Senator Krueger, Assembly Member O'Donnell Release Letter To Gov. Cuomo Calling For Summit ASAP And Immediate Suspension Of Email Deletion
State Senator Liz Krueger and Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell recently
released a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo, urging him to follow through
on a proposed email retention and transparency summit as soon as possible,
and to immediately suspend his administration’s 90-day email deletion
policy. The letter also strongly recommends the inclusion of policy experts
in the discussion, including Robert J. Freeman, Executive Director of
the Committee on Open Government (COOG), as well as state archive staff
and representatives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Senator Krueger and Assembly Member O’Donnell are the authors of S4307/A6078, legislation that would require government emails to be retained for at least 7 years, and subject the legislature to Freedom Of Information Law (FOIL).
“New Yorkers are tired of the childish “you first” mentality - it’s time for the adults in the room to have a rational conversation,” said Senator Krueger. “After calling for a summit on transparency, the Governor’s office now seems to be making that summit conditional on the legislature first adopting FOIL. I believe it is important to open the legislature to FOIL, and the bill Assembly Member O’Donnell and I have introduced will do just that. But the Governor can and should do the right thing and take action now to end the practice of auto-deleting emails. He has demonstrated that kind of leadership before, and it is needed again.”
“We don't need to hold a summit before we halt the current indefensible email deletion policy,” said Assembly Member O’Donnell. "An immediate suspension and then a summit as soon as possible will enable us to have the intelligent conversation we need regarding a unified state policy. This means inviting policy experts as well as legislative stakeholders, and developing a policy that reflects a commitment to sincere and broad transparency. Both a suspension of the policy and a summit need to happen urgently, but the suspension must happen now. With every day of delay, more emails are being lost that may prove necessary for future investigations."
The full text of the bill can be read below, and is also available here.
Senator Krueger and Assembly Member O’Donnell are the authors of S4307/A6078, legislation that would require government emails to be retained for at least 7 years, and subject the legislature to Freedom Of Information Law (FOIL).
“New Yorkers are tired of the childish “you first” mentality - it’s time for the adults in the room to have a rational conversation,” said Senator Krueger. “After calling for a summit on transparency, the Governor’s office now seems to be making that summit conditional on the legislature first adopting FOIL. I believe it is important to open the legislature to FOIL, and the bill Assembly Member O’Donnell and I have introduced will do just that. But the Governor can and should do the right thing and take action now to end the practice of auto-deleting emails. He has demonstrated that kind of leadership before, and it is needed again.”
“We don't need to hold a summit before we halt the current indefensible email deletion policy,” said Assembly Member O’Donnell. "An immediate suspension and then a summit as soon as possible will enable us to have the intelligent conversation we need regarding a unified state policy. This means inviting policy experts as well as legislative stakeholders, and developing a policy that reflects a commitment to sincere and broad transparency. Both a suspension of the policy and a summit need to happen urgently, but the suspension must happen now. With every day of delay, more emails are being lost that may prove necessary for future investigations."
The full text of the bill can be read below, and is also available here.