Relates to reporting convictions of certain persons subject to the office of professional medical conduct

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Siela Bynoe says this is needed

This legislation is based on a proposal in the Unified Court System's Advisory Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure recent annual report. In 2008, the Legislature mandated that courts report any criminal conviction of a defendant who is a licensed physician, physician assist- ant, specialist assistant or a physician who is practicing under a limited permit or as a medical resident to the Office of Professional Medical Conduct (L. 2008, c. 477, section 26). At the time of its enact- ment, the judiciary recognized the operational challenge of the report- ing requirement because the statute did not confer on any individual or agency the duty to report to the court that a defendant was a member of one of these professions. While the judiciary provided training to court personnel and set up a reporting system, over time the procedure has repeatedly exposed the practical difficulty courts face in trying to comply with the statute. Courts rarely have knowledge of a defendant's licensing responsibilities, and there is no workable procedure for learning of the reporting duty without a mandate that someone officially bring these cases to the court's attention. The Legislature has provided redundancy in reporting such convictions by probation departments (see CPL 390.50(6)). Nonetheless, reporting lapses remain a continuing prob- lem. The prosecutorial agency is the appropriate agency to report the licens- ing requirement to the court. This measure therefore requires the prose- cutor to file a notice with the court after conviction and before sentence whenever a defendant comes within the statute. The measure leaves intact the court's ultimate responsibility to report the convictions to the Office of Professional Medical Conduct.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.