| 1 | 1 | | <STYLE><!--U {color: Green}S {color: RED} I {color: DARKBLUE; background-color:yellow} P.brk {page-break-before:always}--></STYLE> <BASEFONT SIZE=3> <PRE WIDTH="99"> <FONT SIZE=5><B> STATE OF NEW YORK</B></FONT> ________________________________________________________________________ 8064 2025-2026 Regular Sessions <FONT SIZE=5><B> IN ASSEMBLY</B></FONT> April 22, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. LUPARDO, STIRPE, GLICK, ROZIC, PAULIN, MAGNAREL- LI, LAVINE, OTIS, CLARK, ROSENTHAL, SIMON, McDONALD, COLTON, HEVESI, EPSTEIN, FORREST, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, HUNTER, LEVENBERG, MAMDANI, MITAYNES, RAGA, REYES, SEAWRIGHT, SEPTIMO, SHIMSKY, SHRESTHA, SIMONE, STECK, TAYLOR, LUNSFORD, ANGELINO, BEEPHAN, BROOK-KRASNY, DeSTEFANO, DiPIETRO, DURSO, GALLAHAN, GANDOLFO, HAWLEY, MIKULIN, MILLER, NOVAK- HOV, PALMESANO, PIROZZOLO, RA, SEMPOLINSKI, WALSH, McDONOUGH, BLANKEN- BUSH -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. COOK, GIGLIO, RAMOS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting the student journalism education act <B><U>The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-</U></B> <B><U>bly, do enact as follows:</U></B> 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new article 18 to 2 read as follows: 3 <B><U>ARTICLE 18</U></B> 4 <B><U>STUDENT JOURNALISM EDUCATION ACT</U></B> 5 <B><U>Section 860. Short title.</U></B> 6 <B><U>861. Definitions.</U></B> 7 <B><U>862. Student journalism education principals.</U></B> 8 <B><U>863. Exemptions.</U></B> 9 <B><U>864. Liability.</U></B> 10 <B><U>§ 860. Short title. This article shall be known and may be cited as</U></B> 11 <B><U>the "student journalism education act".</U></B> 12 <B><U>§ 861. Definitions. For the purposes of this article the following</U></B> 13 <B><U>terms shall have the following meanings:</U></B> 14 <B><U>1. "Educational institution" means a public high school.</U></B> 15 <B><U>2. "School-sponsored media" means any material that is prepared, writ-</U></B> 16 <B><U>ten, published, or broadcast by a student journalist at an educational</U></B> 17 <B><U>institution, distributed or generally made available to members of the</U></B> 18 <B><U>student body, and prepared under the direction of a student media advi-</U></B> EXPLANATION--Matter in <B><U>italics</U></B> (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [<B><S> </S></B>] is old law to be omitted. LBD00278-02-5 </PRE><P CLASS="brk"><PRE WIDTH="99"> A. 8064 2 1 <B><U>sor. "School-sponsored media" shall not include media intended for</U></B> 2 <B><U>distribution or transmission solely in the classroom in which the media</U></B> 3 <B><U>is produced.</U></B> 4 <B><U>3. "Student journalist" means a student enrolled in an educational</U></B> 5 <B><U>institution who gathers, compiles, writes, edits, photographs, records,</U></B> 6 <B><U>or prepares information for dissemination in school-sponsored media.</U></B> 7 <B><U>4. "Student media advisor" means an individual employed, appointed, or</U></B> 8 <B><U>designated by an educational institution to supervise or provide</U></B> 9 <B><U>instruction relating to school-sponsored media.</U></B> 10 <B><U>§ 862. Student journalism education principals. 1. Except as other-</U></B> 11 <B><U>wise provided in section eight hundred sixty-three of this article, a</U></B> 12 <B><U>student journalist shall have the right to exercise free speech and of</U></B> 13 <B><U>the press in school-sponsored media, regardless of whether the media is</U></B> 14 <B><U>supported financially by the educational institution or by use of the</U></B> 15 <B><U>facilities of an educational institution or produced in conjunction with</U></B> 16 <B><U>a class in which the student is enrolled.</U></B> 17 <B><U>2. Subject to section eight hundred sixty-three of this article, the</U></B> 18 <B><U>appropriate student journalist shall be responsible for determining the</U></B> 19 <B><U>news, opinion, and feature content of school-sponsored media.