NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A7872A
SPONSOR: Nolan
 
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to the
release of personally identifiable information
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: This bill protects personally iden-
tifiable information from release to certain third parties.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 allows parents of students and students of 18 years of age or
older to request that personally identifiable information and/or biome-
tric record not be disclosed to certain third parties and prohibits the
education department and schools that receive the request from disclos-
ing such information of that particular student, except in cases where
they are required to do so by law, court order or subpoena, state or
federal audits or evaluations to certain authorized representatives, or
for health or safety emergencies. This section also directs SED to
develop a form to be used for such requests. Section 2 is the effective
date.
 
JUSTIFICATION: New York State has recently agreed to share confiden-
tial student information with commercial vendors and other corporations.
This information includes name, address, lest scores, disciplinary and
attendance records, raze, ethnicity, disabilities and other sensitive
information. Such student data is useful to corporations for business
development, marketing educational products and grant programs. At this
time, however, state law does not authorize parents and students to
protect personal data from disclosure to these third parties. This
legislation provides safeguards: it allows parents and students to
prohibit schools from sharing personal student data and directs the
State Education Department to develop the necessary information and
forms necessary for parents and students.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect 90 days after it shall
become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7872--A
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 6, 2013
___________
Introduced by M. of A. NOLAN, ABINANTI, OTIS, TITONE, PAULIN -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Education -- reported and
referred to the Committee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the release of
personally identifiable information
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 2-c to
2 read as follows:
3 § 2-c. Release of personally identifiable information. 1. Defi-
4 nitions. As used in this section the following terms shall have the
5 following meanings:
6 a. "Personally identifiable information" shall have the same meaning
7 as such term is defined in section 99.3 of title 34 of the code of
8 federal regulations implementing the Family Education Rights and Privacy
9 Act, as such federal law and regulations are from time to time amended.
10 b. "Biometric record" shall have the same meaning as such term is
11 defined in section 99.3 of title 34 of the code of federal regulations
12 implementing the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, as such feder-
13 al law and regulations are from time to time amended.
14 c. "School" shall mean any public elementary or secondary school,
15 board of cooperative educational services, public school kindergarten
16 programs, universal pre-kindergarten programs authorized pursuant to
17 section thirty-six hundred two-e of this chapter, and other publicly
18 funded pre-kindergarten programs.
19 d. "Student" shall mean any person attending a school identified in
20 paragraph c of this subdivision.
21 e. "Third party" shall mean any person or entity other than a school
22 district or board of cooperative educational services, institution of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10977-06-3
A. 7872--A 2
1 higher education, school as defined in paragraph c of this subdivision
2 or the department.
3 2. A parent of a student, a person in parental relation to a student,
4 or a student eighteen years of age or older may request that such
5 student's personally identifiable information and/or such student's
6 biometric record not be disclosed to any third party. The department
7 and/or any school that receives such request shall be prohibited from
8 disclosing such information to any third party unless such disclosure is
9 required by law, pursuant to a court order or subpoena, for the purpose
10 of a state or federal audit or evaluation to authorized representatives
11 of entities identified in section 99.31 (a)(3) of title 34 of the code
12 of federal regulations implementing the Family Education Rights and
13 Privacy Act, or is necessary due to a health or safety emergency.
14 3. The department shall develop a form that shall be used for requests
15 made pursuant to subdivision two of this section. Such form shall be
16 made publicly available and shall allow such individuals the option to
17 opt-out of disclosure of personally identifiable information and biome-
18 tric records to any third party or to certain types of third parties.
19 The department is authorized to identify a list of types of third
20 parties that individuals may opt-out of disclosure of such information
21 and records and such individuals may opt-out of disclosure of such
22 information and records to any type and/or all of the listed third
23 parties. Such list developed by the department shall not require the
24 names of such third parties to be listed. Such list may identify the
25 types of services such third parties provide.
26 4. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the sharing of
27 personally identifiable information and biometric records by charter
28 schools to a not-for-profit corporation or a for-profit business or
29 corporate entity that the charter school was formed in conjunction with.
30 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
31 have become a law.