Bill Text: NY S01231 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Permits mentoring programs to conduct background clearances of prospective employees and volunteers to determine whether any such person has been reported for child abuse or maltreatment or is on the sex offender registry.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES [S01231 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S01231-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1231

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 10, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  ORTT  --  read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Children and Families

        AN ACT to amend the social  services  law,  in  relation  to  background
          clearances for employees and volunteers of mentoring programs

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 390-e of the social services law, as added by chap-
     2  ter 459 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows:
     3    § 390-e. Criminal history review and/or background clearances; mentor-
     4  ing programs. 1. For the purposes of this section, the  following  words
     5  shall have the following meanings:
     6    (a)  "Prospective  employee"  shall mean a person being considered for
     7  employment by a mentoring program.
     8    (b) "Prospective mentor" shall mean an  individual  who  is  currently
     9  applying  to  volunteer  to  help  a  child  or a group of children in a
    10  mentoring program for a period of time. Such help shall include, but not
    11  be limited to, being a positive role model for youth, building relation-
    12  ships with youth, and providing youth with academic assistance and expo-
    13  sure to new experiences and examples of  opportunity  that  enhance  the
    14  ability of children to become responsible adults.
    15    (c) "Mentoring program" shall mean a formalized program, operated by a
    16  corporation which has been incorporated pursuant to subparagraph five of
    17  paragraph  (a)  of  section one hundred two of the not-for-profit corpo-
    18  ration law or pursuant to subparagraph four of paragraph (a) of  section
    19  one  hundred  two  of  the  business  corporation law, or operated by an
    20  educational institution or school  district,  that  matches  youth  with
    21  adult  volunteers with the purpose of providing such youth with positive
    22  role models to enhance their development.
    23    (d) "Office" shall mean the office of children and family services.
    24    (e) "Background clearance" shall mean (i) a search  of  the  New  York
    25  state  sex offender registry; and (ii) a database check of the statewide

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04771-01-3

        S. 1231                             2

     1  central register of child abuse  and  maltreatment  in  accordance  with
     2  section four hundred twenty-four-a of this article.
     3    2.  Mentoring  programs  may  perform  a criminal history record check
     4  and/or background clearance on all prospective employees and mentors.
     5    3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, subject
     6  to the rules  and  regulations  of  the  division  of  criminal  justice
     7  services  and  the  office  of  children  and family services, mentoring
     8  programs may apply for a criminal history record check with the division
     9  of criminal justice  services  and/or  background  clearances  with  the
    10  office of children and family services regarding any prospective employ-
    11  ee  or  any prospective mentor who may engage in unsupervised activities
    12  with youth or in activities with youth in  a  setting  without  constant
    13  agency  or  parental  oversight.  Each mentoring program that chooses to
    14  complete such criminal background checks and/or background clearances on
    15  prospective employees or on prospective mentors shall establish a policy
    16  for completing criminal background checks and/or  background  clearances
    17  on  such  prospective  employees or mentors. Such policy shall apply one
    18  uniform standard for the completion of criminal background checks and/or
    19  background clearances for all  prospective  employees  and  one  uniform
    20  standard  for  the completion of criminal background checks and/or back-
    21  ground clearances for all prospective  mentors.  Any  mentoring  program
    22  that  chooses  to  complete criminal background checks and/or background
    23  clearances on both prospective employees  and  prospective  mentors  may
    24  utilize  the  same  uniform  process  for the completion of the criminal
    25  background checks and/or background clearances on prospective  employees
    26  and  prospective  mentors  or  they  may  choose one uniform process for
    27  prospective  employees  and  another  uniform  process  for  prospective
    28  mentors.
    29    4. Every mentoring program that chooses to apply for a criminal histo-
    30  ry background check with the division of criminal justice services shall
    31  obtain  a  set  of fingerprints from each individual for whom a criminal
    32  background check is to be completed and such  other  information  as  is
    33  required  by  the  office and the division of criminal justice services.
    34  For each prospective employee or mentor for whom the  mentoring  program
    35  completes  a  criminal  background  check,  the  mentoring program shall
    36  provide the applicant with blank fingerprint cards and a description  of
    37  how  the  completed fingerprint card will be used upon submission to the
    38  mentoring program. The mentoring program shall  promptly  transmit  such
    39  fingerprint  card and the processing fee to the office. The office shall
    40  promptly submit the fingerprint card and  the  processing  fee,  imposed
    41  pursuant to subdivision eight-a of section eight hundred thirty-seven of
    42  the  executive law, to the division of criminal justice services for its
    43  full search and retain processing.
    44    5. Upon receipt of a criminal history  record  from  the  division  of
    45  criminal justice services and/or background clearance from the office of
    46  children  and  family services, the office shall promptly provide to the
    47  mentoring program the criminal history record and/or  background  clear-
    48  ance  information,  if  any, with respect to the prospective employee or
    49  mentor, or a statement that  the  individual  has  no  criminal  history
    50  record.
    51    6.  Upon  receipt of the results of a criminal background check and/or
    52  background clearance pursuant to this  section,  the  mentoring  program
    53  shall  determine whether or not the prospective employee or mentor shall
    54  be offered employment or the opportunity to volunteer with the  program.
    55  Such  determination shall be made in accordance with the criteria estab-
    56  lished in section seven hundred fifty-two of the correction law.

        S. 1231                             3

     1    7. Upon the request of any person previously convicted of one or  more
     2  criminal offenses who has been denied employment pursuant to subdivision
     3  six  of this section, the mentoring program shall provide, within thirty
     4  days of such request, a written statement setting forth the reasons  for
     5  such  denial.  Any such person denied employment pursuant to subdivision
     6  six of this section shall be afforded the opportunities for  enforcement
     7  available pursuant to section seven hundred fifty-five of the correction
     8  law.
     9    8.  Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, with the exception
    10  of a sex offense or a crime against a child, a custodial parent or guar-
    11  dian may sign a waiver authorizing a mentor to  work  with  his  or  her
    12  child regardless of a criminal charge or crime related to a mentor. Such
    13  process  shall  only  be  initiated  upon the consent of the prospective
    14  mentor, and be on a form and of a content to be developed by the office.
    15  Where applicable, a mentoring program may notify a custodial  parent  or
    16  guardian  of his or her waiver right, but a waiver shall only be author-
    17  ized by a custodial parent or guardian.
    18    9. Any criminal history record and/or background clearance provided to
    19  a mentoring program pursuant  to  this  section  shall  be  confidential
    20  pursuant  to  the  applicable  federal  and  state laws, rules and regu-
    21  lations, and shall not be published or in any way disclosed  to  persons
    22  other than authorized personnel, unless otherwise authorized by law.
    23    10.  Every  mentoring  program  shall provide each custodial parent or
    24  guardian of every child participating in its mentoring  program  with  a
    25  description  of the kind of criminal background checks and/or background
    26  clearances conducted by the mentoring program on its prospective employ-
    27  ees and mentors. Such description shall include  identification  of  the
    28  source  utilized  to  obtain  criminal background histories and/or back-
    29  ground clearances on prospective employees and mentors, a list of crimes
    30  that would lead the program to deny employment  or  the  opportunity  to
    31  volunteer  as  a  prospective  employee or mentor, and any other process
    32  utilized to determine whether or not a prospective  employee  or  mentor
    33  with  a conviction record shall be offered employment or the opportunity
    34  to volunteer. Such  description  shall  clearly  state  whether  or  not
    35  prospective employees or mentors may be hired or offered the opportunity
    36  to volunteer despite the existence of a conviction history.
    37    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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