Relates to requiring postsecondary institutions that participate in study abroad programs to report crime and harm that occurs to participating students.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3844--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 19, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sens. STAVISKY, LAVALLE, ADDABBO, BAILEY, BIAGGI, GALLI-
VAN, GAUGHRAN, JACKSON, KRUEGER, MAYER, MONTGOMERY, SKOUFIS, THOMAS --
read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
the Committee on Higher Education -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring postsecon-
dary institutions that participate in study abroad programs to report
crime and harm that occurs to participating students
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "Safe Student Study Abroad Act" also known as the "Ravi Thackurdeen
3 Safe Student Study Abroad Act".
4 § 2. Title 7 of the education law is amended by adding a new article
5 130-A to read as follows:
6 ARTICLE 130-A
7 SAFE STUDENT STUDY ABROAD
8 Section 6457. Definitions.
9 6458. Reporting.
10 § 6457. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms
11 shall have the following meanings:
12 1. "College", "university" and "postsecondary" shall mean any institu-
13 tion of higher education, recognized and approved by the regents, which
14 provides a course of study leading to the granting of a postsecondary
15 degree or diploma.
16 2. "Third party entities" shall mean any for profit or not-for-profit
17 business that is not a college, university or postsecondary institution
18 which provides a study abroad program or coordinates a program between a
19 college, university or postsecondary institution in the United States
20 and a study abroad program.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10056-02-9
S. 3844--A 2
1 3. "Study abroad program" shall mean programs which are coordinated by
2 college, university or postsecondary institutions and third party enti-
3 ties in the state of New York, that provide students with the opportu-
4 nity to work or study, wholly or in principal part, outside of the
5 United States of America.
6 4. "Study abroad organization" shall mean college, university or post-
7 secondary institutions as well as third party entities that offer study
8 abroad programs.
9 § 6458. Reporting. 1. Beginning one year after the effective date of
10 this article, study abroad organizations shall make and file an annual
11 report to the department by August fifteenth of each year. Such report
12 shall be prepared by all reasonably available data and shall consist of
13 data from the previous two years and comply with the federal health
14 insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) of 1996, as
15 amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. section
16 1681, et. seq.) and all other applicable regulations. Data representing
17 individuals shall be in numerical form omitting personal information.
18 2. The report mandated by this section shall include:
19 a. for the previous academic year, including summer terms, the effec-
20 tiveness of the study abroad program at protecting students from crime
21 and harm, whether changes to such program are needed and how such chang-
22 es will be implemented;
23 b. deaths of program participants including manner of death;
24 c. accidents and illnesses that resulted in hospitalization including
25 the type of such accident or illness;
26 d. sexual assaults against program participants;
27 e. incidents that resulted in a police report including type of inci-
28 dent; and
29 f. with respect to the incidents described in paragraphs b through e
30 of this subdivision, whether the incidents occurred:
31 i. during program participation;
32 ii. during students own time;
33 iii. on campus; and
34 iv. off campus.
35 g. the location of the incident;
36 h. the time of the incident; and
37 i. the date of the incident.
38 3. Study abroad organizations shall also report on ethical relation-
39 ships and conflict of interest avoidance policies with all major part-
40 ners.
41 4. Colleges with enrollments below three thousand will report data to
42 the department to be made available with the institution of reference
43 redacted.
44 5. Study abroad organizations shall include references to the avail-
45 ability of the reports identified in this section on all websites and
46 printed materials.
47 6. The department shall make the reports required in this section
48 available to any state legislator upon request.
49 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.