NY State Senate Bill 2025-S1099

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Libraries Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2025	referred to libraries

co-Sponsors

2025-S1099 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Libraries
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§276 & 283, Ed L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S6350

2025-S1099 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Enacts the "freedom to read act"; requires the commissioner of education and school library systems to develop policies to ensure that school libraries and library staff are empowered to curate and develop collections that provide students with access to the widest array of developmentally appropriate materials available.

2025-S1099 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S1099

SPONSOR: MAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to enacting the "freedom
to read act"

 
JUSTIFICATION:

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not
love breathing."

This quote from Scout, the young heroine of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mock-
ingbird, sums up the way censorship almost inevitably backfires.
Banning books makes people take them more seriously. In the Soviet
Union, people went to extreme lengths to gain access to both Russian and
foreign literature that was forbidden by the government, with the result
that forbidden writers gained status and reached many more readers than
they might otherwise have done.

The current wave of efforts around the country to ban books from
libraries and classrooms focuses on books that help young people under-

stand our society, our history, and personal identity from a range of
perspectives. However, there is ample research to show that children are
more excited, and therefore more likely, to read books that feature
characters with whom they can identify. Moreover, "protecting" children
from negative information or harsh realities about issues like the
history of slavery or injustice serves to make them less resilient and
less vigilant about preventing such outcomes in the future.

In a diverse state like New York, it is critical that we ensure that
students have access to a broad range of materials available to them to
let them pursue a love of learning and reading that can transport them
to the distant past, to imagined futures, or into the far reaches of our
galaxy. By ensuring that students have access to many perspectives, they
have the option to enrich their minds and broaden their perspectives.
Whether they embrace or reject those perspectives, the opportunity to
explore challenging ideas is valuable to students' development as lear-
ners, as community members, and as citizens.

Democratic self-government depends on a free exchange of ideas and
information, and our schools must continue to ensure that ideas and
information arc available for students to embrace or reject in line with
their values and those they learn from their families and communities.
This bill helps to protect the freedom to read by ensuring that school
boards will continue to provide the broadest range of access to age-ap-
propriate materials in school libraries and adding a guarantee of access
to diverse reading materials.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2023-2024 - S.6350-8 (May) / A.6873-8 (O'Donnell)

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.

2025-S1099 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1099
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. MAY, COMRIE, HARCKHAM, HINCHEY, WEBB -- read twice
   and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
   on Libraries
 
 AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting the  "freedom
   to read act"
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
 the "freedom to read act".
   § 2. Section 276 of the education law is amended to read as follows:
   § 276. Existing  rules continued in force.  All existing provisions of
 law and rules established by  the  commissioner  of  education  for  the
 management  of public school libraries shall hold good as to the manage-
 ment of such school libraries until altered by or in pursuance  of  law.
 SUCH  LAWS AND RULES ESTABLISHED BY THE COMMISSIONER SHALL INCLUDE POLI-
 CIES TO ENSURE THAT SCHOOL LIBRARIES AND LIBRARY  STAFF,  INCLUDING  BUT
 NOT  LIMITED  TO  CERTIFIED  LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALISTS, ARE EMPOWERED TO
 CURATE AND DEVELOP COLLECTIONS THAT PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH ACCESS TO  THE
 WIDEST  ARRAY  OF  DEVELOPMENTALLY  APPROPRIATE  MATERIALS  AVAILABLE TO
 SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
   § 3. Section 283 of the education law, as added by chapter 348 of  the
 laws of 1984, is amended to read as follows:
   § 283. Functions  of  school library systems.  The functions of school
 library systems shall include but not be limited to:  (a)  creating  and
 developing  a  union  catalog of materials listing the resources of each
 participating school library; (b) developing a plan which will aid  each
 participating  school library in cooperative collection development; (c)
 adopting and implementing an interlibrary loan policy and program  among
 participating  school  libraries;  (d)  assuring  a  method of effective
 delivery of library materials within the system; (e) promoting  develop-
 ment  programs  and  continuing  education  for  staff  of participating
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD03534-01-5

 S. 1099                             2
 
 schools; (f) encouraging awareness of the resources and services  avail-
 able in participating school libraries; [and] (g) cooperating with other
 library  systems  in  resource  sharing and other activities[.]; AND (H)
 ENSURING  THAT  SCHOOL  LIBRARIES  AND  LIBRARY STAFF, INCLUDING BUT NOT
 LIMITED TO CERTIFIED LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALISTS, ARE EMPOWERED TO  CURATE
 AND  DEVELOP COLLECTIONS THAT PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH ACCESS TO THE WIDEST
 ARRAY OF DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE MATERIALS AVAILABLE TO  PARTICIPAT-
 ING SCHOOLS.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S1099

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Libraries Committee

co-Sponsors

2025-S1099 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S1099 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S1099 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S1099 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S1099

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Rachel May

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Libraries Committee

co-Sponsors

Leroy Comrie

Pete Harckham

Michelle Hinchey

Lea Webb

2025-S1099 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S1099 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S1099 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S1099 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments