Bill Text: NY S06924 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Establishes a task force on missing women and girls who are black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) to develop policy changes that will work to address the lack of care and concern for missing and murdered BIPOC women and girls with New York state governmental agencies.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-06-03 - COMMITTED TO RULES [S06924 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S06924-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6924--A 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN SENATE May 20, 2021 ___________ Introduced by Sens. BIAGGI, BROUK, CLEARE, GAUGHRAN, HOYLMAN, MAYER, MYRIE, RAMOS, RIVERA, SALAZAR -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Women's Issues -- recommitted to the Committee on Women's Issues in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to establish a task force on missing women and girls who are black, indigenous and people of color; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature finds 2 that: 3 a. According to a 2020 report by the Women's Media Center there are 4 64,000-75,000 missing black women and girls across the United States. 5 b. Cases involving black women and girls often do not receive the 6 attention they need and there are often barriers to families reporting a 7 loved one, such as mistrust of police, and racial disparities in how law 8 enforcement treat disappearances. 9 c. The tens of thousands of black women and girls who are missing 10 include abductees, sex trafficking victims, and runaways. Black women 11 and girls exist at the intersection of racism and sexism, and often face 12 worse health, wealth, housing, education, and employment outcomes. 13 d. Black girls comprise over 40% of domestic sex trafficking victims 14 in the United States. 15 e. Law enforcement often categorize missing black girls as runaways 16 and fail to treat their cases with urgency. 17 f. According to a 2020 report by the Sovereign Bodies Institute, a 18 nonprofit, indigenous-led research organization, at least 2,306 missing 19 Native American women and girls have gone missing in the last 40 years 20 in the United States, about 1,800 of whom were killed or vanished. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11613-02-2S. 6924--A 2 1 g. Systemic vulnerability and compounding suppressions have resulted 2 in mass amounts of disappeared indigenous peoples, with the National 3 Congress of American Indians finding that an estimated 40% of women who 4 are victims of sex trafficking identify as American Indian, Alaska 5 Native, or First Nations. 6 h. Families of Native American women and girls who have gone missing 7 report a lack of cultural awareness, systemic racism and sexism, and 8 widespread apathy by law enforcement and express frustration that their 9 cases are not pursued. 10 i. There is not comprehensive state or federal data about missing and 11 murdered Native Americans. Advocates argue that poor record keeping, 12 racial misclassification, adverse relationships between tribal govern- 13 ments and outside law enforcement have led to an underreporting of 14 cases. 15 § 2. a. There is hereby established a task force on missing women and 16 girls who are black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC). Such task 17 force shall be composed of the commissioner of the office of family and 18 children's services, the commissioner of the division of criminal 19 justice services, the superintendent of state police, or the designees 20 of such commissioners and superintendent. Additional members shall be 21 appointed as follows, two shall be appointed by the temporary president 22 of the senate, two shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly, 23 one shall be appointed by the minority leader of the senate, and one 24 shall be appointed by the minority leader of the assembly. Members shall 25 be representative of the communities experiencing this crisis, including 26 directly impacted individuals, reflect the diversity of New York state, 27 and have experience in cultural competency. 28 b. Task force members shall receive no compensation for their services 29 but shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred in 30 the performance of their duties. 31 c. The task force shall: 32 (i) develop policy changes that will work to address the lack of care 33 and concern for missing and murdered BIPOC women and girls with New York 34 state governmental agencies, including identifying policies to ensure 35 first responders are culturally competent; 36 (ii) advance the knowledge of communities on the severity of BIPOC 37 women and girls who are missing and murdered; 38 (iii) ensure BIPOC communities are educated and trained on the 39 prevention, protection, and protocols relating to missing BIPOC women 40 and girls as it relates to social media; 41 (iv) develop a strategy to collect statistics, demographics, surveys, 42 oral histories, and data analysis; 43 (v) recommend preventive programming and ideas to advance the safety 44 of women and girls, including policies that address the overlapping 45 forms of oppression faced by BIPOC women and girls; 46 (vi) identify major traffic hubs, highways, and resource extraction 47 sites that lead to or are responsible for the facilitation of the abduc- 48 tion of BIPOC women and girls; and 49 (vii) create a state-wide awareness campaign. 50 d. In carrying out the duties of the task force, such task force shall 51 seek public input by holding public hearings in each region of the state 52 and accepting public input in writing. 53 e. On or before two years after the effective date of this act, the 54 task force shall submit to the temporary president of the senate, the 55 speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of the senate and theS. 6924--A 3 1 minority leader of the assembly a report containing its findings and 2 recommendations. Such reports shall be made available to the public. 3 § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall 4 have become a law and shall expire and be deemed repealed three years 5 after such date.
