S 8172 New York Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Prohibits the obscuring of body-worn or stationary cameras in correctional institutions

Summary
Prohibits employees of the department of corrections and community supervision or a correctional facility from willfully obstructing, blocking or otherwise obscuring a body-worn or stationary camera from recording activities within a correctional facility for the purpose of hindering an existing or potential investigation, concealing a crime or criminal activity, or concealing otherwise unlawful behavior.
Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
May 2025
Committee Review
Jan 2026
Senate Passage
Jun 2025
Assembly Passage
Governor
Introduced May 19, 2025 Last action Jan 7, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

S8172A S8172B · 3 edits
MINOR
This bill amends a correction law provision regarding camera obscuring to narrow its scope and strengthen enforcement. The change limits the prohibition to situations where obscuring a camera is done to hinder investigations, conceal crimes, or hide unlawful behavior, rather than any obscuring at all. It also clarifies that the law applies to employees of both state and local correctional facilities.
Scope change
The bill's scope was narrowed from prohibiting any camera obscuring to only prohibiting obscuring done for specific criminal purposes, and the applicability was clarified to include local correctional facilities alongside state facilities.
REQUIREMENT

Changed the prohibited conduct from any willful obstruction of cameras to only obstruction done for specific purposes like hindering investigations or concealing crimes

SCOPE

Added 'local' correctional facilities to the list of facilities covered by the prohibition

ENFORCEMENT

Changed the violation from an 'unclassified misdemeanor' to a standard 'misdemeanor'

Floor votes · Senate Jun 11, 2025

How they voted

590
Passed · 4 other
Total votes 63
Jun 11, 2025
D Democratic41
38 Yea 3
92% Yea
R Republican22
21 Yea 1
95% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
13
Key actions
5
Committee
4
Amendments
4
Jan 7, 2026
Committee
REFERRED TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND CORRECTION
upper
Jun 11, 2025
Committee
REFERRED TO CORRECTION
lower
Jun 11, 2025
Upper · Passed
PASSED SENATE
upper
Jun 11, 2025
Committee
COMMITTEE DISCHARGED AND COMMITTED TO RULES
upper
Jun 4, 2025
Upper · Passed
PRINT NUMBER 8172B
upper
Jun 4, 2025
Upper · Passed
AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND CORRECTION
upper
Jun 2, 2025
Upper · Passed
PRINT NUMBER 8172A
upper
Jun 2, 2025
Upper · Passed
AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND CORRECTION
upper
May 19, 2025
Committee
REFERRED TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND CORRECTION
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Cordell Cleare
Cordell Cleare
DDemocratic
NY
30