New York S 2577: Relates to background clearances for prospective employees and volunteers of mentoring programs

Bill Text

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S02577 Summary:

BILL NOS02577 

&nbsp

SAME ASSAME AS A03195

&nbsp

SPONSORORTT

&nbsp

COSPNSRROLISON

&nbsp

MLTSPNSR

&nbsp

Amd §390-e, Soc Serv L

&nbsp

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.

Go to top S02577 Actions:

BILL NOS02577 

&nbsp

01/21/2025REFERRED TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

01/07/2026REFERRED TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Go to topS02577 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topS02577 Floor&nbspVotes:

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

Go to topS02577 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 2577

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN SENATE

 January 21, 2025
 ___________

 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

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD06227-01-5

 S. 2577 2

 1 central register of child abuse and maltreatment in accordance with
 2 section four hundred twenty-four-a of this article.
 3 2. Mentoring programs may perform a criminal history record check
 4 and/or background clearance on all prospective employees and mentors.
 5 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, subject
 6 to the rules and regulations of the division of criminal justice
 7 services and the office of children and family services, mentoring
 8 programs may apply for a criminal history record check with the division
 9 of criminal justice services and/or background clearances with the
 10 office of children and family services regarding any prospective employ-
 11 ee or any prospective mentor who may engage in unsupervised activities
 12 with youth or in activities with youth in a setting without constant
 13 agency or parental oversight. Each mentoring program that chooses to
 14 complete such criminal background checks and/or background clearances on
 15 prospective employees or on prospective mentors shall establish a policy
 16 for completing criminal background checks and/or background clearances
 17 on such prospective employees or mentors. Such policy shall apply one
 18 uniform standard for the complet