Bill Text: NY A06549 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Requires the office of children and family services to work with service providers to gather information to create and maintain a publicly searchable database of available beds at residential facilities currently available for runaway and/or homeless youth.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-19 - print number 6549a [A06549 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A06549-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          6549
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                     March 11, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Children and Families
        AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring  the  office
          of  children  and  family services to maintain a database of available
          beds for runaway and/or homeless youth
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Section 532-e of the executive law, as amended by chapter
     2  182 of the laws of 2002, is amended to read as follows:
     3    § 532-e. Powers and duties  of  the  office  of  children  and  family
     4  services.  The  office of children and family services shall: (a) visit,
     5  inspect and make periodic reports  on  the  operation  and  adequacy  of
     6  approved  runaway  programs  and transitional independent living support
     7  programs;
     8    (b) certify residential facilities providing care  to  runaway  and/or
     9  homeless youth, provided, however, that no certification shall be issued
    10  or renewed until it can be demonstrated that a program operated pursuant
    11  to  this  article  has consistent with appropriate collective bargaining
    12  agreements and applicable provisions of the civil service law, developed
    13  and implemented a procedure for reviewing and evaluating the backgrounds
    14  of and the information supplied by any person applying to be an  employ-
    15  ee,  volunteer  or consultant, which shall include but not be limited to
    16  the following requirements: that the applicants set  forth  his  or  her
    17  employment  history, provide personal and employment references and sign
    18  a sworn statement indicating whether the applicant, to the best  of  his
    19  or  her  knowledge,  has ever been convicted of a crime in this state or
    20  any other jurisdiction;
    21    (c) maintain a register of  approved  runaway  programs,  transitional
    22  independent  living  support  programs  and  runaway  and homeless youth
    23  service coordinators;
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD09709-01-9
        A. 6549                             2
     1    (d) submit to the governor and legislature an annual report  detailing
     2  the  numbers and characteristics of runaway and otherwise homeless youth
     3  throughout the state and their problems and service needs;
     4    (e)  develop  and promulgate in consultation with county youth bureaus
     5  and organizations or programs which have  had  past  experience  dealing
     6  with runaway and homeless youth, regulations concerning the coordination
     7  and integration of services available for runaway and otherwise homeless
     8  youth  and  prohibiting  the  disclosure  or  transferal  of any records
     9  containing the identity of individual youth receiving services  pursuant
    10  to this section, without the written consent of the youth; [and]
    11    (f) develop and promulgate regulations in consultation with the office
    12  of  temporary  and  disability  assistance  concerning  the provision of
    13  services by transitional independent living support programs  consistent
    14  with the provisions of this article[.];
    15    (g)  in  conjunction  with  the commissioner of education, develop and
    16  annually review a plan to ensure coordination and  access  to  education
    17  for  homeless  children,  in  accordance  with the provisions of section
    18  thirty-two hundred nine of the education law, and monitor compliance  of
    19  residential  programs  for  runaway and homeless youth with such plan[.]
    20  and
    21    (h) work with service providers to gather information  to  create  and
    22  maintain a publicly searchable database of available beds at residential
    23  facilities  currently available for runaway and/or homeless youth on the
    24  office's website and on a companion  phone  application.  Such  database
    25  shall be updated in real time and shall provide and be searchable by the
    26  following information:
    27    (i) the name and address of the facility;
    28    (ii) the number of beds available at the facility;
    29    (iii) the age range allowable for the available bed;
    30    (iv)  the length of time the runaway and/or homeless youth may stay at
    31  the facility; and
    32    (v) the services offered at the facility.
    33    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.