Bill Text: NY S03479 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Relates to the fingerprinting and background checks of contracted service providers of student support services.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 6-2)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-02-27 - referred to education [S03479 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S03479-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3479--A Cal. No. 112 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 23, 2017 ___________ Introduced by Sens. MARCELLINO, AMEDORE, DeFRANCISCO, GOLDEN, HAMILTON, RANZENHOFER, SAVINO, SEWARD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Children and Families -- recommitted to the Committee on Education in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to first and second report, ordered to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to background checks and fingerprinting; and to amend the social services law, in relation to statewide central registry clearances by contracted service providers of student support services The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 1125 of the education law, as 2 added by chapter 180 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows: 3 3. "Employee" shall mean any person receiving compensation from a 4 school district or employee of a contracted service provider, a 5 contracted service provider of student support services or worker placed 6 within the school under a public assistance employment program, pursuant 7 to title nine-B of article five of the social services law, and consist- 8 ent with the provisions of such title for the provision of services to 9 such district, its students or employees, directly or through contract, 10 whereby such services performed by such person involve direct student 11 contact. 12 § 2. Paragraph (a-2) of subdivision 3 of section 2854 of the education 13 law is amended by adding a new subparagraph (v) to read as follows: 14 (v) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this section, the 15 board of trustees of a charter school shall not be required to oversee 16 the fingerprinting process for employees of a contracted service provid- 17 er of student support services such as, but not limited to, substitute 18 teachers, substitute teacher aides, substitute nurses, educational EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05150-08-8S. 3479--A 2 1 consultants, tutors, substitute school administrative support and other 2 temporary student services professionals, so long as they have engaged a 3 contracted service provider of student support services who has complied 4 with the fingerprinting requirements elsewhere in this chapter. 5 § 3. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 30 of section 305 of the education 6 law, as amended by chapter 630 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read 7 as follows: 8 (a) The commissioner, in cooperation with the division of criminal 9 justice services and in accordance with all applicable provisions of 10 law, shall promulgate rules and regulations to require the fingerprint- 11 ing of prospective employees, as defined in section eleven hundred twen- 12 ty-five of this chapter, of school districts, charter schools [and], 13 boards of cooperative educational services and contracted service 14 providers of student support services and authorizing the fingerprinting 15 of prospective employees of nonpublic and private elementary and second- 16 ary schools, and for the use of information derived from searches of the 17 records of the division of criminal justice services and the federal 18 bureau of investigation based on the use of such fingerprints. The 19 commissioner shall also develop a form for use by school districts, 20 charter schools, boards of cooperative educational services, contracted 21 service providers of student support services, and nonpublic and private 22 elementary and secondary schools in connection with the submission of 23 fingerprints that contains the specific job title sought and any other 24 information that may be relevant to consideration of the applicant. The 25 commissioner shall also create or expand the functionality of internet 26 based systems to provide access to contracted service providers of 27 student support services upon application of the contracted service 28 provider of student support services to the commissioner to enable them 29 to be able to review fingerprint results and subsequent arrest notifica- 30 tions based on the fingerprint and background check data by logging into 31 a protected web portal, entering in the employee name and social securi- 32 ty number, which would provide access to see the fingerprint results. 33 The commissioner shall also establish a form for the recordation of 34 allegations of child abuse in an educational setting, as required pursu- 35 ant to section eleven hundred twenty-six of this chapter. No person who 36 has been fingerprinted pursuant to section three thousand four-b of this 37 chapter or pursuant to section five hundred nine-cc or twelve hundred 38 twenty-nine-d of the vehicle and traffic law and whose fingerprints 39 remain on file with the division of criminal justice services shall be 40 required to undergo fingerprinting for purposes of a new criminal histo- 41 ry record check. This subdivision and the rules and regulations promul- 42 gated pursuant thereto shall not apply to a school district within a 43 city with a population of one million or more. 44 § 4. The opening paragraph of paragraph (b) of subdivision 30 of 45 section 305 of the education law, as amended by chapter 630 of the laws 46 of 2006, is amended to read as follows: 47 The commissioner, in cooperation with the division of criminal justice 48 services, shall promulgate a form to be provided to all such prospective 49 employees of school districts, charter schools, boards of cooperative 50 educational services, contracted service providers of student support 51 services and nonpublic and private elementary and secondary schools that 52 elect to fingerprint and seek clearance for prospective employees that 53 shall: 54 § 5. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 30 of section 305 of the education 55 law, as amended by chapter 630 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read 56 as follows:S. 3479--A 3 1 (d) The commissioner shall develop forms to be provided to all school 2 districts, charter schools, boards of cooperative educational services, 3 contracted service providers of student support services and to all 4 nonpublic and private elementary and secondary schools that elect to 5 fingerprint their prospective employees, to be completed and signed by 6 prospective employees when conditional appointment or emergency condi- 7 tional appointment is offered. 