CUNY Law Alums Senator Jamaal Bailey ’12 and State Assemblymember and member of the CUNY Law Board of Visitors Danny O’Donnell ’87 passed a bill on June 9th, governor’s signature pending, to repeal New York Civil Rights Section 50-A.
50-A, a section of the New York Civil Rights Law, holds the personnel records of police officers, firefighters, and corrections officers records in confidence and outside the scope of inspection or review. Though the law has been upheld as a way to protect testimony and privacy, what it has done is conceal records from the public and make it impossible for the public to hold officers accountable for misconduct and crimes. This exempts them from the transparency expected of other public officials. While this law once only covered off-duty police misconduct, appellate court decisions expanded the law to cover on-duty misconduct, which made it difficult for defense lawyers to bring in records during discovery.
Over the last eight years, families impacted by police brutality, along with Communities United for Police Reform, have worked diligently on the grassroots advocacy campaign to end police secrecy by repealing 50-A.
Sen. Bailey and Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie celebrate their victory
Senator Jamaal Bailey shared that during his legal education at CUNY Law, he learned that the law could be used as a powerful vehicle for social change.
“I’m grateful to have had a phenomenal education from the finest public interest law school in the country, and it’s allowed me to keep that mentality when drafting and defending legislation, especially issues that relate to social justice, basic transparency and fairness, which is to what the legislation that Assemblymember O’Donnell and I passed concerning 50-A relates.”
Sen Bailey speaking with @BPHACaucus government colleagues during a statewide press conference
“This goes beyond Mr. Floyd,” Sen. Bailey told Newsday. “That knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck was a wake-up call for America. We need police reform. That doesn’t mean we are anti-police. It just means we need to change a few things and people weren’t listening.”
State Assemblymember and member of the CUNY Law Board of Visitors Danny O’ Donnell ’87 considers it a privilege to be able to answer the call for change heralded by New Yorkers and protesters around the nation. O’Donnell believes this meaningful change will bring the State more “transparency, accountability, and justice.” O’Donnell asserted it was a tragedy that this repeal took the murder of George Floyd to galvanize the movement, and affirmed that the issues of systemic racism and police violence aren’t new.
State Assemblymember and member of the CUNY Law Board of Visitors Danny O’ Donnell ’87 Advocates for the Repeal of 50-A
Sen. Bailey remarked that it should come as no surprise that both bill sponsors are graduates of CUNY Law. He noted that he hoped to inspire more leaders through service and was decidedly proud to be a member of the family that we call ‘CUNITY.’
In an email to CUNY Law students this morning, Associate Dean of Student Affairs Yvette Wilson- Barnes recognized that seeing the recent news that both houses of the New York State Legislature passed a bill to repeal 50-A is “hope realized.”
This achievement is a testament to the power of protest and collective organizing in using law as a tool for social change. The Law School is grateful to alums Senator Jamaal Bailey and State Assemblymember Dan O’Donnell for their dedication to law in the service of human needs.
You can follow both Jamaal Bailey (@jamaaltbailey) and Danny O’Donnell (@Danny_ODonnell_) on Twitter.