Bill Text: NY A02698 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires the office of state review to render decisions on certain appeals pertaining to children with handicapping conditions within thirty days of receipt of such appeals and authorizes parties to file appeals in federal court at the expiration of the thirty days.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - referred to education [A02698 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A02698-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          2698
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    January 23, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced by M. of A. ABINANTI -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Education
        AN  ACT  to amend the education law, in relation to requiring the office
          of state review to render decisions on certain appeals  pertaining  to
          children with handicapping conditions within thirty days of receipt of
          such appeals
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Paragraph d of subdivision 7 of section 4410 of the  educa-
     2  tion  law,  as amended by section 57 of part H of chapter 83 of the laws
     3  of 2002, is amended to read as follows:
     4    d. (i) A state review officer of the education department shall review
     5  the decision of the impartial hearing officer in the  manner  prescribed
     6  in  subdivision  two  of section forty-four hundred four of this article
     7  and render a decision no later than thirty days after  the  decision  of
     8  such hearing officer.
     9    (ii)  Appeals  taken to the office of state review shall be decided in
    10  the order in which they are received. In the event that the state review
    11  officer does not, within  thirty  days,  render  a  final  decision  and
    12  forward such decision to the parties, then the decision of the impartial
    13  hearing  officer  shall be substituted for the decision that should have
    14  been timely rendered by the state review officer and deemed to be  final
    15  for  administrative  purposes,  without  prejudice to any further appeal
    16  that may be taken by any aggrieved party to the federal  court  pursuant
    17  to 34 C.F.R. § 300.516.
    18    § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 4404 of the education law, as amended by
    19  chapter 53 of the laws of 1990, is amended to read as follows:
    20    2.  Review  by  state review officer. a. A state review officer of the
    21  education department shall review and may modify, in such cases  and  to
    22  the extent that the review officer deems necessary, in order to properly
    23  effectuate the purposes of this article, any determination of the impar-
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00917-01-7
        A. 2698                             2
     1  tial  hearing  officer  relating to the determination of the nature of a
     2  child's handicapping condition,  selection  of  an  appropriate  special
     3  education program or service and the failure to provide such program and
     4  require  such  board to comply with the provisions of such modification.
     5  The commissioner shall adopt  regulations  governing  the  practice  and
     6  procedure  in such appeals to the state review officer; provided, howev-
     7  er, that in no event shall any fee or charge whatsoever be  imposed  for
     8  any  appeal taken pursuant to this subdivision. The state review officer
     9  is empowered to make all orders which are proper or  necessary  to  give
    10  effect to the decision of the review officer.
    11    b. Appeals taken to the office of state review shall be decided in the
    12  order  in  which  they  are received. In the event that the state review
    13  officer does not, within  thirty  days,  render  a  final  decision  and
    14  forward such decision to the parties, then the decision of the impartial
    15  hearing  officer shall be substituted for the final decision that should
    16  have been timely rendered by the state review officer and deemed  to  be
    17  final  for  administrative  purposes,  without  prejudice to any further
    18  appeal that may be taken by any aggrieved party  to  the  federal  court
    19  pursuant to 34 C.F.R. § 300.516.
    20    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply equally to
    21  cases  that have been pending before the office of state review for more
    22  than 30 days following the receipt of a request  for  a  review  without
    23  issuance  of  a decision as of the date this act shall have become a law
    24  and to cases in which the 30-day period elapses without  issuance  of  a
    25  decision on or after the date this act shall have become a law.