STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5300--B
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 20, 2017
___________
Introduced by Sen. ORTT -- (at request of the Justice Center for the
Protection of People with Special Needs) -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Mental
Health and Developmental Disabilities -- recommitted to the Committee
on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities in accordance with
Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to the requirement
to check the justice center's register of substantiated category one
cases of abuse or neglect
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 3 of section 495 of the social services
2 law, as added by section 1 of part B of chapter 501 of the laws of 2012,
3 are amended to read as follows:
4 2. (a) All facility and provider agencies, other providers of services
5 to vulnerable persons in programs licensed, certified or funded by any
6 state oversight agency, overnight, summer day and traveling summer day
7 camps for children subject to the provisions of article thirteen-B of
8 the public health law, any provider defined in paragraph (a) of subdivi-
9 sion six of section twenty-eight hundred ninety-nine of the public
10 health law and, except for a state or local governmental official who
11 receives an application for a permit to operate a camp that is subject
12 to the provisions of article thirteen-B of the public health law, other
13 provider and licensing agencies as defined in subdivision three or four
14 of section four hundred twenty-four-a of this chapter shall check the
15 register of substantiated category one cases of abuse or neglect before
16 determining whether to hire or otherwise allow any person as an employ-
17 ee, administrator, consultant, intern, volunteer or contractor who will
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10142-05-8
S. 5300--B 2
1 have the potential for regular and substantial contact with a service
2 recipient or before approving an applicant for a license, certificate,
3 permit or other approval to provide care to a service recipient. (For
4 state entities bound by collective bargaining, such action established
5 by collective bargaining shall govern.)
6 (b) An inquiry regarding any current employee, administrator, consult-
7 ant, intern, volunteer or contractor who will have the potential for
8 regular and substantial contact with a service recipient may be made
9 only once in any six-month period.
10 3. If a person is listed on the register of substantiated category one
11 cases of abuse or neglect, a facility or provider agency and all other
12 providers of services to vulnerable persons in programs licensed or
13 certified by any state oversight agency shall not hire such a person to
14 have regular and substantial contact with a service recipient in any
15 such facility or program. Other providers of services defined in subdi-
16 vision two of this section, except providers or licensing agencies as
17 defined in subdivision three or four of section four hundred twenty-
18 four-a of this chapter, shall not hire such a person for any position in
19 which the person would have the potential for regular and substantial
20 contact with persons to whom they would be providing care, if the
21 prospective employee is listed on the register of substantiated category
22 one cases of abuse or neglect. Other providers or licensing agencies as
23 defined in subdivision three or four of section four hundred twenty-
24 four-a of this chapter shall determine whether to hire or allow such a
25 person to have regular or substantial contact with a service recipient
26 in accordance with the provisions of subdivision five of section four
27 hundred twenty-four-a of this chapter.
28 § 2. Subdivision 7 of section 424-a of the social services law, as
29 added by section 8 of part D of chapter 501 of the laws of 2012, is
30 amended to read as follows:
31 7. Any facility[,] or provider agency, [or program] as defined in
32 subdivision four of section four hundred eighty-eight of this chapter,
33 that is required to conduct an inquiry pursuant to section four hundred
34 ninety-five of this chapter before determining whether to hire or other-
35 wise allow any person as an employee, administrator, consultant, intern,
36 volunteer or contractor who will have the potential for regular and
37 substantial contact with a service recipient shall first conduct the
38 inquiry required under such section. If the result of the inquiry under
39 section four hundred ninety-five of this chapter is that the person
40 about whom the inquiry is made is on the register of substantiated cate-
41 gory one cases of abuse or neglect and [the] such facility or provider
42 agency is required to deny the application in accordance with article
43 eleven of this chapter, the facility or provider agency shall not be
44 required to make an inquiry of the office under this section.
45 § 3. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
46 law.