ALBANY — A bill intended to clarify investigators’ access to sensitive child protective services records passed in both the state Senate and Assembly on Monday with the force of the murder of a Knox boy behind it. There were no dissenting votes.

Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, a Democrat from Albany, said she got a call from Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple days after Kenneth White, 5, a kindergarten student at Berne-Knox-Westerlo, was found dead on Dec. 18. His cousin, who had reported him as abducted by a pair of black-clad men, was arrested for murder the next day.

Apple expressed frustration after Tiffany VanAlstyne’s arrest in December, saying investigators were left to rely on family members’ contradictory statements in a time-sensitive situation.

The new bill allows for investigators to quickly request a supervisor’s review of a denied request.

In the months that followed VanAlstyne’s arrest, the bill was formed and passed the Committee on Children and Families, on which Fahy serves. Some lawyers advising the committee said investigators’ access to records was already described in the law, but legal opinions varied, Fahy said.

The records in question are kept in a statewide register that serves as a clearinghouse for reports of child abuse and maltreatment. Child Protective Services agencies are required by law to keep those records confidential, except for certain situations and people.

When VanAlstyne was arrested, Albany County District Attorney David Soares told The Enterprise he doesn’t criticize the system as it is, with a subpoena required to obtain health records for an investigation.

The records relevant to the bill include information on what was initially reported; the final disposition; any social services offered or accepted; a treatment plan; names and “identifying data” of those involved; photographs; and the dates and circumstances for any requests of the register.

Both Fahy and Senator George Amedore, a Republican from Rotterdam, sponsors of the bill, said the changes to the social services law would likely not have saved White’s life, but his case illuminated confusion about the access that law-enforcement agencies are given when they have reasonable suspicion.

The bill adjusts the definition of “criminal justice agency,” which includes a district attorney, some in a district attorney’s office, or a police officer. It also organizes the paragraphs to cluster provisions about records access closer together.

It replaces a paragraph specifically referring to a situation in which authorities are investigating a missing child case. If investigators have “reason to suspect” that a report, held by a social services agency, names a parent, legal guardian, the child, or a sibling, and that it would help the investigation, they can access the records.

If a request is denied, the amendment allows for a law enforcement agency to have an “expedient” way to ask for an administrative review by the state’s Office of Children and Family Services.

The bill had several co-sponsors in each house. It was passed in the Assembly, 144 to 0, and in the Senate, 63 to 0. It will take effect 60 days after the governor signs it into law.