8 § 6. Subdivision 31 of section 305 of the education law, as added by 9 chapter 380 of the laws of 2001, is amended to read as follows: 10 31. The commissioner shall direct that each school district, charter 11 school, [and] private elementary and secondary school, and contracted 12 service provider of student support services appoint a designated educa- 13 tional official for the purposes set forth in section 380.90 of the 14 criminal procedure law, subdivision seventeen of section 301.2 and 15 subdivision three of section 380.1 of the family court act. In addition, 16 the commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations, in consultation 17 with the office of court administration, to facilitate electronic access 18 by the courts to the names and addresses of such designated educational 19 officials. 20 § 7. Subdivision 1 of section 3035 of the education law, as amended by 21 chapter 630 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows: 22 1. The commissioner shall submit to the division of criminal justice 23 services two sets of fingerprints of prospective employees as defined in 24 subdivision three of section eleven hundred twenty-five of this chapter 25 received from a school district, charter school or board of cooperative 26 educational services, contracted service providers of student support 27 services and of prospective employees received from nonpublic and 28 private elementary and secondary schools pursuant to title two of this 29 chapter, and the division of criminal justice services processing fee 30 imposed pursuant to subdivision eight-a of section eight hundred thir- 31 ty-seven of the executive law and any fee imposed by the federal bureau 32 of investigation. The division of criminal justice services and the 33 federal bureau of investigation shall forward such criminal history 34 record to the commissioner in a timely manner. For the purposes of this 35 section, the term "criminal history record" shall mean a record of all 36 convictions of crimes and any pending criminal charges maintained on an 37 individual by the division of criminal justice services and the federal 38 bureau of investigation. All such criminal history records sent to the 39 commissioner pursuant to this subdivision shall be confidential pursuant 40 to the applicable federal and state laws, rules and regulations, and 41 shall not be published or in any way disclosed to persons other than the 42 commissioner, unless otherwise authorized by law. 43 § 8. Subdivision 3 of section 3035 of the education law, as amended by 44 section 7 of chapter 630 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as 45 follows: 46 3. (a) Clearance. (i) After receipt of a criminal history record from 47 the division of criminal justice services and the federal bureau of 48 investigation the commissioner shall promptly notify the appropriate 49 school district, charter school, board of cooperative educational 50 services, contracted service providers of student support services or 51 nonpublic or private elementary or secondary school whether the prospec- 52 tive employee to which such report relates is cleared for employment 53 based upon his or her criminal history. All determinations to grant or 54 deny clearance for employment pursuant to this paragraph shall be 55 performed in accordance with subdivision sixteen of section two hundred 56 ninety-six of the executive law and article twenty-three-A of theS. 3479--A 4 1 correction law. When the commissioner denies a prospective employee 2 clearance for employment, such prospective employee shall be afforded 3 notice and the right to be heard and offer proof in opposition to such 4 determination in accordance with the regulations of the commissioner. 5 (ii) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, 6 information regarding the results of the investigation of current or 7 prospective employees of contracted service providers of student support 8 services and subsequent changes in status related to such employees 9 shall be transmitted via an internet-based system made available to 10 contracted service providers of student support services upon applica- 11 tion of the contracted service provider of student support services to 12 the commissioner where, by logging into a protected web portal and 13 entering in the employee name and social security number, contracted 14 service providers of student support services would be able to access 15 fingerprint results, whether the employee first completed a form 16 provided to them by the contracted service provider of student support 17 services, or received a form previously from a school district, charter 18 school or board of cooperative educational services. Nothing in this 19 section shall require an employee who has already submitted their fing- 20 erprints to the commissioner to have to submit them again, so long as 21 they were not destroyed. 22 (b) Conditional clearance. When the commissioner receives a request 23 for a determination on the conditional clearance of a prospective 24 employee, the commissioner, after receipt of a criminal history record 25 from the division of criminal justice services, shall promptly notify 26 the prospective employee and the appropriate school district, charter 27 school, board of cooperative educational services, contracted service 28 providers of student support services or nonpublic or private elementary 29 or secondary school that the prospective employee to which such report 30 relates is conditionally cleared for employment based upon his or her 31 criminal history or that more time is needed to make the determination. 32 If the commissioner determines that more time is needed, the notifica- 33 tion shall include a good faith estimate of the amount of additional 34 time needed. Such notification shall be made within fifteen business 35 days after the commissioner receives the prospective employee's finger- 36 prints. All determinations to grant or deny conditional clearance for 37 employment pursuant to this paragraph shall be performed in accordance 38 with subdivision sixteen of section two hundred ninety-six of the execu- 39 tive law and article twenty-three-A of the correction law. 40 § 9. Subdivision 3 of section 3035 of the education law, as amended by 41 section 8 of chapter 630 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as 42 follows: 43 3. After receipt of a criminal history record from the division of 44 criminal justice services and the federal bureau of investigation the 45 commissioner shall promptly notify the appropriate school district, 46 charter school, board of cooperative educational services, contracted 47 service providers of student support services or nonpublic or private 48 elementary or secondary school whether the prospective employee to which 49 such report relates is cleared for employment based upon his or her 50 criminal history. All determinations to grant or deny clearance for 51 employment pursuant to this subdivision shall be performed in accordance 52 with subdivision sixteen of section two hundred ninety-six of the execu- 53 tive law and article twenty-three-A of the correction law. When the 54 commissioner denies a prospective employee clearance for employment, 55 such prospective employee shall be afforded notice and the right to beS. 3479--A 5 1 heard and offer proof in opposition to such determination in accordance 2 with the regulations of the commissioner. 