Bill Text: NY S00551 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires that the commissioner of education and the commissioner of public health shall develop standardized vaping and e-cigarette school guidelines to assist school districts when they are developing their own policies.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO EDUCATION [S00551 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S00551-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           551

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                       (Prefiled)

                                     January 6, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  MAYER, JACKSON, SERRANO -- read twice and ordered
          printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on  Educa-
          tion

        AN  ACT to amend the education law, in relation to creating standardized
          vaping and e-cigarette school guidelines

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

     1    Section  1.  The  legislature  hereby  finds and declares the reported
     2  incidents of e-cigarettes use referred to as "vaping" among youth  lead-
     3  ing  to  nicotine  addiction,  serious  illness and death to be a public
     4  health crisis that is growing in prevalence in middle  grades  and  high
     5  schools  throughout  the  state.  The  rates of adolescents and youth in
     6  grades eight through twelve using vaping products  to  consume  nicotine
     7  has doubled in recent years with twenty-five percent of twelfth graders,
     8  twenty  percent  of  tenth  graders  and  nine percent of eighth graders
     9  reporting vaping. The New York state department of health has reported a
    10  one hundred sixty percent increase in four years of high school students
    11  using e-cigarettes. The  use  of  e-cigarettes  through  vaping  devices
    12  delivers  addictive  nicotine  in  more  powerful,  higher doses leading
    13  adolescents to long-term health consequences, illnesses,  related  prob-
    14  lems  and  possibly  death. Public school officials throughout the state
    15  are grappling with monitoring and detecting vaping use on school proper-
    16  ty, posing an increasing demand on school  health,  guidance  and  pupil
    17  support personnel and additional administrative responsibilities result-
    18  ing  from the surge in youth e-cigarette usage.  There is no debate that
    19  use of e-cigarettes through vaping devices is harmful  to  young  people
    20  with  detrimental lifelong health consequences.  Therefore, the legisla-
    21  ture finds that the appropriate state agencies overseeing education  and
    22  health  shall  work  collaboratively  to  develop  guidelines  to assist
    23  schools with developing policies and procedures and access any potential

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02616-01-1
        S. 551                              2

     1  related funding to discourage and combat the  rise  in  e-cigarette  use
     2  among youth.
     3    §  2.  Section  305  of  the  education law is amended by adding a new
     4  subdivision 57 to read as follows:
     5    57. In order to  ensure  standardized  well-informed  school  policies
     6  regarding  vaping  and  e-cigarette use in schools, the commissioner, in
     7  consultation with the commissioner of health, shall  develop  guidelines
     8  for  school  districts to elect to use when developing policies on e-ci-
     9  garette use through vaping devices. The commissioner shall update  these
    10  guidelines as necessary based on health data and educational research on
    11  the implications of e-cigarette use. Such guidelines shall include, at a
    12  minimum:
    13    a.  a model school policy expressly prohibiting vaping and e-cigarette
    14  use on school grounds that can be included as part of school  districts'
    15  codes of conduct or other school policy;
    16    b.  specific  proposals  for age-appropriate school district education
    17  regarding the health risks  associated  with  vaping,  including  health
    18  risks for children;
    19    c.   specific  age-appropriate  programming,  including  social  media
    20  outreach,  for  discouraging  e-cigarette  use  and  vaping  by   school
    21  students,  and  other related information that may be incorporated under
    22  paragraph (b) of subdivision two of  section  thirteen  hundred  ninety-
    23  nine-ii of the public health law or other relevant program; and
    24    d. listing of available funding sources for school districts to combat
    25  e-cigarette use and vaping in schools.
    26    § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    27  it shall have become a law.