Bill Text: NY S04741 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Relates to private school agents' certificates.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2016-11-28 - SIGNED CHAP.475 [S04741 Detail]
Download: New_York-2015-S04741-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4741--B 2015-2016 Regular Sessions IN SENATE April 15, 2015 ___________ Introduced by Sens. GOLDEN, SQUADRON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education -- recommitted to the Committee on Higher Education 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 education law, in relation to private school agent's certificates The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraphs a and b of subdivision 1 of section 5001 of the 2 education law, as amended by chapter 381 of the laws of 2012, are 3 amended and a new paragraph c is added to read as follows: 4 a. "licensed private career school" or "licensed private school" shall 5 mean any entity offering to instruct or teach any subject by any plan or 6 method including written, visual or audio-visual methods, and shall 7 include any institution licensed or registered as a registered business 8 school or computer training facility on the effective date of [the] 9 chapter three hundred eighty-one of the laws of two thousand twelve 10 [which amended this subdivision]. Following such effective date, there 11 shall be no distinction between institutions previously defined as 12 "registered business schools" or "computer training facilities" and 13 other licensed private schools, and any reference in law to a registered 14 business school or computer training facility shall be deemed a refer- 15 ence to a licensed private career school. Institutions holding a valid 16 business school registration on such effective date, including compu- 17 ter-training facilities, shall have such registrations replaced by the 18 commissioner, at no cost, with licenses valid until the expiration date 19 listed on such previous registration; [and] EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD10154-09-6S. 4741--B 2 1 b. "certified English as a second language school" or "certified ESL 2 school" shall mean a language school conducted for-profit which provides 3 instruction in English as a second language and which accepts no public 4 funds and is certified pursuant to paragraph f of subdivision four of 5 this section[.]; and 6 c. "online education marketplace" shall mean a website or other inter- 7 net-based online technology tool with which a licensed private career 8 school or certified ESL school contracts for marketing or advertising 9 services, or services in connection with the collection of tuition 10 and/or fees, to the extent authorized in subdivision three of section 11 five thousand four of this article. 12 § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 5004 of the education law, as amended by 13 chapter 19 of the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows: 14 3. a. Exempted from the requirements of this section are persons 15 acting solely for schools which are not required to be licensed or are 16 specifically exempted from the licensing requirements of this article. 17 b. (i) Also exempted from the requirements of this section is an 18 online education marketplace as defined in paragraph c of subdivision 19 one of section five thousand one of this article, provided that the 20 online education marketplace complies with each of the following: 21 (1) An online education marketplace shall not solicit, procure, or 22 enroll any student for instruction in a licensed private career school 23 or certified ESL school, as defined by the commissioner in regulations. 24 (2) Upon receipt of any monies collected by an online education 25 marketplace from a prospective student for payment of tuition and/or 26 fees, the prospective student and the licensed private career school or 27 certified ESL school shall execute an enrollment agreement in accordance 28 with regulations of the commissioner. If an enrollment agreement is not 29 executed, the monies shall be promptly returned to the prospective 30 student in a timeframe and manner prescribed by the commissioner in 31 regulations. 32 (3) If an enrollment agreement is executed, the online education 33 marketplace shall forward the monies received from the prospective 34 student to the licensed private career school or certified ESL school in 35 a timeframe and manner prescribed by the commissioner in regulations. 36 (4) An online education marketplace shall not receive from a student 37 an amount greater than the tuition or fees to be charged by the licensed 38 private career school or certified ESL school to the student, and shall 39 separately account for monies received from the prospective student to 40 be thereafter transferred to a licensed private career school or certi- 41 fied ESL school in payment of tuition or fees, and any remuneration 42 and/or compensation received by the online education marketplace from a 43 licensed private career school or certified ESL school in payment for 44 services rendered to such school by the online education marketplace. 45 The licensed private career school or certified ESL school shall also 46 separately account for tuition or fees transferred to the school by an 47 online education marketplace on behalf of a student in payment of 48 tuition or fees, and payments made by the school to an online education 49 marketplace for services rendered to the school by the online education 50 marketplace. 51 (5) The commissioner may take disciplinary action against an online 52 education marketplace pursuant to section five thousand three of this 53 article, to the extent such provisions are deemed applicable by the 54 commissioner in regulations.S. 4741--B 3 1 (6) An online education marketplace is prohibited from offering 2 advertising/marketing services to an unlicensed private career school or 3 uncertified ESL school. 4 (ii) Any licensed private career school or certified ESL school that 5 contracts with an online education marketplace shall comply with the 6 provisions of this subdivision and the regulations of the commissioner 7 or they may be subject to disciplinary action pursuant to section five 8 thousand three of this article. 9 c. Persons who are paid to procure, solicit or enroll students on the 10 premises of schools required to be licensed shall not be exempt from the 11 provisions of this section. 12 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
