STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5701 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 20, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SOLAGES -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions AN ACT to direct the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to provide discounted monthly passes to college and career education students for the purpose of commuting to and from classes The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. a. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, the 2 Metropolitan Transportation Authority ("the Authority") shall extend the 3 provisions of its Monthly Tickets for Schools program providing 4 discounted monthly transportation passes to include students utilizing 5 the Long Island Railroad and the Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company 6 to commute to attend post-secondary education classes at qualified 7 colleges, universities and career education schools. The extension of 8 the program shall be known as the College and Career Education Partner- 9 ship Program. 10 b. In order to qualify for the the College and Career Education Part- 11 nership Program, a college, university or career education school must: 12 (i) be accredited by the New York State Board of Regents and the 13 Commissioner of Education or accredited by a nationally recognized 14 accrediting agency or association accepted as such by the regents of the 15 state of New York; 16 (ii) make application to the Authority to be added to the list of 17 colleges, universities and career education schools approved for the 18 program; and 19 (iii) upon notification of Authority approval, provide access through 20 its official website for full-time college and career education students 21 attending the college, university or career education school to register 22 through their website for the reduced fee passes. 23 c. A qualifying college may be a community college. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD09935-01-5A. 5701 2 1 d. Any full-time student attending a qualifying college, university or 2 career education school may purchase the reduced fare pass. A student in 3 their final term prior to graduating from a qualifying college, univer- 4 sity or career education school shall qualify to purchase the reduced 5 fare pass, even if such student is not carrying a full-time course load. 6 e. Passes issued through the College and Career Education Partnership 7 Program shall offer a minimum monthly discount of 25% off the full-price 8 cost of a monthly pass for students. 9 f. The College and Career Education Partnership Program shall be 10 implemented by the Authority prior to the commencement of the 2025-2026 11 school year and shall apply to that school year and all subsequent 12 school years. The Authority shall not pay any costs or expenses related 13 to the reduced fare program from its operating or capital budgets and 14 may only implement the reduced fare program with funds appropriated to 15 it by the State of New York for such purpose. 16 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.