers, 2 judges, courts, attorney names, information about the nature and status 3 of the action, and initialized or anonymized captions may be visible. 4 All custodial agencies and individuals shall ensure any platforms or 5 systems used to file or maintain court records allow for custodians to 6 input and maintain matters filed under this article consistent with this 7 section. 8 4. Within ninety days of the effective date of this section, all 9 custodial agencies and individuals maintaining existing name change 10 records shall ensure all matters filed under this article prior to the 11 effective date of this section are removed from public view in-person 12 and in online databases consistent with this section. 13 5. If a person whose name was changed by court order prior to the 14 effective date of this section discovers that information deemed private 15 under this section is publicly accessible, such person may move ex parte 16 at any time to request that information deemed private under this 17 section be removed from public view consistent with this section, 18 regardless of whether a request to seal was made at the time of the 19 original petition or the matter was previously ordered sealed. 20 6. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the discretion 21 of the court to order notice of a name change pursuant to this article. 22 § 2. Section 67-b of the civil rights law is REPEALED and a new 23 section 67-b is added to read as follows: 24 § 67-b. Ensuring the privacy of sex designation change actions. 1. At 25 no time shall any paper or document filed by electronic or paper means 26 in a sex designation change action be available for public inspection 27 in-person, online, or at any computer terminal in the courthouse or the 28 office of the county clerk, except for access by the petitioner, the 29 person changing their sex designation if different from the petitioner, 30 the attorney of record, or upon a finding of good cause. No order of the 31 court shall be required for a petitioner, or a person whose sex desig- 32 nation change a filing pertains to, to access their own file. 33 2. Any entity responsible for processing and maintaining court records 34 shall ensure matters filed under this article are inaccessible to the 35 public immediately upon filing, regardless of whether a petitioner makes 36 a showing of risk and regardless of the reason for the sex designation 37 change. This section applies to all matters filed under this article 38 regardless of whether a petitioner has made a specific request for their 39 information to be kept private and regardless of whether a court has 40 ordered sealing. 41 3. The office of court administration, clerks, and all other records 42 custodians shall develop policies and procedures to ensure no identify- 43 ing information or documentation relating to a matter filed under this 44 article is visible or retrievable in any electronic database maintained 45 by the state of New York or a subdivision thereof. Non-identifying 46 administrative information including but not limited to index numbers, 47 judges, courts, attorney names, information about the nature and status 48 of the action, and initialized or anonymized captions may be visible. 49 All custodial agencies and individuals shall ensure any platforms or 50 systems used to file or maintain court records allow for custodians to 51 input and maintain matters filed under this article consistent with this 52 section. 53 4. Within ninety days of the effective date of this section, all 54 custodial agencies and individuals maintaining existing sex designation 55 change records shall ensure all matters filed under this article prior
A. 3925 3 1 to the effective date of this section are removed from public view 2 in-person and in online databases consistent with this section. 3 5. If a person whose sex designation was changed by court order prior 4 to the effective date of this section discovers that information deemed 5 private under this section is publicly accessible, such person may move 6 ex parte at any time to request that information deemed private under 7 this section be removed from public view consistent with this section, 8 regardless of whether a request to seal was made at the time of the 9 original petition or the matter was previously ordered sealed. 10 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.