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ALBANY, N.Y. New York is set to launch automatic voter registration and prohibit the use of facial recognition in schools under bills the governor signed Tuesday.
Lawmakers who have largely met virtually this year passed those bills this summer.
Several bills that lawmakers have passed are still in limbo including a bill to end driver’s license suspensions for unpaid fines and fees.
Cuomo has 10 days to sign or veto bills but the clock only starts ticking once the legislation hits his desk. It’s unclear what took these bills so long to reach him; but his office and legislative leaders often negotiate on the timing and potential changes to the bills.
AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION
New York will start automatically registering eligible voters who interact with the state Department of Motor Vehicles starting in 2023. The law will apply to public assistance agencies by 2024 and the State University of New York by 2025.
“With this new law on the books, we are taking this work a step further and not only instituting automatic voter registration, but creating a single uniform platform for registering online,” Cuomo said.
Federal law already requires state motor vehicle departments and public assistance agencies to give applicants a chance to register to vote.
But voting right groups are pushing states to automatically register people who interact with those state agencies. New York’s law says only eligible voters can register, allows people to opt out of voter registration and directs state agencies to transmit applications to the state Board of Elections.
December 23, 2020
Public and private schools in New York state cannot use facial recognition systems at their premises for at least a year and a half, as governor Andrew Cuomo signed a legislation banning their use. The legislation places a moratorium on schools purchasing and using biometric identifying technology until at least July 1, 2022, or until the completion of a study documenting whether the tech’s use is appropriate in schools.
The study will address specific considerations outlined in the legislation, including the technology’s potential impact on student civil liberties and privacy and how the data collected would be used, as per a press release. The state Office of Information Technology will work with the State Education Department and will seek feedback from teachers and parents, as well as experts in school safety, security, data and student privacy issues for the study.
UPDATE: Lockport school district will follow new law barring facial recognition tech lockportjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lockportjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The use of facial recognition security systems in New York schools is now illegal, after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a temporary ban on their use Tuesday.
The bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Monica P. Wallace, D-Cheektowaga, would require the Lockport City School District to turn off the 300 digital cameras it installed to feed images to facial recognition software in its buildings.
A new year also marked the start of a new era for security efforts in Lockportâs public
The district won state Education Department approval for the system late last year and activated it Jan. 2.
The new law temporarily blocks the use of what it calls biometric identifying technology in all schools â public, nonpublic and charter.