Bill Text: NY A07319 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Requires residents of the state, who are foreign refugees, to register with the office of temporary and disability assistance; directs such office to provide registration information to the office of children and family services, the department of health, the office for new Americans, the department of law, the division of state police, the NYC police department, county sheriff's offices, municipal police departments, and the division of homeland security and emergency services; directs the office for new Americans to conduct background screenings of all refugees who register; requires refugee resettlement agencies to submit quarterly reports to the bureau of refugee and immigrant assistance on the refugees to whom it provides assistance, and to monitor the activities of such refugees for a certain period of time; directs the division of homeland security and emergency services to develop and implement a plan to ensure compliance by refugee resettlement agencies.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 42-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-09 - held for consideration in governmental operations [A07319 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A07319-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7319--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY May 17, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SLATER, ANGELINO, BARCLAY, BEEPHAN, BENDETT, BLANKENBUSH, BLUMENCRANZ, BRABENEC, K. BROWN, BYRNES, DeSTEFANO, DiPIETRO, DURSO, FLOOD, GANDOLFO, J. A. GIGLIO, J. M. GIGLIO, GRAY, HAWLEY, LEMONDES, MAHER, MANKTELOW, MCGOWAN, MIKULIN, MILLER, MORINEL- LO, PALMESANO, PIROZZOLO, RA, REILLY, SIMPSON, SMULLEN, SMITH, TAGUE, TANNOUSIS, WALSH -- read once and referred to the Committee on Govern- mental Operations -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to directing the division of homeland security and emergency services to develop a plan to ensure that refugee resettlement agencies monitor certain refugees; and directing the office for new Americans to conduct a background check on refugees; to amend the social services law, in relation to requiring aliens admitted to the United States as refugees to register with the office of temporary and disability assistance; and to amend the not-for-profit corporation law, in relation to requiring refugee resettlement agencies to submit quarterly reports to the bureau of refugee and immigrant assistance and requiring such agencies to moni- tor refugees for a certain period of time The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 709 of the executive law is 2 amended by adding a new paragraph (w) is added to read as follows: 3 (w) develop and implement a plan to ensure that all refugee resettle- 4 ment agencies comply with the requirements of section one thousand four 5 hundred thirteen of the not-for-profit corporation law. 6 § 2. Paragraphs (m) and (n) of subdivision 5 of section 94-b of the 7 executive law, as added by chapter 206 of the laws of 2014, are amended 8 and a new paragraph (o) is added to read as follows: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11317-02-3A. 7319--A 2 1 (m) Encourage and assist local governments in the development of 2 activities to enhance civic engagement among immigrants and in immigrant 3 communities; [and] 4 (n) Beginning in two thousand fifteen, by June fifteenth of each year, 5 produce a report to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, and the 6 temporary president of the senate describing the activities of the 7 office, including but not limited to, summarizing calls received through 8 the hotline and website, information on ESOL training services provided 9 by the office, the number of immigrants assisted through the opportunity 10 centers, or an estimation thereof, the status of any workforce develop- 11 ment programs, and any other relevant information[.]; and 12 (o) Screen and perform a background screening of every immigrant who 13 registers pursuant to subdivision nine of section twenty of the social 14 services law, to ensure that the immigrant does not present a security 15 risk to the state or the United States. The office shall provide the 16 results of each such screening to the department of law, the division of 17 state police, the New York city police department, the office of the 18 county sheriff for each county in the state, all municipal police 19 departments and the division of homeland security and emergency 20 services. 