Bill Text: NY S01100 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Ensures that staff in libraries are able to curate collections, services, and programming that reflect the interests of all people of the community that the library serves.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-08 - REFERRED TO LIBRARIES [S01100 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-S01100-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1100

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     January 8, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens. MAY, COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and
          when printed to be committed to the Committee on Libraries

        AN ACT to amend the education law,  in  relation  to  requiring  certain
          libraries  to  adopt  policies ensuring that library staff are able to
          curate collections, services, and  programming  that  reflect  diverse
          interests

          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 "open shelves act".
     3    §  2.  Section  254 of the education law, as amended by chapter 718 of
     4  the laws of 1981, is amended to read as follows:
     5    § 254. Standards of library service. 1. The regents shall  have  power
     6  to  fix  standards of library service for every free association, public
     7  and hospital library or, with  the  advice  of  the  appropriate  tribal
     8  government  and library board of trustees, Indian library which receives
     9  any portion of  the  moneys  appropriated  by  the  state  to  aid  such
    10  libraries,  or  which  is supported in whole or in part by tax levied by
    11  any municipality or district. In the case of a  hospital  library  or  a
    12  library  serving  a  hospital,  such  standards  shall be established in
    13  consultation with the commissioner of health. If any such library  shall
    14  fail  to  comply  with  the regents requirements, such library shall not
    15  receive any portion of the moneys appropriated by the  state  for  free,
    16  hospital  or Indian libraries nor shall any tax be levied by any munici-
    17  pality or district for the support in whole or in part of such library.
    18    2. Such standards shall require every free  association,  public,  and
    19  hospital  library  or, with the advice of the appropriate tribal govern-
    20  ment and library board of trustees, Indian library, which  receives  any
    21  portion  of  the moneys appropriated by the state to aid such libraries,
    22  to adopt policies and procedures that ensure library staff are  able  to
    23  curate  and  develop collections, services, and programming that reflect
    24  the interests of all people of the community that the library serves.
    25    § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day  after  it  shall
    26  have become a law.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00089-02-5