S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                  4266--A
     Cal. No. 506
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 7, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  WEBB,  MARTINEZ, RAMOS, SALAZAR -- read twice and
   ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
   Women's  Issues  -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to
   first and second report, ordered  to  a  third  reading,  amended  and
   ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading
 
 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.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD05565-02-3
              

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   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
 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.
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   §  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.