New York A 5859: Enacts the "assuring college campus and educational safety and support (ACCESS) act" relating to harassment of students and applicants at educational institutions

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A05859 Summary:

BILL NOA05859 

&nbsp

SAME ASSAME AS S04669

&nbsp

SPONSORLasher

&nbsp

COSPNSRRozic, Colton, Cunningham, Dinowitz, Eichenstein, Glick, Lavine, Sayegh, Seawright, Zaccaro,
 Braunstein, Steck, Stern, Berger, Slater

&nbsp

MLTSPNSR

&nbsp

Amd §296, Exec L

&nbsp

Enacts the "assuring college campus and educational safety and support (ACCESS) act" relating to harassment of students and applicants at educational institutions; describes the circumstances under which harassment at educational institutions is an unlawful discriminatory practice; describes the circumstances under which an educational institution is deemed to have permitted harassment; describes additional circumstances under which a college or university is deemed to have permitted harassment.

Go to top A05859 Actions:

BILL NOA05859 

&nbsp

02/24/2025referred to governmental operations

01/07/2026referred to governmental operations

Go to topA05859 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topA05859 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topA05859 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 5859

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN ASSEMBLY

 February 24, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by M. of A. LASHER, ROZIC, COLTON, CUNNINGHAM, DINOWITZ,
 EICHENSTEIN, GLICK, LAVINE, O'PHARROW, SAYEGH, SEAWRIGHT, ZACCARO --
 read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations

 AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to harassment of students
 and applicants at certain educational institutions

 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
 bly, do enact as follows:

 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 2 the "assuring college campus and educational safety and support (ACCESS)
 3 act".
 4 § 2. Subdivision 4 of section 296 of the executive law, as separately
 5 amended by chapters 202 and 748 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read
 6 as follows:
 7 4. (a) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an educa-
 8 tional institution to deny the use of its facilities to any person
 9 otherwise qualified, or with respect to any program, class or activity,
 10 to exclude from participation, deny the benefits thereof, or subject to
 11 discrimination, or to permit the harassment of any student or applicant,
 12 by reason of [his] such individual's race, color, religion, disability,
 13 national origin, citizenship or immigration status, sexual orientation,
 14 gender identity or expression, military status, sex, age, marital
 15 status, or status as a victim of domestic violence, except that any such
 16 institution which establishes or maintains a policy of educating persons
 17 of one sex exclusively may admit students of only one sex.
 18 (b) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of this subdivision, harassment
 19 is an unlawful discriminatory practice when it subjects an individual to
 20 inferior terms, conditions or privileges of services, regardless of
 21 whether such harassment would be considered severe or pervasive under
 22 precedent applied to harassment claims, because of the individual's
 23 membership in one or more of the protected categories listed in para-
 24 graph (a) of this subdivision. The fact that such individual did not

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD06519-05-5

 A. 5859 2

 1 make a complaint about the harassment to the educational institution
 2 shall not be determinative of whether such educational institution shall
 3 be liable. Nothing in this subdivision shall imply that a student or
 4 applicant shall be required to demonstrate the existence of an individ-
 5 ual to whom such student's or applicant's treatment shall be compared.
 6 It shall be an affirmative defense to liability under this subdivision
 7 that harassing conduct does not rise above the level of what a reason-
 8 able victim of discrimination with the same protected characteristic or
 9 characteristics would consider petty slights or trivial inconveniences.
 10 (c) An educational institution shall be deemed to have permitted
 11 harassment under paragraph (a) of this subdivision if such educational
 12 institution fails to act with reasonable care