Bill Text: NY A06656 | 2009-2010 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Requires nonpublic and private elementary and secondary schools to require their prospective employees to submit fingerprints through the commissioner of education for the purpose of criminal background checks; authorizes conditional appointment of employees by such schools pending determination of the criminal background check.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-9)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-12-18 - enacting clause stricken [A06656 Detail]
Download: New_York-2009-A06656-Amended.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 6656--B 2009-2010 Regular Sessions I N A S S E M B L Y March 11, 2009 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. WEISENBERG, HIKIND, ROBINSON, KOLB, LANCMAN, COOK, ERRIGO, SPANO, BURLING, SCHROEDER, McKEVITT, TOBACCO, BARRON, MARKEY -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BARRA, GABRYSZAK, GORDON, MAISEL, PHEFFER, QUINN, SCHIMEL, TITUS, TOWNSEND -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit- tee -- again reported from said committee with amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring nonpublic and private elementary and secondary schools to apply to the commis- sioner of education for criminal history record checks on prospective employees THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 30 of section 305 of the 2 education law, as amended by chapter 630 of the laws of 2006, is amended 3 to read as follows: 4 (a) The commissioner, in cooperation with the division of criminal 5 justice services and in accordance with all applicable provisions of 6 law, shall promulgate rules and regulations to require the fingerprint- 7 ing of prospective employees, as defined in section eleven hundred twen- 8 ty-five of this chapter, of school districts, charter schools and boards 9 of cooperative educational services and [authorizing] REQUIRING the 10 fingerprinting of prospective employees of nonpublic and private elemen- 11 tary and secondary schools, and for the use of information derived from 12 searches of the records of the division of criminal justice services and 13 the federal bureau of investigation based on the use of such finger- 14 prints. The commissioner shall also develop a form for use by school 15 districts, charter schools, boards of cooperative educational services, 16 and nonpublic and private elementary and secondary schools in connection 17 with the submission of fingerprints that contains the specific job title EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD09638-04-9 A. 6656--B 2 1 sought and any other information that may be relevant to consideration 2 of the applicant. The commissioner shall also establish a form for the 3 recordation of allegations of child abuse in an educational setting, as 4 required pursuant to section eleven hundred twenty-six of this chapter. 5 No person who has been fingerprinted pursuant to section three thousand 6 four-b of this chapter or pursuant to section five hundred nine-cc or 7 twelve hundred twenty-nine-d of the vehicle and traffic law and whose 8 fingerprints remain on file with the division of criminal justice 9 services shall be required to undergo fingerprinting for purposes of a 10 new criminal history record check. This subdivision and the rules and 11 regulations promulgated pursuant thereto shall not apply to a school 12 district within a city with a population of one million or more. 13 S 2. The opening paragraph and subparagraph (i) of paragraph (b) of 14 subdivision 30 of section 305 of the education law, as amended by chap- 15 ter 630 of the laws of 2006, are amended to read as follows: 16 The commissioner, in cooperation with the division of criminal justice 17 services, shall promulgate a form to be provided to all such prospective 18 employees of school districts, charter schools, boards of cooperative 19 educational services, and nonpublic and private elementary and secondary 20 schools [that elect to fingerprint and seek clearance for prospective 21 employees] that shall: 22 (i) inform the prospective employee that the commissioner is required 23 [or authorized] to request his or her criminal history information from 24 the division of criminal justice services and the federal bureau of 25 investigation and review such information pursuant to this section, and 26 provide a description of the manner in which his or her fingerprint 27 cards will be used upon submission to the division of criminal justice 28 services; 29 S 3. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 30 of section 305 of the education 30 law, as amended by chapter 630 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read 31 as follows: 32 (d) The commissioner shall develop forms to be provided to all school 33 districts, charter schools, boards of cooperative educational services, 34 and [to] all nonpublic and private elementary and secondary schools 35 [that elect to fingerprint their prospective employees], to be completed 36 and signed by prospective employees when conditional appointment or 37 emergency conditional appointment is offered. 38 S 4. Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3 of section 3001-d of the education law, 39 as added by chapter 630 of the laws of 2006, are amended to read as 40 follows: 41 1. a. "Employee" shall mean any prospective employee of a nonpublic or 42 private elementary or secondary school [which requires the fingerprint- 43 ing of prospective employees pursuant to this section], or employee of a 44 contracted service provider or worker placed within such school under a 45 public assistance employment program, pursuant to title nine-B of arti- 46 cle five of the social services law, and consistent with the provisions 47 of such title for the provision of services to such school, its students 48 or employees, directly or through contract, whereby such services 49 performed by such person involve direct student contact. [Any] EVERY 50 nonpublic or private elementary or secondary school [which elects to] 51 SHALL submit for review criminal history information concerning prospec- 52 tive employees [must do so with respect to each such prospective employ- 53 ee], as defined in this paragraph, in accordance with this section. 54 b. "Volunteer" shall mean any person, other than an employee, who 55 provides services to a nonpublic or private elementary or secondary 56 school [which elects to require the fingerprinting of prospective A. 6656--B 3 1 employees pursuant to this section], which involve direct student 2 contact. 3 2. [Any] EVERY nonpublic or private elementary or secondary school 4 [may] SHALL require, for the purposes of a criminal history record 5 check, the fingerprinting of all prospective employees pursuant to 6 section three thousand thirty-five of this article, who do not hold 7 valid clearance pursuant to such section or pursuant to section three 8 thousand four-b of this article or section five hundred nine-cc or 9 twelve hundred twenty-nine-d of the vehicle and traffic law. Prior to 10 initiating the fingerprinting process, the prospective employer shall 11 furnish the applicant with the form described in paragraph (c) of subdi- 12 vision thirty of section three hundred five of this chapter and shall 13 obtain the applicant's consent to the criminal history record search. 14 Every set of fingerprints taken pursuant to this section shall be 15 promptly submitted to the commissioner for the purposes of clearance for 16 employment. 17 3. (a) Any nonpublic or private elementary or secondary school may 18 conditionally appoint a prospective employee. A request for conditional 19 clearance [may] SHALL be forwarded to the commissioner along with the 20 prospective employee's fingerprints. Such appointment may be delayed 21 until notification by the commissioner that the prospective employee has 22 been conditionally cleared for employment and shall terminate when the 23 prospective employer is notified of a determination by the commissioner 24 to grant or deny clearance, provided that if clearance is granted, the 25 appointment shall continue and the conditional status shall be removed. 26 Prior to commencement of such conditional appointment, the prospective 27 employer shall obtain a signed statement for conditional appointment 28 from the prospective employee, indicating whether, to the best of his or 29 her knowledge, he or she has a pending criminal charge or criminal 30 conviction in any jurisdiction outside the state. 31 (b) Any nonpublic or private elementary or secondary school may make 32 an emergency conditional appointment when an unforeseen emergency vacan- 33 cy has occurred. When such appointment is made, the process for condi- 34 tional appointment pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision [may] 35 SHALL also be initiated. Emergency conditional appointment may commence 36 prior to notification from the commissioner on conditional clearance and 37 shall terminate when the prospective employer is notified by the commis- 38 sioner regarding conditional clearance, provided that if conditional 39 clearance is granted, the appointment may continue as a conditional 40 appointment. Prior to the commencement of such appointment, the 41 prospective employer must obtain a signed statement for emergency condi- 42 tional appointment from the prospective employee, indicating whether, to 43 the best of his or her knowledge, he or she has a pending criminal 44 charge or criminal conviction in any jurisdiction. An "unforeseen emer- 45 gency vacancy" shall be defined as: (i) a vacancy that occurred less 46 than ten business days before the start of any school session, including 47 summer school, or during any school session, including summer school, 48 without sufficient notice to allow for clearance or conditional clear- 49 ance; (ii) when no other qualified person is available to fill the 50 vacancy temporarily; and (iii) when emergency conditional appointment is 51 necessary to maintain services which the school is legally required to 52 provide or services necessary to protect the health, education or safety 53 of students or staff. 54 (c) Each nonpublic or private elementary or secondary school[, which 55 elects to fingerprint prospective employees pursuant to subdivision two 56 of this section,] shall develop a policy for the safety of the children A. 6656--B 4 1 who have contact with an employee holding conditional appointment or 2 emergency conditional appointment. 3 S 5. This act shall take effect September 1, 2010; provided that the 4 amendments to paragraph (d) of subdivision 30 of section 305 of the 5 education law, made by section three of this act shall not affect the 6 expiration and repeal of such paragraph, and shall expire and be deemed 7 repealed therewith.