S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  5088--A
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               March 2, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  REYES,  ANDERSON,  CARROLL,  GONZALEZ-ROJAS,
   EPSTEIN, GLICK, L. ROSENTHAL, SIMON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of  A.
   BRAUNSTEIN  -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental
   Operations -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
   amended and recommitted to said committee

 AN ACT to establish a task force on missing  women  and  girls  who  are
   black, indigenous and people of color; and providing for the repeal of
   such provisions upon expiration thereof
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Legislative findings  and  intent.  The  legislature  finds
 that:
   a.  According  to  a 2020 report by the Women's Media Center there are
 64,000-75,000 missing Black women and girls across the United States.
   b. Cases involving Black women and girls  often  do  not  receive  the
 attention they need and there are often barriers to families reporting a
 loved  one,  such  as  mistrust of police, and racial disparities in how
 disappearances are tracked.
   c. The tens of thousands of Black women  and  girls  who  are  missing
 include  abductees,  sex  trafficking victims, and runaways. Black women
 and girls exist at the intersection of racism and sexism, and often face
 worse health, wealth, housing, education, and employment outcomes.
   d. Black girls comprise over 40% of domestic sex  trafficking  victims
 in the United States.
   e. Missing Black girls are often categorized as runaways and there are
 treatment disparities with their cases.
   f.  According  to  a  2020 report by the Sovereign Bodies Institute, a
 nonprofit, indigenous-led research organization, at least 2,306  missing
 Native  American  women and girls have gone missing in the last 40 years
 in the United States, about 1,800 of whom were killed or vanished.
   g. Systemic vulnerability and compounding suppressions  have  resulted
 in  mass  amounts  of  disappeared indigenous peoples, with the National
 Congress of American Indians finding that an estimated 40% of women  who
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
              

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD05565-03-3
 A. 5088--A                          2
 
 are  victims  of  sex  trafficking  identify  as American Indian, Alaska
 Native, or First Nations.
   h.  Families  of Native American women and girls who have gone missing
 across the country report a lack of cultural awareness, systemic  racism
 and sexism, and express frustration that their cases are not pursued.
   i.  There is not comprehensive state or federal data about missing and
 murdered Native Americans. Advocates argue  that  poor  record  keeping,
 racial  misclassification,  adverse relationships between tribal govern-
 ments and outside law enforcement  have  led  to  an  underreporting  of
 cases.
   §  2. a. There is hereby established a task force on missing women and
 girls who are black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC).  Such  task
 force  shall be composed of the commissioner of the office of family and
 children's services,  the  commissioner  of  the  division  of  criminal
 justice  services,  the superintendent of state police, or the designees
 of such commissioners and superintendent. Additional  members  shall  be
 appointed  as follows, two shall be appointed by the temporary president
 of the senate, two shall be appointed by the speaker  of  the  assembly,
 one  shall  be  appointed  by the minority leader of the senate, and one
 shall be appointed by the minority leader of the assembly. Members shall
 be representative of the communities experiencing this crisis, including
 directly impacted individuals, reflect the diversity of New York  state,
 and have experience in cultural competency.
   b. Task force members shall receive no compensation for their services
 but  shall  be  reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred in
 the performance of their duties.
   c. The task force shall:
   (i) develop policy changes that will work to address the lack of  care
 and concern for missing and murdered BIPOC women and girls with New York
 state  governmental  agencies,  including identifying policies to ensure
 first responders are culturally competent;
   (ii) advance the knowledge of communities on  the  severity  of  BIPOC
 women and girls who are missing and murdered;
   (iii)  ensure  BIPOC  communities  are  educated  and  trained  on the
 prevention, protection, and protocols relating to  missing  BIPOC  women
 and girls as it relates to social media;
   (iv)  develop a strategy to collect statistics, demographics, surveys,
 oral histories, and data analysis;
   (v) recommend preventive programming and ideas to advance  the  safety
 of  women  and  girls,  including  policies that address the overlapping
 forms of oppression faced by BIPOC women and girls;
   (vi) identify major traffic hubs, highways,  and  resource  extraction
 sites that lead to or are responsible for the facilitation of the abduc-
 tion of BIPOC women and girls; and
   (vii) create a state-wide awareness campaign.
   d. In carrying out the duties of the task force, such task force shall
 seek public input by holding public hearings in each region of the state
 and accepting public input in writing.
   e.  On  or  before two years after the effective date of this act, the
 task force shall submit to the temporary president of  the  senate,  the
 speaker  of  the  assembly,  the  minority  leader of the senate and the
 minority leader of the assembly a report  containing  its  findings  and
 recommendations. Such reports shall be made available to the public.
   §  3.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
 have become a law and shall expire and be deemed  repealed  three  years
 after such date.