STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4490 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 16, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. RAMOS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Children and Families AN ACT to amend the social services law and the executive law, in relation to the provision of criminal history background checks free of charge to mentoring programs operated by not-for-profit corpo- rations The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 390-e of the social services law, 2 as added by chapter 459 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 4. Every mentoring program that chooses to apply for a criminal histo- 5 ry background check with the division of criminal justice services shall 6 obtain a set of fingerprints from each individual for whom a criminal 7 background check is to be completed and such other information as is 8 required by the office and the division of criminal justice services. 9 For each prospective employee or mentor for whom the mentoring program 10 completes a criminal background check, the mentoring program shall 11 provide the applicant with blank fingerprint cards and a description of 12 how the completed fingerprint card will be used upon submission to the 13 mentoring program. The mentoring program shall promptly transmit such 14 fingerprint card and the processing fee to the office; provided, howev- 15 er, there shall be no processing fee for a criminal background check for 16 mentoring programs described in subparagraphs (i) and (iii) of paragraph 17 (c) of subdivision one of this section. The office shall promptly 18 submit the fingerprint card and the processing fee, if imposed pursuant 19 to subdivision eight-a of section eight hundred thirty-seven of the 20 executive law, to the division of criminal justice services for its full 21 search and retain processing. 22 § 2. Subdivision 8-a of section 837 of the executive law, as amended 23 by chapter 561 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD04792-02-3
A. 4490 2 1 8-a. Charge a fee when, pursuant to statute or the regulations of the 2 division, it conducts a search of its criminal history records and 3 returns a report thereon in connection with an application for employ- 4 ment or for a license or permit. The division shall adopt and may, from 5 time to time, amend a schedule of such fees which shall be in amounts 6 determined by the division to be reasonably related to the cost of 7 conducting such searches and returning reports thereon but, in no event, 8 shall any such fee exceed twenty-five dollars and an additional 9 surcharge of fifty dollars. The comptroller is hereby authorized to 10 deposit such fees into the general fund, provided, however, that the 11 monies received by the division of criminal justice services for payment 12 of the additional surcharge shall be deposited in equal amounts to the 13 general fund and to the fingerprint identification and technology 14 account. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the division shall not request 15 or accept any fee for searching its records and supplying a criminal 16 history report pursuant to section two hundred fifty-one-b of the gener- 17 al business law relating to participating in flight instruction at any 18 aeronautical facility, flight school or institution of higher learning, 19 or when the division is supplying a criminal history report to a mentor- 20 ing program described in subparagraphs (i) and (iii) of paragraph (c) of 21 subdivision one of section three hundred ninety-e of the social services 22 law. 23 § 3. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 390-e of the social 24 services law, as added by chapter 459 of the laws of 2006, is amended to 25 read as follows: 26 (c) "Mentoring program" shall mean a formalized program, operated: 27 (i) by a corporation which has been incorporated pursuant to subpara- 28 graph five of paragraph (a) of section one hundred two of the not-for- 29 profit corporation law [or]; 30 (ii) pursuant to subparagraph four of paragraph (a) of section one 31 hundred two of the business corporation law[, or operated by]; or 32 (iii) by an educational institution or school district, [that matches] 33 for the purpose of matching youth with adult volunteers [with the 34 purpose of providing] to provide such youth with positive role models to 35 enhance their development. 36 § 4. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall 37 have become a law.