S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1231
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 10, 2023
                                ___________
 
 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:
 
   Section 1. Section 390-e of the social services law, as added by chap-
 ter 459 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows:
   § 390-e. Criminal history review AND/OR BACKGROUND CLEARANCES; mentor-
 ing programs. 1. For the purposes of this section, the  following  words
 shall have the following meanings:
   (a)  "Prospective  employee"  shall mean a person being considered for
 employment by a mentoring program.
   (b) "Prospective mentor" shall mean an  individual  who  is  currently
 applying  to  volunteer  to  help  a  child  or a group of children in a
 mentoring program for a period of time. Such help shall include, but not
 be limited to, being a positive role model for youth, building relation-
 ships with youth, and providing youth with academic assistance and expo-
 sure to new experiences and examples of  opportunity  that  enhance  the
 ability of children to become responsible adults.
   (c) "Mentoring program" shall mean a formalized program, operated by a
 corporation which has been incorporated pursuant to subparagraph five of
 paragraph  (a)  of  section one hundred two of the not-for-profit corpo-
 ration law or pursuant to subparagraph four of paragraph (a) of  section
 one  hundred  two  of  the  business  corporation law, or operated by an
 educational institution or school  district,  that  matches  youth  with
 adult  volunteers with the purpose of providing such youth with positive
 role models to enhance their development.
   (d) "Office" shall mean the office of children and family services.
   (E) "BACKGROUND CLEARANCE" SHALL MEAN (I) A SEARCH  OF  THE  NEW  YORK
 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.
                                                            LBD04771-01-3
              

 S. 1231                             2
 
 CENTRAL REGISTER OF CHILD ABUSE  AND  MALTREATMENT  IN  ACCORDANCE  WITH
 SECTION FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR-A OF THIS ARTICLE.
   2.  Mentoring  programs  may  perform  a criminal history record check
 AND/OR BACKGROUND CLEARANCE on all prospective employees and mentors.
   3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, subject
 to the rules  and  regulations  of  the  division  of  criminal  justice
 services  AND  THE  OFFICE  OF  CHILDREN  AND FAMILY SERVICES, mentoring
 programs may apply for a criminal history record check with the division
 of criminal justice  services  AND/OR  BACKGROUND  CLEARANCES  WITH  THE
 OFFICE OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES regarding any prospective employ-
 ee  or  any prospective mentor who may engage in unsupervised activities
 with youth or in activities with youth in  a  setting  without  constant
 agency  or  parental  oversight.  Each mentoring program that chooses to
 complete such criminal background checks AND/OR BACKGROUND CLEARANCES on
 prospective employees or on prospective mentors shall establish a policy
 for completing criminal background checks AND/OR  BACKGROUND  CLEARANCES
 on  such  prospective  employees or mentors. Such policy shall apply one
 uniform standard for the completion of criminal background checks AND/OR
 BACKGROUND CLEARANCES for all  prospective  employees  and  one  uniform
 standard  for  the completion of criminal background checks AND/OR BACK-
 GROUND CLEARANCES for all prospective  mentors.  Any  mentoring  program
 that  chooses  to  complete criminal background checks AND/OR BACKGROUND
 CLEARANCES on both prospective employees  and  prospective  mentors  may
 utilize  the  same  uniform  process  for the completion of the criminal
 background checks AND/OR BACKGROUND CLEARANCES on prospective  employees
 and  prospective  mentors  or  they  may  choose one uniform process for
 prospective  employees  and  another  uniform  process  for  prospective
 mentors.
   4. Every mentoring program that chooses to apply for a criminal histo-
 ry background check with the division of criminal justice services shall
 obtain  a  set  of fingerprints from each individual for whom a criminal
 background check is to be completed and such  other  information  as  is
 required  by  the  office and the division of criminal justice services.
 For each prospective employee or mentor for whom the  mentoring  program
 completes  a  criminal  background  check,  the  mentoring program shall
 provide the applicant with blank fingerprint cards and a description  of
 how  the  completed fingerprint card will be used upon submission to the
 mentoring program. The mentoring program shall  promptly  transmit  such
 fingerprint  card and the processing fee to the office. The office shall
 promptly submit the fingerprint card and  the  processing  fee,  imposed
 pursuant to subdivision eight-a of section eight hundred thirty-seven of
 the  executive law, to the division of criminal justice services for its
 full search and retain processing.
   5. Upon receipt of a criminal history  record  from  the  division  of
 criminal justice services AND/OR BACKGROUND CLEARANCE FROM THE OFFICE OF
 CHILDREN  AND  FAMILY SERVICES, the office shall promptly provide to the
 mentoring program the criminal history record AND/OR  BACKGROUND  CLEAR-
 ANCE  INFORMATION,  if  any, with respect to the prospective employee or
 mentor, or a statement that  the  individual  has  no  criminal  history
 record.
   6.  Upon  receipt of the results of a criminal background check AND/OR
 BACKGROUND CLEARANCE pursuant to this  section,  the  mentoring  program
 shall  determine whether or not the prospective employee or mentor shall
 be offered employment or the opportunity to volunteer with the  program.
 Such  determination shall be made in accordance with the criteria estab-
 lished in section seven hundred fifty-two of the correction law.
 S. 1231                             3
 
   7. Upon the request of any person previously convicted of one or  more
 criminal offenses who has been denied employment pursuant to subdivision
 six  of this section, the mentoring program shall provide, within thirty
 days of such request, a written statement setting forth the reasons  for
 such  denial.  Any such person denied employment pursuant to subdivision
 six of this section shall be afforded the opportunities for  enforcement
 available pursuant to section seven hundred fifty-five of the correction
 law.
   8.  Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, with the exception
 of a sex offense or a crime against a child, a custodial parent or guar-
 dian may sign a waiver authorizing a mentor to  work  with  his  or  her
 child regardless of a criminal charge or crime related to a mentor. Such
 process  shall  only  be  initiated  upon the consent of the prospective
 mentor, and be on a form and of a content to be developed by the office.
 Where applicable, a mentoring program may notify a custodial  parent  or
 guardian  of his or her waiver right, but a waiver shall only be author-
 ized by a custodial parent or guardian.
   9. Any criminal history record AND/OR BACKGROUND CLEARANCE provided to
 a mentoring program pursuant  to  this  section  shall  be  confidential
 pursuant  to  the  applicable  federal  and  state laws, rules and regu-
 lations, and shall not be published or in any way disclosed  to  persons
 other than authorized personnel, unless otherwise authorized by law.
   10.  Every  mentoring  program  shall provide each custodial parent or
 guardian of every child participating in its mentoring  program  with  a
 description  of the kind of criminal background checks AND/OR BACKGROUND
 CLEARANCES conducted by the mentoring program on its prospective employ-
 ees and mentors. Such description shall include  identification  of  the
 source  utilized  to  obtain  criminal background histories AND/OR BACK-
 GROUND CLEARANCES on prospective employees and mentors, a list of crimes
 that would lead the program to deny employment  or  the  opportunity  to
 volunteer  as  a  prospective  employee or mentor, and any other process
 utilized to determine whether or not a prospective  employee  or  mentor
 with  a conviction record shall be offered employment or the opportunity
 to volunteer. Such  description  shall  clearly  state  whether  or  not
 prospective employees or mentors may be hired or offered the opportunity
 to volunteer despite the existence of a conviction history.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.