A 4674 New York Assembly · 2025 Regular Session

Enacts the "criminal court opinion transparency act"

This bill, the "Criminal Court Opinion Transparency Act," requires New York courts to publish detailed statistics about criminal cases online, including defendant demographics (age, gender, race, ethnicity), judge information, and case outcomes. It mandates that this data be made available in machine-readable tabular format for free public download, updated quarterly, and accessible through a searchable online database. The bill also requires court clerks to automatically transmit criminal court opinions to the state reporter in machine-readable format within five days of issuance, without cost to municipalities. These changes aim to increase public access to judicial decision-making processes in criminal cases.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Feb 4, 2025 Last action Jun 2, 2026
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What changed between versions

A4674 A4674A · 5 edits
MODERATE
This bill removes the requirement to immediately publish detailed statistics on criminal defendants and judges, replacing it with a one-time report to the legislature and governor. The new report will evaluate the feasibility and benefits of publishing suppression rulings and collecting related data before any such publication occurs. This shifts the approach from immediate transparency to a study-based evaluation of future transparency measures.
Scope change
The bill's scope has significantly narrowed; it no longer mandates the ongoing collection and public release of defendant demographic data or judge performance statistics.
REQUIREMENT

Eliminated the mandate to collect and publish online statistics regarding defendant age, gender, race, and the names of judges issuing opinions.

Removed the requirement to publish annual lists of judges, the courts they preside over, and the number of published versus unpublished decisions.

Added a requirement to submit a report to the legislature and governor by January 15, 2027, evaluating the feasibility of publishing suppression rulings and collecting data on them.

Deleted provisions requiring the automatic transmission of criminal court opinions to the state reporter in machine-readable format.

TIMELINE

Changed the effective date from the original enactment to 180 days after the bill becomes law.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
10
Key actions
2
Committee
4
Amendments
2
Jun 1, 2026
Committee
REPORTED REFERRED TO RULES
lower
May 29, 2026
Committee
REFERENCE CHANGED TO WAYS AND MEANS
lower
May 19, 2026
Lower · Passed
PRINT NUMBER 4674A
lower
May 19, 2026
Lower · Passed
AMEND (T) AND RECOMMIT TO JUDICIARY
lower
Jan 7, 2026
Committee
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY
lower
Feb 4, 2025
Committee
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors