BILL NUMBER: S8425
SPONSOR: STAVISKY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to background checks and
fingerprinting; and to amend the social services law, in relation to
statewide central registry clearances by providers of contract services
to covered schools
 
PURPOSE:
This bill allows providers of contract services of student support
services to oversee the required fingerprinting and background check
process of their employees working in public, non-public and private
elementary and secondary schools and receive information on the required
fingerprinting and background check process of such employees.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends subdivision 3 of section 1125 of the education law.
Section two amends paragraph (a-2) of subdivision 3 of section 2854 of
the education.
Section three amends paragraph (a)of subdivision 30 of section 305 of
the education law.
Section four amends paragraph (d) of subdivision 30 of section 305 of
the education law.
Section five amends subdivision 1 of section 30 of section 3035 of the
education law.
Section six amends subdivision 3 of section 3035 of the education law.
Section seven amends subdivision 3 of section 424-a of the social
services law.
Section eight amends paragraph (a)of subdivision 2 of section 390-a of
the social services law.
Section nine sets forth the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Currently, New York State school districts, BOCES, charter and independ-
ent schools must manage the fingerprint process of all prospective
employees, including substitute teachers who may only work temporarily.
This process has proved to be quite burdensome for school administrators
as third-party providers are unable to assist in the process.
Additionally, employers must perform the fingerprinting process for each
employee even if that employee will only work one or two days at a
particular school. Upon processing each prospective employee's finger-
prints, their Social Security numbers and other personal information
must be logged into the system. The current regulations allow for this
information to be accessed by numerous school personnel, creating poten-
tial for serious privacy issues for school employees. Any subsequent
notifications of arrest of current or previous employees may also be
missed due to the high volume of staff records that must be maintained
solely by school administrators.
This bill allows schools who contract with third-party providers of
student support services to rely on those third party providers to
submit and review fingerprinting and background check data, receive
results of such checks, and receive any subsequent arrest notifications
the third party provider's employees working on school sites. These
services will be conducted through a web-based portal developed by the
State Education Department. This act will alleviate a heavy burden on
school administrators and the State Education Department while increas-
ing the safety of employees and students. Department while increasing
the safety of employees and students.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: A929A/S3477A - Referred to Education.
2021-2022: A.3695/S.6646-A - Referred to Education.
2019-2020: A.No same as/S.4357-A - Referred to Education.
2017-2018: A.4983-A/S.3479-A - Referred to Education
2015-2016: A.10086/S.7554 - Referred to Education.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Undetermined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S8425: 1125 education law, 1125(3) education law, 2854 education law, 2854(3) education law, 305 education law, 305(30) education law, 3035 education law, 3035(1) education law, 3035(3) education law, 424-a social services law, 424-a(3) social services law, 390-a social services law, 390-a(2) social services law