Bill Text: NY A00649 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to requiring postsecondary institutions that participate in study abroad programs to report crime and harm that occurs to participating students.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-2)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to higher education [A00649 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A00649-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           649

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 11, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of A. JACOBSON, FAHY, REYES, DICKENS, AUBRY, STIRPE,
          WALLACE, HUNTER, SAYEGH, JACKSON, SILLITTI, DURSO, LEMONDES --  Multi-
          Sponsored  by  -- M.   of A. BUTTENSCHON, COOK, SIMON -- read once and
          referred to the Committee on Higher Education

        AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to  requiring  postsecon-
          dary  institutions that participate in study abroad programs to report
          crime and harm that occurs to participating students

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
     2  the "Safe Student Study Abroad Act" also known as the "Ravi  Thackurdeen
     3  Safe Student Study Abroad Act".
     4    §  2.  Title 7 of the education law is amended by adding a new article
     5  130-A to read as follows:
     6                                ARTICLE 130-A
     7                          SAFE STUDENT STUDY ABROAD
     8  Section 6517. Definitions.
     9          6518. Reporting.
    10    § 6517. Definitions. As used in  this  article,  the  following  terms
    11  shall have the following meanings:
    12    1. "College", "university" and "postsecondary" shall mean any institu-
    13  tion  of higher education, recognized and approved by the regents, which
    14  provides a course of study leading to the granting  of  a  postsecondary
    15  degree or diploma.
    16    2.  "Third party entities" shall mean any for profit or not-for-profit
    17  business that is not a college, university or postsecondary  institution
    18  which provides a study abroad program or coordinates a program between a
    19  college,  university  or  postsecondary institution in the United States
    20  and a study abroad program.
    21    3. "Study abroad program" shall mean programs which are coordinated by
    22  college, university or postsecondary institutions and third party  enti-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02358-01-3
        A. 649                              2

     1  ties  in  the state of New York, that provide students with the opportu-
     2  nity to work or study, wholly or  in  principal  part,  outside  of  the
     3  United States of America.
     4    4. "Study abroad organization" shall mean college, university or post-
     5  secondary  institutions as well as third party entities that offer study
     6  abroad programs.
     7    § 6518. Reporting. 1. Beginning one year after the effective  date  of
     8  this  article,  study abroad organizations shall make and file an annual
     9  report to the department by August fifteenth of each year.  Such  report
    10  shall  be prepared by all reasonably available data and shall consist of
    11  data from the previous two years and  comply  with  the  federal  health
    12  insurance  portability  and  accountability  act  (HIPAA)  of  1996,  as
    13  amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. section
    14  1681, et. seq.) and all other applicable regulations. Data  representing
    15  individuals shall be in numerical form omitting personal information.
    16    2. The report mandated by this section shall include:
    17    a.  for the previous academic year, including summer terms, the effec-
    18  tiveness of the study abroad program at protecting students  from  crime
    19  and harm, whether changes to such program are needed and how such chang-
    20  es will be implemented;
    21    b. deaths of program participants including manner of death;
    22    c.  accidents and illnesses that resulted in hospitalization including
    23  the type of such accident or illness;
    24    d. sexual assaults against program participants;
    25    e. incidents that resulted in a police report including type of  inci-
    26  dent; and
    27    f.  with  respect to the incidents described in paragraphs b through e
    28  of this subdivision, whether the incidents occurred:
    29    i. during program participation;
    30    ii. during students own time;
    31    iii. on campus; and
    32    iv. off campus.
    33    g. the location of the incident;
    34    h. the time of the incident; and
    35    i. the date of the incident.
    36    3. Study abroad organizations shall also report on  ethical  relation-
    37  ships  and  conflict of interest avoidance policies with all major part-
    38  ners.
    39    4. Colleges with enrollments below three thousand will report data  to
    40  the  department  to  be made available with the institution of reference
    41  redacted.
    42    5. Study abroad organizations shall include references to  the  avail-
    43  ability  of  the  reports identified in this section on all websites and
    44  printed materials.
    45    6. The department shall make the  reports  required  in  this  section
    46  available to any state legislator upon request.
    47    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.