Bill Text: NY S07721 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended

---

Bill Title: Enacts the student journalist free speech act to protect student speech at educational institutions unless such speech is libelous, an invasion of privacy, or incites students to commit an unlawful act, violate school policies, or to materially and substantially disrupt the orderly operation of the school.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-06-12 - PRINT NUMBER 7721B [S07721 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S07721-Amended.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         7721--B
                    IN SENATE
                                    February 12, 2018
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  O'MARA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee  on  Education  --  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 education law, in relation to enacting  the  student
          journalist free speech act
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new article 18  to
     2  read as follows:
     3                                 ARTICLE 18
     4                     STUDENT JOURNALIST FREE SPEECH ACT
     5  Section 860. Short title.
     6          861. Definitions.
     7          862. Student journalist free speech rights.
     8          863. Exemptions.
     9          864. Liability.
    10    §  860.  Short  title. This article shall be known and may be cited as
    11  the "student journalist free speech act".
    12    § 861. Definitions. For the purposes of  this  article  the  following
    13  terms shall have the following meanings:
    14    1. "Educational institution" means a public, private or charter middle
    15  or high school.
    16    2. "School-sponsored media" means any material that is prepared, writ-
    17  ten,  published,  or broadcast by a student journalist at an educational
    18  institution, distributed or generally made available to members  of  the
    19  student  body, and prepared under the direction of a student media advi-
    20  sor. "School-sponsored media"  shall  not  include  media  intended  for
    21  distribution  or transmission solely in the classroom in which the media
    22  is produced.
    23    3. "Student journalist" means a student  enrolled  in  an  educational
    24  institution  who gathers, compiles, writes, edits, photographs, records,
    25  or prepares information for dissemination in school-sponsored media.
    26    4. "Student media advisor" means an individual employed, appointed, or
    27  designated  by  an  educational  institution  to  supervise  or  provide
    28  instruction relating to school-sponsored media.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14608-05-8
        S. 7721--B                          2
     1    §  862. Student journalist free speech rights.  1. Except as otherwise
     2  provided in section eight hundred sixty-three of this article, a student
     3  journalist shall have the right to exercise free speech and of the press
     4  in school-sponsored media, regardless of whether the media is  supported
     5  financially  by  the educational institution or by use of the facilities
     6  of an educational institution or produced in conjunction with a class in
     7  which the student is enrolled.
     8    2. Subject to section eight hundred sixty-three of this  article,  the
     9  appropriate  student journalist shall be responsible for determining the
    10  news, opinion, and feature content of school-sponsored media.
    11    3. Nothing in this section shall preclude a student media advisor from
    12  teaching professional standards of English  and  journalism  to  student
    13  journalists  or  from grading the performance of a student in accordance
    14  with such standards.
    15    4. There shall be no prior restraint of material prepared for official
    16  publications of an  educational  institution  except  for  the  material
    17  described in section eight hundred sixty-three of this article.
    18    5.  Educational  institution  administrators  shall have the burden of
    19  demonstrating justification without undue delay prior to a limitation of
    20  student expression under this article.
    21    6. No student media advisor or employee shall be dismissed, suspended,
    22  disciplined, reassigned, transferred, or  otherwise  retaliated  against
    23  solely  for  acting to protect a pupil engaged in the conduct authorized
    24  under this article; and further no student  media  advisor  or  employee
    25  shall  be  dismissed, suspended, disciplined, reassigned, transferred or
    26  otherwise retaliated against solely for an action,  undertaken  in  good
    27  faith  with this article, which results in the prohibition of the publi-
    28  cation of speech pursuant to this article.
    29    7. Political expression by students in  school-sponsored  media  shall
    30  not be deemed the use of public funds for political purposes.
    31    8.  This  section shall not apply to any private middle or high school
    32  that is controlled by a religious organization, to the extent  that  the
    33  application  of  this section would not be consistent with the religious
    34  tenets of the organization.
    35    § 863. Exemptions. The following forms  of  expression  shall  not  be
    36  protected by this article:
    37    1. Expression that is libelous, slanderous or obscene;
    38    2. Expression that constitutes an unwarranted invasion of privacy;
    39    3. Expression that violates federal or state law; or
    40    4.  Expression  that  incites  students  to commit an unlawful act, to
    41  violate the policies of the educational institution,  or  to  materially
    42  and  substantially  disrupt  the  orderly  operation of such educational
    43  institution.
    44    § 864. Liability. No expression made by students in  the  exercise  of
    45  free  speech  or freedom of the press protected by this article shall be
    46  deemed to be an expression of policy, opinion or position of the  educa-
    47  tional institution, nor shall any such expression be considered to be an
    48  endorsement in any way by the educational institution and no educational
    49  institution,  student media advisor, employee, parent, legal guardian or
    50  administrator of an educational institution shall be held liable in  any
    51  civil  or  criminal  action  for  any  expression  made  or published by
    52  students, except in cases of willful or wanton  misconduct.  Nothing  in
    53  this  section  shall be construed to create any private action on behalf
    54  of a student other than to seek injunctive relief allowing the  publica-
    55  tion of the speech in question.
    56    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.