</U></B> 20 <B><U>3. Nothing in this section shall preclude a student media advisor from</U></B> 21 <B><U>teaching professional standards of English and journalism to student</U></B> 22 <B><U>journalists or from grading the performance of a student in accordance</U></B> 23 <B><U>with such standards.</U></B> 24 <B><U>4. There shall be no prior restraint of material prepared for official</U></B> 25 <B><U>publications of an educational institution except for the material</U></B> 26 <B><U>described in section eight hundred sixty-three of this article.</U></B> 27 <B><U>5. Educational institution administrators shall have the burden of</U></B> 28 <B><U>demonstrating justification without undue delay prior to a limitation of</U></B> 29 <B><U>student expression under this article.</U></B> 30 <B><U>6. No student media advisor or employee shall be dismissed, suspended,</U></B> 31 <B><U>disciplined, reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against</U></B> 32 <B><U>solely for acting to protect a pupil engaged in the conduct authorized</U></B> 33 <B><U>under this article; and further no student media advisor or employee</U></B> 34 <B><U>shall be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, reassigned, transferred or</U></B> 35 <B><U>otherwise retaliated against solely for an action, undertaken in good</U></B> 36 <B><U>faith with this article, which results in the prohibition of the publi-</U></B> 37 <B><U>cation of speech pursuant to this article.</U></B> 38 <B><U>7. Political expression by students in school-sponsored media shall</U></B> 39 <B><U>not be deemed the use of public funds for political purposes.</U></B> 40 <B><U>§ 863. Exemptions. Nothing in this article shall impose a duty on</U></B> 41 <B><U>educational institution administrators to review school-sponsored media</U></B> 42 <B><U>prior to publication. To the extent that an educational institution</U></B> 43 <B><U>administrator chooses to engage in pre-publication review, the follow-</U></B> 44 <B><U>ing forms of expression shall not be protected by this article:</U></B> 45 <B><U>1. Expression that is libelous, slanderous or obscene;</U></B> 46 <B><U>2. Expression that constitutes an unwarranted invasion of privacy;</U></B> 47 <B><U>3. Expression that violates federal or state law; or</U></B> 48 <B><U>4. Expression that incites students to commit an unlawful act where</U></B> 49 <B><U>such unlawful act would be both imminent and likely to occur, to</U></B> 50 <B><U>violate the policies of the educational institution, or to materially</U></B> 51 <B><U>and substantially disrupt the orderly operation of such educational</U></B> 52 <B><U>institution.</U></B> 53 <B><U>§ 864. Liability. No expression made by students in the exercise of</U></B> 54 <B><U>free speech or freedom of the press protected by this article shall be</U></B> 55 <B><U>deemed to be an expression of policy, opinion or position of the educa-</U></B> 56 <B><U>tional institution, nor shall any such expression be considered to be an</U></B> </PRE><P CLASS="brk"><PRE WIDTH="99"> A. 8064 3 1 <B><U>endorsement in any way by the educational institution and no educational</U></B> 2 <B><U>institution, student media advisor, employee, parent, legal guardian or</U></B> 3 <B><U>administrator of an educational institution shall be held liable in any</U></B> 4 <B><U>civil or criminal action for any expression made or published by</U></B> 5 <B><U>students, except in cases of willful or wanton misconduct. Nothing in</U></B> 6 <B><U>this section shall be construed to create any private action on behalf</U></B> 7 <B><U>of a student other than to seek injunctive relief allowing the publica-</U></B> 8 <B><U>tion of the speech in question.</U></B> 9 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. |
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