Requires all secondary high schools to include the legal and social consequences of disseminating sexually explicit messages, imagery or video and cyberbullying in interpersonal violence prevention education in health classes.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10369
IN SENATE
May 15, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. RHOADS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to providing for health
education pertaining to certain interpersonal violence prevention
education for secondary high school students
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The section heading and paragraph b of subdivision 6 of
2 section 804 of the education law, as amended by chapter 390 of the laws
3 of 2016, are amended to read as follows:
4 Health education regarding mental health, alcohol, drugs, tobacco
5 abuse [and], the prevention and detection of certain cancers, and
6 certain violence prevention.
7 b. (i) The commissioner shall make available an interpersonal violence
8 prevention education package for grades kindergarten through twelve,
9 which package may consist of student pamphlets, parent pamphlets, vide-
10 otapes and other informative materials to be distributed to school
11 districts, and shall encourage the use of such material as part of the
12 health or other related curricula or programs, provided, however, that
13 interpersonal violence prevention education is required for all health
14 education courses at the secondary high school level in order for a
15 student to graduate.
16 (ii) Within the interpersonal violence prevention education package
17 for all secondary high schools, the commissioner shall include instruc-
18 tion regarding certain violence prevention, including, but not limited
19 to, the legal and social consequences of disseminating sexually explicit
20 messages, imagery or video and cyberbullying as defined in subdivision
21 eight of section eleven of this chapter. Instruction shall also include
22 the education reform program established pursuant to section four
23 hundred fifty-eight-l of the social services law.
24 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13505-01-5
