NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4758A
SPONSOR: Slater TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to defining antisemitism
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Establishes a definition of "antisemitism" in the state education law.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
The state education department shall define antisemitism as defined by
the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance on May twenty-sixth,
two thousand sixteen.
JUSTIFICATION:
The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
have adopted the following working definition of antisemitism estab-
lished by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 2016:
"Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as
hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemi-
tism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their
property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facili-
ties."
This legislation establishes the same working definition in the State
Education Law for purposes of reviewing, investigating, or deciding
whether there has been a violation of law, rule, regulation or of title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: A.10486
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4758--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 6, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SLATER, E. BROWN -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Education -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to defining antisemitism
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 115 to
2 read as follows:
3 § 115. Antisemitism. In reviewing, investigating, or deciding whether
4 there has been a violation of any state law, rule, or regulation or of
5 title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) on
6 the basis of race, color, or national origin, based on an individual's
7 actual or perceived shared Jewish ancestry or Jewish ethnic character-
8 istics, the department shall take into consideration as part of the
9 department's assessment whether the practice is defined as antisemitism
10 as such term is defined under the International Holocaust Remembrance
11 Alliance on May twenty-sixth, two thousand sixteen, including contempo-
12 rary examples of antisemitism.
13 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06465-02-5