3 § 10. Section 1125 of the education law is amended by adding a new 4 subdivision 10 to read as follows: 5 10. "Contracted service provider of student support services" shall 6 mean any individual or entity that contracts with, but not limited to, a 7 school district, a charter school, a board of cooperative educational 8 services, or a nonpublic school for the provision of substitute teach- 9 ers, substitute teacher assistants, substitute nurses, educational 10 professional, tutors, substitute school administrative support, and 11 other temporary student service personnel. 12 § 11. Subdivision 3 of section 424-a of the social services law, as 13 amended by section 3 of part Q of chapter 56 of the laws of 2017, is 14 amended to read as follows: 15 3. For purposes of this section, the term "provider" or "provider 16 agency" shall mean: an authorized agency; the office of children and 17 family services; juvenile detention facilities subject to the certif- 18 ication of the office of children and family services; programs estab- 19 lished pursuant to article nineteen-H of the executive law; non-residen- 20 tial or residential programs or facilities licensed or operated by the 21 office of mental health or the office for people with developmental 22 disabilities except family care homes; licensed child day care centers, 23 including head start programs which are funded pursuant to title V of 24 the federal economic opportunity act of nineteen hundred sixty-four, as 25 amended; early intervention service established pursuant to section 26 twenty-five hundred forty of the public health law; preschool services 27 established pursuant to section forty-four hundred ten of the education 28 law; school-age child care programs; contracted service providers of 29 student support services as defined in subdivision ten of section eleven 30 hundred twenty-five of the education law; special act school districts 31 as enumerated in chapter five hundred sixty-six of the laws of nineteen 32 hundred sixty-seven, as amended; programs and facilities licensed by the 33 office of alcoholism and substance abuse services; residential schools 34 which are operated, supervised or approved by the education department; 35 publicly-funded emergency shelters for families with children, provided, 36 however, for purposes of this section, when the provider or provider 37 agency is a publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with chil- 38 dren, then all references in this section to the "potential for regular 39 and substantial contact with individuals who are cared for by the agen- 40 cy" shall mean the potential for regular and substantial contact with 41 children who are served by such shelter; and any other facility or 42 provider agency, as defined in subdivision four of section four hundred 43 eighty-eight of this chapter, in regard to the employment of staff, or 44 use of providers of goods and services and staff of such providers, 45 consultants, interns and volunteers. 46 § 12. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 390-a of the social 47 services law, as amended by chapter 416 of the laws of 2000, is amended 48 to read as follows: 49 (a) review and evaluate the backgrounds of and information supplied by 50 any person applying to be a child day care center or school-age child 51 care program employee or volunteer or group family day care assistant, a 52 provider of family day care or group family day care, or a director of a 53 child day care center, head start day care center or school-age child 54 care program. Such procedures shall include but not be limited to the 55 following requirements: that the applicant set forth his or her employ- 56 ment history, provide personal and employment references; submit suchS. 3479--A 6 1 information as is required for screening with the statewide central 2 register of child abuse and maltreatment in accordance with the 3 provisions of section four hundred twenty-four-a of this article; sign a 4 sworn statement indicating whether, to the best of his or her knowledge, 5 he or she has ever been convicted of a crime in this state or any other 6 jurisdiction; and provide his or her fingerprints for submission to the 7 division of criminal justice services in accordance with the provisions 8 of section three hundred ninety-b of this title. Notwithstanding the 9 provisions of this paragraph, where a program has people working on 10 their premises through a contracted service provider of student support 11 services as defined in subdivision ten of section eleven hundred twen- 12 ty-five of the education law, and such contracted services provider of 13 student support services has properly performed checks on its employees 14 as a provider or provider agency under section four hundred 15 twenty-four-a of this chapter, then such program does not need to run 16 the check itself on the contracted service provider employees working on 17 their site; 18 § 13. This act shall take effect immediately; provided however that: 19 (a) the amendments to paragraph (a-2) of subdivision 3 of section 2854 20 of the education law made by section two of this act shall not affect 21 the expiration of such paragraph and shall expire and be deemed repealed 22 therewith; (b) the amendments to paragraph (d) of subdivision 30 of 23 section 305 of the education law made by section five of this act shall 24 not affect the repeal of such paragraph and shall be deemed repealed 25 therewith; and (c) the amendments to subdivision 3 of section 3035 of 26 the education law made by section eight of this act shall be subject to 27 the expiration and reversion of such subdivision, pursuant to section 12 28 of chapter 147 of the laws of 2001, as amended, when upon such date the 29 provisions of section nine of this act shall take effect.
