Bill Text: NY S04741 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Amended

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

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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

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         4741--A
                               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
        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 chap-
     9  ter of the laws of two thousand twelve which amended  this  subdivision.
    10  Following  such  effective  date,  there shall be no distinction between
    11  institutions previously defined  as  "registered  business  schools"  or
    12  "computer  training  facilities" and other licensed private schools, and
    13  any reference in law to a registered business school or computer  train-
    14  ing  facility  shall  be deemed a reference to a licensed private career
    15  school. Institutions holding a valid  business  school  registration  on
    16  such  effective date, including computer-training facilities, shall have
    17  such registrations replaced  by  the  commissioner,  at  no  cost,  with
    18  licenses  valid until the expiration date listed on such previous regis-
    19  tration; [and]
    20    b. "certified English as a second language school" or  "certified  ESL
    21  school" shall mean a language school conducted for-profit which provides
    22  instruction  in English as a second language and which accepts no public
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10154-03-6
        S. 4741--A                          2
     1  funds and is certified pursuant to paragraph f of  subdivision  four  of
     2  this section[.]; and
     3    c. "online education marketplace" shall mean a website or other inter-
     4  net-based  online  technology  tool with which a licensed private career
     5  school or certified ESL school contracts for  marketing  or  advertising
     6  services,  or  services  in  connection  with  the collection of tuition
     7  and/or fees to the extent authorized in  subdivision  three  of  section
     8  five thousand four of this article.
     9    § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 5004 of the education law, as amended by
    10  chapter 19 of the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
    11    3.  a.  Exempted  from  the  requirements  of this section are persons
    12  acting solely for schools which are not required to be licensed  or  are
    13  specifically exempted from the licensing requirements of this article.
    14    b.  (i)  Also  exempted  from  the requirements of this section are an
    15  online education marketplace as defined in paragraph  c  of  subdivision
    16  one  of  section  five  thousand  one of this article, provided that the
    17  online education marketplace complies with each of the following:
    18    (1) An online education marketplace shall  not  solicit,  procure,  or
    19  enroll  any  student for instruction in a licensed private career school
    20  or certified ESL school, as defined by the commissioner in regulations.
    21    (2) Upon receipt of  any  monies  collected  by  an  online  education
    22  marketplace  from  a  prospective  student for payment of tuition and/or
    23  fees, the prospective student and the licensed private career school  or
    24  certified  ESL  school  either  shall execute an enrollment agreement in
    25  accordance with regulations of the commissioner or the monies  shall  be
    26  promptly  returned  to the prospective student in a timeframe and manner
    27  prescribed by the commissioner in regulations.
    28    (3) If an enrollment  agreement  is  executed,  the  online  education
    29  marketplace  shall  forward  the  monies  received  from the prospective
    30  student to the licensed private career school or certified ESL school in
    31  a timeframe and manner prescribed by the commissioner in regulations.
    32    (4) An online education marketplace shall not receive from  a  student
    33  an amount greater than the tuition or fees to be charged by the licensed
    34  private  career school or certified ESL school to the student, and shall
    35  separately account for monies received from the prospective  student  to
    36  be  thereafter transferred to a licensed private career school or certi-
    37  fied ESL school in payment of tuition  or  fees,  and  any  remuneration
    38  and/or  compensation received by the online education marketplace from a
    39  licensed private career school or certified ESL school  in  payment  for
    40  services  rendered  to  such school by the online education marketplace.
    41  The licensed private career school or certified ESL  school  shall  also
    42  separately  account  for tuition or fees transferred to the school by an
    43  online education marketplace on  behalf  of  a  student  in  payment  of
    44  tuition  or fees, and payments made by the school to an online education
    45  marketplace for services rendered to the school by the online  education
    46  marketplace.
    47    (5)  The  commissioner  may take disciplinary action against an online
    48  education marketplace pursuant to section five thousand  three  of  this
    49  article,  to  the  extent  such  provisions are deemed applicable by the
    50  commissioner in regulations.
    51    (6) An  online  education  marketplace  is  prohibited  from  offering
    52  advertising/marketing services to an unlicensed private career school or
    53  uncertified ESL school.
    54    (ii)  Any  licensed private career school or certified ESL school that
    55  contracts with an online education marketplace  shall  comply  with  the
    56  provisions  of  this subdivision and the regulations of the commissioner
        S. 4741--A                          3
     1  or they may be subject to disciplinary action pursuant to  section  five
     2  thousand three of this article.
     3    c.  Persons who are paid to procure, solicit or enroll students on the
     4  premises of schools required to be licensed shall not be exempt from the
     5  provisions of this section.
     6    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.