Arriving fans stop for a security check before an NFL preseason football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Minnesota Vikings on Friday, Aug. 16, 2013, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Bill Wippert)

The Buffalo Bills will be exempt from a state requirement to hire licensed security guards for the next two years.

Both houses of the state Legislature have passed S.7832/A.8714, which implements minor changes to legislation passed during the end of the 2021 legislative session to extend an exemption from the state Security Guard Act to publicly owned sports venues that hire security guards on a temporary basis for less than 15 days a year. Anyone receiving the extension must have at least 50% of the security staff be a licensed security guard. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the bill in late February.

“I did support this bill,” said state Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay. “But I can tell you that the original legislation, the so-called Security Guard Act, is not what we have today. What this bill does today that the sponsors has put forward is try to correct the idea that everyone should be a licensed security guard. Unfortunately this bill only refers to one specific area. But I can tell you from personal experience that this is a problem for every single hospitality business in New York state that has to employ someone who, whether they check ID at a front door or work security inside or at a gate, they have to go through this licensing process.”

Anyone who wants to be a licensed security guard in New York has to submit a completed application and the required fee to the Department of State, be 18 years old, show proof of a fingerprint test, have not been convicted of a serious criminal offense, have a current state photo driver’s license or non-driver ID card and complete training. Additionally, they must pay an initial $36 application fee and a $101.75 fingerprint fee. There is also a $25 renewal fee each year, a $25 change of employment status notification fee, a $25 duplicate license or registration request fee and a $25 change of status fee. There is also an online security guard registry that security guards are required to use.

“But on top of that you also have to pay a private company to actually do the security guard training,” Borrello said. “So to get one person licensed is hundreds of dollars and then they have to renew those licenses. And, rightly so, we are saying we’re not able to get, nor is it necessary, to get every person licensed in situations like the Buffalo Bills stadium. So while I agree that we should make this exception in this case, we should make this exception for everybody. Not just one specific public venue owned by a county, but for every venue that faces this burdensome act, the Security Guard Act, that has been essentially twisted into something it was never intended to be when it passed this chamber many many years ago.”

In 2021, the Department of State and and Department of Criminal Justice Services together collected $2,837,475 in fingerprinting transaction fees, $199,500 in school and instructor fees and $3,574,932.56 in department application fees. In 2021, the department suspended 53 security guard registrations. During the same year, 12 security guard registrations were revoked. The Department imposed $359,900 in fines against security guard companies.

Borrello called on fellow legislators to reconsider the entire Security Guard Act. The legislation was originally passed in 1992, and Borrello said reconsidering the legislation could be helpful for the hard-hit hospitality industry statewide.

“I would ask that we be concerned not just for one very specific, very popular seasonal operation but for every operation that has to deal with this and the burdensome regulations that this has created,” Borrello said. “We need to think about our small businesses. We need to think about every single business in New York state that has been devastated by this pandemic. The hospitality industry was by far the hardest hit by this pandemic and its situations like this where we have made an exception for one while we’ve let every other small business in New York state continue to suffer. That’s why New York state has a problem being one of the worst places to do business in the nation.”