Senator Velmanette Montgomery's State Central Registry Reform bill has been delivered to Governor Cuomo

Senator Montgomery’s legislation to reform the State Central Registry (SCR) has been delivered to Governor Cuomo and awaits his signature. I am asking for your support to get the SCR Bill (S6427-A/A8060-A - Jaffee) signed into law. This bill would help fix New York’s broken SCR system and give every New York parent the best chance to financially support their children.

New York’s current SCR system is extremely easy to get onto and almost impossible to be removed from. It blocks employment opportunities for up to 28 years for tens of thousands of parents, even when they were never found to have committed child abuse or neglect and never had a family court case filed against them.

Under current law, the SCR does not distinguish between child neglect – which typically is related to poverty – and the most egregious child abuse. Parents impacted are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic women who are reported for poverty related reasons such as inadequate housing, inadequate childcare, inadequate education, and parental substance abuse. However, having a report in the SCR prevents these parents from employment that would address the allegations, even when a child’s safety is not at risk. 

Senator Montgomery’s legislation begins to address these injustices while ensuring safety for children by:

• increasing the standard of evidence to be more in line with forty other states
• ensuring that if a parent wins their case in Family Court, their employment is not unfairly limited by an inaccurate record in the SCR
• automatically sealing records of neglect at 8 years for most jobs and at 12 years for all jobs as long as there are no subsequent cases

The Governor has 10 days to sign or veto this bill. I urge you to call immediately

(518) 474-8390 (Albany office) / (212) 681-4580 (NYC office) or

e-mail (governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form)

Governor Cuomo and ask him to sign this important piece of legislation into law!