STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8912
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
July 16, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. STECK -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring health
education regarding gambling
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 804 of the education law, as amended by chapter 390
2 of the laws of 2016 and subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 1 of the
3 laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
4 § 804. Health education regarding mental health, alcohol, drugs,
5 tobacco abuse, gambling and the prevention and detection of certain
6 cancers. 1. All schools shall ensure that their health education
7 programs recognize the multiple dimensions of health by including mental
8 health and the relation of physical and mental health so as to enhance
9 student understanding, attitudes and behaviors that promote health,
10 well-being and human dignity.
11 2. All schools shall include, as an integral part of health education,
12 instruction so as to discourage the misuse and abuse of alcohol,
13 tobacco, gambling and other drugs and promote attitudes and behavior
14 that enhance health, well being, and human dignity.
15 3. Instruction regarding alcohol, tobacco, gambling and other drugs
16 shall be included in the health education provided for all elementary
17 school pupils and shall be taught by the regular classroom teachers or
18 by teachers certified to teach health education. Such instruction shall
19 be designed according to the needs and abilities of the pupils at
20 successive grade levels with the purpose of developing desirable health
21 behavior, attitudes, and knowledge as well as self-reliance and problem
22 solving capacity.
23 4. Instruction regarding alcohol, tobacco, gambling and other drugs,
24 in addition to continued health guidance in the junior high school
25 grades and the senior high schools, shall be an integral part of a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13398-01-5
A. 8912 2
1 required health education course at each of these levels in the second-
2 ary schools curriculum. Students shall be required to demonstrate know-
3 ledge in the subject area through the use of a test, graded project or
4 report, or any other means prescribed by the school authorities regard-
5 ing alcohol, drugs, gambling and tobacco. Any such course shall be
6 taught by teachers holding a certificate to teach health. Related cours-
7 es in the secondary school curriculum shall be taught in a manner
8 supportive of health education regarding alcohol, tobacco, gambling and
9 other drugs. In addition, instruction regarding the dangers of driving
10 while under the influence of alcohol or drugs shall be an integral part
11 of a required health education course in the senior high schools. Such
12 instruction shall be provided in all senior high schools whether or not
13 these schools also provide driver education courses.
14 5. Instruction regarding methods of prevention and detection of
15 certain cancers, including but not limited to breast cancer, skin
16 cancer, testicular cancer and other cancers where certain preventive
17 measures have become generally accepted and certain detection methods
18 have been adopted and recommended generally to the public. Such instruc-
19 tion shall be an integral part of a required health education course at
20 the senior high school level, in addition to continued health guidance
21 in senior high schools. Any such course shall be taught by teachers
22 holding a certificate to teach health.
23 6. a. The commissioner may prescribe in regulations such health educa-
24 tion courses which include instruction regarding alcohol, tobacco,
25 gambling and other drugs as the commissioner may deem necessary and
26 desirable for the welfare of pupils and the community. The contents may
27 be varied to meet the needs of particular school districts, or portions
28 thereof, and need not be uniform throughout the state, provided, howev-
29 er, that school districts shall utilize either the curriculum for health
30 education instruction regarding alcohol, tobacco, gambling and other
31 drugs prescribed by the commissioner or a course approved by the commis-
32 sioner in accordance with criteria established by the commissioner. The
33 commissioner is authorized to make recommendations to the board of
34 regents beginning December first, two thousand fourteen and every three
35 years thereafter relating to the modernization of such instruction
36 required pursuant to subdivision one of this section, to include the
37 most up to date age appropriate information available regarding the
38 misuse and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, gambling and other drugs, includ-
39 ing but not limited to heroin and opioids. Such instruction shall
40 include, but not be limited to, information regarding drugs and other
41 substances that are more prevalent among school aged youth. Such recom-
42 mendations shall be the result of a collaboration between the depart-
43 ment, the office of alcoholism and substance abuse services and the
44 department of health. If the board of regents adopts such curriculum,
45 the curriculum requirement shall take effect no later than the next
46 school year after such curriculum has been adopted.
47 b. The commissioner shall make available an interpersonal violence
48 prevention education package for grades kindergarten through twelve,
49 which package may consist of student pamphlets, parent pamphlets, vide-
50 otapes and other informative materials to be distributed to school
51 districts, and shall encourage the use of such material as part of the
52 health or other related curricula or programs.
53 c. The regents shall review the health curriculum requirements in
54 existence on the effective date of [this paragraph] chapter one hundred
55 eighty-one of the laws of two thousand for the purpose of streamlining
56 such curriculum and identifying any outdated components that may be
A. 8912 3
1 eliminated or consolidated in order to ensure that students have suffi-
2 cient time and instruction to develop skills to address issues of
3 violence prevention and mental health. To the extent appropriate, the
4 regents shall modify the existing curriculum to provide greater focus on
5 the development of skills, by no later than middle school, that are
6 needed to recognize, cope with and address potentially violent incidents
7 including an understanding of student roles in emergency situations and
8 other related skills designed to reduce the threat of violence in
9 schools.
10 7. School authorities shall provide the needed facilities, time, and
11 place for the instruction set forth herein and shall provide learning
12 aids and curriculum resource materials which contribute to effective
13 teaching methods and learning in health education regarding alcohol,
14 tobacco, gambling and other drugs.
15 8. All pre-service training programs in the state for elementary
16 teachers shall include adequate preparation regarding the instruction in
17 alcohol, tobacco, gambling and other drugs set forth herein, and no
18 teacher shall be licensed except upon satisfactory demonstration of the
19 competencies included in the institutional proposals approved by the
20 department.
21 9. Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to diminish or
22 impair the duties of the commissioner with respect to the continuing
23 program for critical health problems established by chapter seven
24 hundred eighty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred sixty-seven as
25 amended. The commissioner shall coordinate actions taken under authority
26 of this section with the provisions of said chapter as they relate to
27 health education in schools, inservice training and training programs,
28 and curriculum or syllabus development regarding the deleterious effects
29 resulting from the use, misuse, and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, gambling
30 and other drugs.
31 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
