Bill Text: NY S08817 | 2021-2022 | 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 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-04-20 - REFERRED TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES [S08817 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S08817-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8817 IN SENATE April 20, 2022 ___________ 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 26 central register of child abuse and maltreatment in accordance with 27 section four hundred twenty-four-a of this article. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD15062-03-2S. 8817 2 1 2. Mentoring programs may perform a criminal history record check 2 and/or background clearance on all prospective employees and mentors. 3 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, subject 4 to the rules and regulations of the division of criminal justice 5 services and the office of children and family services, mentoring 6 programs may apply for a criminal history record check with the division 7 of criminal justice services and/or background clearances with the 8 office of children and family services regarding any prospective employ- 9 ee or any prospective mentor who may engage in unsupervised activities 10 with youth or in activities with youth in a setting without constant 11 agency or parental oversight. Each mentoring program that chooses to 12 complete such criminal background checks and/or background clearances on 13 prospective employees or on prospective mentors shall establish a policy 14 for completing criminal background checks and/or background clearances 15 on such prospective employees or mentors. Such policy shall apply one 16 uniform standard for the completion of criminal background checks and/or 17 background clearances for all prospective employees and one uniform 18 standard for the completion of criminal background checks and/or back- 19 ground clearances for all prospective mentors. Any mentoring program 20 that chooses to complete criminal background checks and/or background 21 clearances on both prospective employees and prospective mentors may 22 utilize the same uniform process for the completion of the criminal 23 background checks and/or background clearances on prospective employees 24 and prospective mentors or they may choose one uniform process for 25 prospective employees and another uniform process for prospective 26 mentors. 27 4. Every mentoring program that chooses to apply for a criminal histo- 28 ry background check with the division of criminal justice services shall 29 obtain a set of fingerprints from each individual for whom a criminal 30 background check is to be completed and such other information as is 31 required by the office and the division of criminal justice services. 32 For each prospective employee or mentor for whom the mentoring program 33 completes a criminal background check, the mentoring program shall 34 provide the applicant with blank fingerprint cards and a description of 35 how the completed fingerprint card will be used upon submission to the 36 mentoring program. The mentoring program shall promptly transmit such 37 fingerprint card and the processing fee to the office. The office shall 38 promptly submit the fingerprint card and the processing fee, imposed 39 pursuant to subdivision eight-a of section eight hundred thirty-seven of 40 the executive law, to the division of criminal justice services for its 41 full search and retain processing. 42 5. Upon receipt of a criminal history record from the division of 43 criminal justice services and/or background clearance from the office of 44 children and family services, the office shall promptly provide to the 45 mentoring program the criminal history record and/or background clear- 46 ance information, if any, with respect to the prospective employee or 47 mentor, or a statement that the individual has no criminal history 48 record. 49 6. Upon receipt of the results of a criminal background check and/or 50 background clearance pursuant to this section, the mentoring program 51 shall determine whether or not the prospective employee or mentor shall 52 be offered employment or the opportunity to volunteer with the program. 53 Such determination shall be made in accordance with the criteria estab- 54 lished in section seven hundred fifty-two of the correction law. 55 7. Upon the request of any person previously convicted of one or more 56 criminal offenses who has been denied employment pursuant to subdivisionS. 8817 3 1 six of this section, the mentoring program shall provide, within thirty 2 days of such request, a written statement setting forth the reasons for 3 such denial. Any such person denied employment pursuant to subdivision 4 six of this section shall be afforded the opportunities for enforcement 5 available pursuant to section seven hundred fifty-five of the correction 6 law. 7 8. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, with the exception 8 of a sex offense or a crime against a child, a custodial parent or guar- 9 dian may sign a waiver authorizing a mentor to work with his or her 10 child regardless of a criminal charge or crime related to a mentor. Such 11 process shall only be initiated upon the consent of the prospective 12 mentor, and be on a form and of a content to be developed by the office. 13 Where applicable, a mentoring program may notify a custodial parent or 14 guardian of his or her waiver right, but a waiver shall only be author- 15 ized by a custodial parent or guardian. 16 9. Any criminal history record and/or background clearance provided to 17 a mentoring program pursuant to this section shall be confidential 18 pursuant to the applicable federal and state laws, rules and regu- 19 lations, and shall not be published or in any way disclosed to persons 20 other than authorized personnel, unless otherwise authorized by law. 21 10. Every mentoring program shall provide each custodial parent or 22 guardian of every child participating in its mentoring program with a 23 description of the kind of criminal background checks and/or background 24 clearances conducted by the mentoring program on its prospective employ- 25 ees and mentors. Such description shall include identification of the 26 source utilized to obtain criminal background histories and/or back- 27 ground clearances on prospective employees and mentors, a list of crimes 28 that would lead the program to deny employment or the opportunity to 29 volunteer as a prospective employee or mentor, and any other process 30 utilized to determine whether or not a prospective employee or mentor 31 with a conviction record shall be offered employment or the opportunity 32 to volunteer. Such description shall clearly state whether or not 33 prospective employees or mentors may be hired or offered the opportunity 34 to volunteer despite the existence of a conviction history. 35 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
