STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6297 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 10, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to providing for auto- matic issuance of identification cards to incarcerated individuals and assistance with obtaining copies of certain documents The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 11 of the correction law, as added by section 1 of 2 part Q of chapter 58 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 11. Identification card program. 1. For purposes of this section, 4 "identification card" shall have the same meaning as defined in section 5 four hundred ninety of the vehicle and traffic law. 6 2. The commissioner, in consultation with the commissioner of motor 7 vehicles, shall develop a program that would [allow] automatically 8 provide incarcerated individuals without an identification card, or 9 incarcerated individuals who have not been issued a driver's license or 10 learner's permit by the commissioner of motor vehicles, or incarcerated 11 individuals whose driver's license or learner's permit is expired, 12 suspended, revoked or surrendered, or incarcerated individuals whose 13 identification card is expired, [to obtain] with an identification card 14 prior to the incarcerated individual's release from an institution or 15 correctional facility under the jurisdiction of the department or upon 16 the individual's release from an institution or correctional facility 17 under the jurisdiction of the department at the option of the incarcer- 18 ated individual. 19 3. The sentence and commitment or certificate of conviction of an 20 incarcerated individual shall be deemed sufficient to grant authori- 21 zation to the department of corrections and community supervision to 22 assist an incarcerated individual in an institution or correctional EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD10077-01-5
S. 6297 2 1 facility under the jurisdiction of such department to apply for and 2 obtain an identification card from the department of motor vehicles. 3 4. (a) Prior to an incarcerated individual's release from an institu- 4 tion or correctional facility under the jurisdiction of the department, 5 the department shall notify the incarcerated individual, verbally and in 6 writing, of such identification card program. The department shall also 7 document that they offered to assist the incarcerated individual in 8 obtaining an identification card and if such incarcerated individual 9 declined. The department shall make diligent efforts to ensure that an 10 incarcerated individual is provided with an identification card, if 11 requested, prior to or upon the release of such individual from an 12 institution or correctional facility under the jurisdiction of the 13 department. Such efforts shall include assisting incarcerated individ- 14 uals with obtaining copies of any documents needed to apply for iden- 15 tification cards. Such documents shall include, but not be limited to, 16 an incarcerated individual's social security card and birth certificate. 17 (b) If an identification card is obtained with the assistance of the 18 department for an incarcerated individual prior to such individual's 19 release from the department's custody, the identification card shall be 20 kept in the incarcerated individual's records until such individual is 21 released from an institution or correctional facility under the juris- 22 diction of the department; upon such individual's release, the identifi- 23 cation card shall be provided to the individual. 24 5. The department shall collect data on the number of incarcerated 25 individuals participating in the identification card program and issue a 26 report on such data to the governor, the temporary president of the 27 senate and the speaker of the assembly annually until December thirty- 28 first, two thousand [twenty-six] twenty-seven. 29 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding 30 the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the 31 addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary 32 for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized 33 to be made and completed on or before such effective date.