BILL NUMBER: S3161
SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the arts and cultural affairs law, in relation to the
Amistad Commission
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would move the Amistad commission from the Department of State
to the New York State Education Department.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends § 57.52 of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law by allo-
cating the Amistad Commission from the Department of State to the State
Education Department. The commission will consist of nineteen members,
including the commissioner of education or his or her designee, the
secretary of state or his or her designee, the chancellor of the state
university of New York or his or her designee, serving ex officio, and
sixteen public members. The appointed members shall be chosen with due
regard to broad ethnic diversity and shall have a demonstrated educa-
tional background in the history of the African slave trade and slavery
in America or the contributions of African-Americans to our society. The
commissioner of education, or his or her designee, shall serve as the
chair of the commission and the secretary of state, or his or her desig-
nee, shall serve as the vice chair of the commission. If there is a
vacancy, that vacancy must be filled within 45 days in the same manner
as the original appointment but for the unexpired term only. If such
vacancy is not filled within 45 days, the vacancy will be filled by the
commissioner of education within 30 days but for the unexpired term
only. A new subdivision 1-a provides any business or ot her matter that
began under the Department of State regarding the commission are trans-
ferred and assigned to the State Education Department. Additionally, the
commissioner of education or their designee will be responsible for
hiring the staff of the commission and will serve as the liaison between
the commission and the state education department.
Section 2 amends subdivisions 2 and 3 of section 57.53 of the Arts and
Cultural Affairs Law so as to increase awareness and encourage school
districts to utilize curricula on African-American history by: (a)
establishing and administering a program that publicly recognizes and
awards schools that do a good job teaching subjects related to the Afri-
can American experience; and (b) offering grants to individual teachers
who demonstrate exemplary practices teaching subjects related to the
African-American experience and publicize such practices for the use of
other teachers.
Section 3 is the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
In New York, the Amistad Commission is charged with surveying school
curricula to find out how much is included about "the African slave
trade and slavery in America" and to make recommendations for improve-
ment. Currently, schools are required to cover slavery, including the
Underground Railroad and the freedom trail. The State Education Depart-
ment should take the lead as they have the responsibility in examining
the findings of the commission's work and helping develop a new curric-
ulum for districts throughout the state. We feel they would be better
equipped to complete this task.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: S.1032 - Passed the Senate in 2023 and 2024
2021-2022: S.1924 - Referred to Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and
Recreation
2019-2020: S.6445 - Passed the Senate/A.10052 - Referred to Tourism,
Parks, Arts and Sports Development
2017-2018: S.6323 - Passed the Senate/A.8328 - Held for consideration in
Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development
 
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
No new costs as the expense to one agency will be offset by the incur-
rence of another.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S3161: 57.52 arts and cultural affairs law