Legislation aimed at safeguarding the confidentiality of New Yorkers’ private information moved onwards last Monday as New York City Council members heard testimony regarding the Access Without Fear (Intro.326) bill. The hearing, which took place May 5, 2003 in Manhattan’s City Hall Council chambers, gathered feedback regarding Intro.326. Activists hope that this will push the bill into law while the mayor’s office is concerned over the constitutionality of some of the bill’s language.
Passage would carry out a city charter mandate that creates access to city services to individuals without fear of having their private information revealed. “New Yorkers understand that if residents feel they cannot access city services, everyone’s quality of life is diminished,” said Council Member Hiram Monserrate.
Intro. 326, in a statement issued in a December 2002 press release from Councilman Monserrate’s office, “provide(s) that no city officer or employee confidential sources shall disclose confidential information relating to an individual’s health or disability status, income tax record, sexual orientation, status as a victim of domestic violence, status as a crime victim or witness, public assistance status, immigration, and other information protected by law from disclosure.”
During the hearing, two panels of attorneys, community and religious leaders, activists, and city officials were invited to testify. While neither panel objected to the thrust of the measure, there was disagreement concerning the bill’s wording. The first set of panelists, Commissioner for the Office of Immigrant Affairs Sayu V. Bhojwani, and Attorney Crowe, had some reservations about the measure; that is, that the resolution has to be in compliance with the 1996 federal court decision stating that city employees cannot be prohibited from giving information to the federal government about immigration status.
Both Bhojwani and Crowe wanted more time to review the proposed regulation. Attorney Crowe said, “The (Bloomberg) administration has concerns about how the bill will be administered and how this bill interacts with other statutes.” Commissioner Bhojwani said, “The city worker has to ask immigration status. The only time that it doesn’t have to be asked is for a few emergency services.” She added, “Intro 326 has many legal and policy ramifications, each which of has to be carefully analyzed to determine its impact upon the immigrant.”
The second panel supported the bill as is. However, panelists Sisters of Charity’s Cathy Burns; New York Civil Liberties Union’s Donna Lieberman; New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project’s Basil Lucas; New York Immigration Coalition’s Margie McHugh; Gay Asians and Pacific Islanders of Chicago founder Pauline Park; Safe Horizon’s Rachel Lavion and Chris Stewart; Legal Aid Society’s Scott Rosenberg; and the Council of Pakistan Organization’s Mohammed Rizvi objected to portions of the previous panel’s testimony, saying that it was inaccurate. Countering Commissioner Bhojwani’s testimony on a requirement that city agencies must disclose immigrant status, Legal Aid Society attorney Scott Rosenberg said, “That information is not correct. The City would have the power to prevent absolute abusive disclosure if the charter amendments are implemented.”
After the hearing, during a telephone interview, Councilmember Monserrate was asked what could be holding up the bill on the mayoral administration’s end. He replied, “The fact is that they don’t seem to be in support of the bill but they didn’t come out against it.” He added, “The mayoral administration has issues with the bill. They’ve said the City Council doesn’t have the power to pass a bill that conflicts with federal and local statutes. It’s baloney. The City Council does have the power and the bill can easily pass within the council.” As this article went to press, The Immigration Affairs press office could not be reached for comment.
The “Access Without Fear” legislation hearing was conducted by Councilmember Hiram Monserrate’s Select Committee on Civil Rights, Deputy Majority Leader Bill Perkins’ Committee on Governmental Operations, and Council Member Kendall Stewart’s Subcommittee on Immigration.
