Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official source posted by the New York State Senate, fetched 2026-08-11. Nothing is edited or removed. Where this bill amends existing law, language marked for deletion in the official source appears here in brackets. The official bill page.
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
7782--A
Cal. No. 1268
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
May 6, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- reported favora-
bly from said committee, ordered to first and second report, ordered
to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place
in the order of third reading
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring the
department of health to enter into a contract for the digitalization
and indexing of certain vital records
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section
4180 to read as follows:
§ 4180. VITAL RECORDS DIGITALIZATION. 1. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS
SECTION, THE TERM:
(A) "VITAL RECORDS INDEX" OR "INDEX" SHALL MEAN A SYSTEMATICALLY
ORGANIZED LISTING, COMPILATION, OR DATABASE DERIVED FROM ORIGINAL VITAL
RECORDS MAINTAINED BY THE STATE LOCAL REGISTRARS, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO VITAL RECORDS RELATING TO BIRTH, DEATH, MARRIAGE, AND DISSOL-
UTION OF MARRIAGE, WHICH INCLUDES AT A MINIMUM, THE NAMES OF ANY REGIS-
TRANTS, THE DATE AND LOCATION OF THE EVENT'S REGISTRATION, AND ANY
ASSIGNED IDENTIFYING REFERENCE NUMBERS.
(B) "QUALIFIED ENTITY" SHALL MEAN A NATURAL PERSON, FIRM, ORGANIZA-
TION, PARTNERSHIP, ASSOCIATION, CORPORATION, OR ANY OTHER ENTITY EXPERI-
ENCED IN MAINTAINING GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH DATABASES.
2. THE DEPARTMENT SHALL ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WHICH SHALL BE NO LONGER
THAN SEVEN YEARS IN LENGTH WITH A QUALIFIED ENTITY TO CREATE, MAINTAIN,
AND UPDATE AN ONLINE GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH DATABASE OF IMAGES OF NEW
YORK STATE BIRTH, MARRIAGE, DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE, AND DEATH CERTIF-
ICATES AT NO DIRECT COST TO THE STATE, IN EXCHANGE FOR ALLOWING THE
QUALIFIED ENTITY TO ALSO PROVIDE SUCH DATABASE TO ITS SUBSCRIBERS AND
CUSTOMERS. SUCH ONLINE DATABASE SHALL BE DESIGNED AND CONSTRUCTED TO
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11667-05-5
S. 7782--A 2
HAVE THE CAPABILITY OF ALLOWING A VITAL RECORDS INDEX OF BIRTH,
MARRIAGE, DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE, AND DEATH CERTIFICATES TO BE LINKED
TO A DIGITAL IMAGE OF THE UNDERLYING ORIGINAL BIRTH, MARRIAGE, DISSOL-
UTION OF MARRIAGE, OR DEATH RECORD ONCE ANY SUCH UNDERLYING RECORD HAS
BECOME PUBLIC INFORMATION UNDER SECTION FORTY-ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-FOUR
OF THIS TITLE, AND THE ONLINE GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH DATABASE SHALL BE
DESIGNED TO ALLOW THE DEPARTMENT TO CREATE AND ACTIVATE SUCH LINKS TO
DIGITAL IMAGES OF THE ORIGINAL RECORDS. ANY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS
APPEARING ON SUCH RECORDS SHALL BE REDACTED FROM THE DIGITAL IMAGES
PROVIDED TO THE PUBLIC, WHICH MAY INCLUDE BULK REDACTION OF SOCIAL SECU-
RITY FIELDS FROM THE IMAGES VIA AUTOMATED METHODS. SUCH INDEXES SHALL BE
A PUBLIC RECORD AND SUBJECT TO THE STATE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAW
UNDER ARTICLE SIX OF THE PUBLIC OFFICERS LAW.
§ 2. Subdivision 3 of section 4174 of the public health law, as
amended by section 2 of part W-2 of chapter 62 of the laws of 2003, is
amended to read as follows:
3. (A) NOTWITHSTANDING ANY CONTRARY PROVISION OF LAW, THE COMMISSIONER
SHALL HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO DETERMINE THE MEANS AND METHODS BY WHICH THE
FOLLOWING GENEALOGICAL RECORDS SHALL BE RELEASED TO AN APPLICANT MEETING
THE QUALIFICATIONS TO RECEIVE THE RELEVANT RECORD TYPE AS DESCRIBED IN
THIS SECTION OR IN ARTICLE THREE OF THE DOMESTIC RELATIONS LAW: (1) A
RECORD OF BIRTH THAT HAS BEEN ON FILE FOR AT LEAST SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS;
(2) A RECORD OF MARRIAGE, DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE, OR DEATH THAT HAS
BEEN ON FILE FOR AT LEAST FIFTY YEARS; OR (3) ANY RECORD OF BIRTH,
MARRIAGE, DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE, OR DEATH FOR WHICH THE REQUESTER IS A
LINEAL OR COLLATERAL DESCENDANT.
(B) For any search of the files and records conducted for authorized
genealogical or research purposes, the commissioner or any person
authorized by [him] THE COMMISSIONER shall be entitled to, and the
applicant shall pay, a fee of twenty dollars for each hour or fractional
part of an hour of time of search, together with a fee of two dollars
for each uncertified copy or abstract of such record requested by the
applicant or for a certification that a search discloses no record.
§ 3. (a) Notwithstanding any law, rule, or regulation to the contrary,
all rights or benefits, including terms and conditions of employment,
and protection of civil service and collective bargaining status of all
existing employees of any state or political subdivision thereof which
currently performs any work related to this act, or similar work, shall
be preserved and protected.
(b) Nothing in this act shall result in the: (1) displacement of any
currently employed worker or loss of position, including but not limited
to any partial displacement such as a reduction in the hours of non-ov-
ertime work, wages, or employment benefits, or result in the impairment
of existing collective bargaining agreements; or (2) transfer of any
job, duty or function not directly authorized by this act to the quali-
fied entity.
(c) Nothing contained in this act shall be construed to affect: (1)
the existing rights of employees pursuant to an existing collective
bargaining agreement; and (2) the existing representational relation-
ships among employee organizations or the bargaining relationships
between the employer and an employee organization.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.Every fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record.