ALBANY – Both chambers of the state Legislature voted this week to explicitly prohibit law enforcement officers from racially and ethnically profiling individuals – but the bill won't head to the governor's desk after the houses split over the specifics of the bill.
Both bills would require strict anti-racial profiling policies in police departments, establish procedures to review complaints of racial and ethnic profiling and allow the state attorney general to file a civil complaint on behalf of a victim of racial profiling. But the version passed in the Assembly includes additional provisions, requiring police to collect demographic data on all civilian interactions and allowing New Yorkers to file their own civil complaints after a racial profiling incident.
Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, D-Brooklyn, the sponsor of the bill, charged the measure passed by the Senate as a "watered-down version with no police accountability." The Assembly passed Bichotte's bill Monday by a vote of 105-39, while the Senate passed its version Tuesday by a vote of 61-0.
"The Senate felt it was too much of a burden on the police officers," Bichotte said in an interview. "And we're like, well, you care more about the police officers versus the people who've been dying as a result of racial profiling."
She said the data collection is "the very basis of the bill," as it would record who is being stopped by police officers and reveal patterns. "It will definitely change the behavior of police officers and the interactions," she added.
Bichotte's bill, in its entirety, had a companion bill in the Senate with the support of at least 10 senators. State Sen. Brian A. Benjamin, D-Manhattan, led that measure, as well as the new version passed Tuesday that did not include the provisions on data collection or civilian lawsuits. The latter measure does not have a companion bill in the Assembly.
Both bills would need the approval of the other house before the governor could act on the legislation and make it law.
"When we're saying George Floyd's name and Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner, they're crying out, saying, 'I can't breathe, I can't breathe,'" Bichotte said. "And so we're asking the Senate: Let us breathe by passing the right bill. Don't throw us a bone."
Spokesmen for both Benjamin and the Senate Majority did not respond to requests for comment.
The profiling bills are the only outliers in an otherwise unified criminal justice reform package acted upon by the Legislature this week. On Tuesday, both chambers passed arguably the highest-profile measure included in the 10-bill package: The repeal of 50-a, the statute in state Civil Rights Law that has shielded the release of police disciplinary records.
The measure passed 40-22 in the Senate on Tuesday afternoon and was still being debated later that evening by the Assembly, where it was also expected to pass after the majority Democratic Conference signed off on the legislation earlier this week.
The 44-year-old statute has for years been used to deny public access to the disciplinary records of not only police officers, but also corrections officers and firefighters. Advocates have called for the statute's repeal for years but faced pushback from police unions and Republican lawmakers, stalling any forward movement.
"I don't know if there could be a more meaningful piece of legislation to me in this body," said Sen. Jamaal T. Bailey, a Bronx Democrat who sponsored the bill, adding that the measure will "correct what we thought and knew to be a flaw in state law."
The new legislation would subject police officers' disciplinary records to public records requests but leave out personal information, including Social Security numbers and home addresses. Republicans opposed the measure, arguing that false or unsubstantiated complaints against officers could hurt their careers and deny them due process.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has said he will sign "any" 50-a repeal or reform bill approved by the Legislature. He said Tuesday he expects to act on the reform package later this week.