21 § 3. Paragraphs (i) and (j) of subdivision 3 of section 20 of the 22 social services law, paragraph (i) as added by chapter 304 of the laws 23 of 1990 and paragraph (j) as amended by section 20 of part PP of chapter 24 56 of the laws of 2022, are amended and a new paragraph (k) is added to 25 read as follows: 26 (i) to assure conformance with federal law, by entering into agree- 27 ments with the federal social security administration and public agen- 28 cies in other states responsible for administering the food stamp 29 program or programs under title I, II, IV-A, IV-D, X, XIV, XVI, or XIX 30 of the social security act under which the department will provide such 31 agencies, when required by federal law and only to the extent so 32 required, with data which may be of use in establishing or verifying 33 eligibility for or benefit amounts in such programs or ability to pay 34 support for a person receiving support collection services including 35 data obtained from the wage reporting system operated by the state 36 department of taxation and finance pursuant to section one hundred 37 seventy-one-a of the tax law[.], as added by chapter five hundred 38 forty-five of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-eight; 39 (j) to ensure the provision, on any form required to be completed at 40 application or recertification for the purpose of obtaining financial 41 assistance pursuant to this chapter, the form shall contain a check-off 42 question asking whether the applicant or recipient or a member of his or 43 her family served in the United States military, and an option to answer 44 in the affirmative. Where the applicant or recipient answers in the 45 affirmative to such question, the office of temporary and disability 46 assistance shall ensure that contact information for the state depart- 47 ment of veterans' services is provided to such applicant or recipient 48 addition to any other materials provided[.]; and 49 (k) to collect and maintain reports submitted by refugee resettlement 50 agencies pursuant to section fourteen hundred thirteen of the not-for- 51 profit corporation law. 52 § 4. Section 20 of the social services law is amended by adding a new 53 subdivision 9 to read as follows: 54 9. (a) The bureau of refugee and immigrant assistance of the office of 55 temporary and disability assistance shall provide to each alien who 56 resides in the state, and who was admitted to the United States of Amer-A. 7319--A 3 1 ica as a refugee pursuant to section two hundred seven of the United 2 States Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1157) or who was 3 seeking asylum pursuant to section two hundred eight of such act (8 4 U.S.C. § 1158), that he or she is required, within thirty days of enter- 5 ing the state, to: 6 (i) register as a refugee with the office of temporary and disability 7 assistance; and 8 (ii) be interviewed by and provide his or her fingerprints to an offi- 9 cer or employee of such office designated by the commissioner of tempo- 10 rary and disability assistance. 11 (b) The commissioner of temporary and disability assistance shall 12 maintain all refugee registration data and information in an electronic 13 database. Not less than on a monthly basis, the office of temporary and 14 disability assistance shall forward a copy of the registration record of 15 each refugee who registered during the preceding month, to the office of 16 children and family services, the department of health, the office for 17 new Americans, the department of law, the division of state police, and 18 the division of homeland security and emergency services. 19 (c) Annually, on or before February first, the commissioner of tempo- 20 rary and disability assistance shall submit a report on the registration 21 program established by this subdivision to the governor, the temporary 22 president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly. Such report 23 shall include the number of refugees who registered during the previous 24 calendar year and their countries of origin. 25 (d) For the purposes of this subdivision, the terms "alien" and "refu- 26 gee" shall have the same meaning as is ascribed to such terms by section 27 one hundred one of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act (8 28 U.S.C. 1101). 29 § 5. The not-for-profit corporation law is amended by adding a new 30 section 1413 to read as follows: 31 § 1413. Refugee resettlement agencies. 32 (a) Definition. "Refugee resettlement agency" means a voluntary agen- 33 cy, as defined pursuant to section 1411 of the United States Immigration 34 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1521), organization, or affiliate of 35 such agency or organization that receives federal funding for refugee 36 reception and placement resettlement services or other federal grants 37 intended for the support of refugee resettlement activities. 38 (b) Reporting requirement. Each refugee resettlement agency shall 39 report, on a quarterly basis, to the bureau of refugee and immigrant 40 assistance of the office of temporary and disability assistance: 41 (1) the total number of refugees resettled by the agency and the total 42 of such refugees in each of the following age groups: 43 (A) under eighteen years of age, 44 (B) between eighteen and sixty-four years of age, and 45 (C) sixty-five years of age or older; 46 (2) the public assistance benefits the refugees have applied for or 47 have been granted; and 48 (3) the countries of origin of the refugees. 49 (c) Monitoring requirement. Each refugee resettlement agency shall 50 monitor refugees who have registered with the office of temporary and 51 disability assistance pursuant to subdivision nine of section twenty of 52 the social services law until such time as a refugee is granted perma- 53 nent resident status by the United States Citizenship and Immigration 54 Services. 55 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
