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S04266 Summary:

S04266 Actions:

S04266 Committee Votes:

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S04266 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         4266--A
            Cal. No. 506
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                    IN SENATE
 
                                    February 7, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  Sens.  WEBB,  MARTINEZ, RAMOS, SALAZAR -- read twice and
          ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
          Women's  Issues  -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to
          first and second report, ordered  to  a  third  reading,  amended  and
          ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading
 
        AN  ACT  to  establish  a  task force on missing women and girls who are
          black, indigenous and people of color; and providing for the repeal of
          such provisions upon expiration thereof
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1.  Legislative  findings  and  intent. The legislature finds
     2  that:
     3    a. According to a 2020 report by the Women's Media  Center  there  are
     4  64,000-75,000 missing Black women and girls across the United States.
     5    b.  Cases  involving  Black  women  and girls often do not receive the
     6  attention they need and there are often barriers to families reporting a
     7  loved one, such as mistrust of police, and  racial  disparities  in  how
     8  disappearances are tracked.
     9    c.  The  tens  of  thousands  of Black women and girls who are missing
    10  include abductees, sex trafficking victims, and  runaways.  Black  women
    11  and girls exist at the intersection of racism and sexism, and often face
    12  worse health, wealth, housing, education, and employment outcomes.
    13    d.  Black  girls comprise over 40% of domestic sex trafficking victims
    14  in the United States.
    15    e. Missing Black girls are often categorized as runaways and there are
    16  treatment disparities with their cases.
    17    f. According to a 2020 report by the  Sovereign  Bodies  Institute,  a
    18  nonprofit,  indigenous-led research organization, at least 2,306 missing
    19  Native American women and girls have gone missing in the last  40  years
    20  in the United States, about 1,800 of whom were killed or vanished.
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05565-02-3
        S. 4266--A                          2
 
     1    g.  Systemic  vulnerability and compounding suppressions have resulted
     2  in mass amounts of disappeared indigenous  peoples,  with  the  National
     3  Congress  of American Indians finding that an estimated 40% of women who
     4  are victims of sex  trafficking  identify  as  American  Indian,  Alaska
     5  Native, or First Nations.
     6    h.  Families  of Native American women and girls who have gone missing
     7  across the country report a lack of cultural awareness, systemic  racism
     8  and sexism, and express frustration that their cases are not pursued.
     9    i.  There is not comprehensive state or federal data about missing and
    10  murdered Native Americans. Advocates argue  that  poor  record  keeping,
    11  racial  misclassification,  adverse relationships between tribal govern-
    12  ments and outside law enforcement  have  led  to  an  underreporting  of
    13  cases.
    14    §  2. a. There is hereby established a task force on missing women and
    15  girls who are black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC).  Such  task
    16  force  shall be composed of the commissioner of the office of family and
    17  children's services,  the  commissioner  of  the  division  of  criminal
    18  justice  services,  the superintendent of state police, or the designees
    19  of such commissioners and superintendent. Additional  members  shall  be
    20  appointed  as follows, two shall be appointed by the temporary president
    21  of the senate, two shall be appointed by the speaker  of  the  assembly,
    22  one  shall  be  appointed  by the minority leader of the senate, and one
    23  shall be appointed by the minority leader of the assembly. Members shall
    24  be representative of the communities experiencing this crisis, including
    25  directly impacted individuals, reflect the diversity of New York  state,
    26  and have experience in cultural competency.
    27    b. Task force members shall receive no compensation for their services
    28  but  shall  be  reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred in
    29  the performance of their duties.
    30    c. The task force shall:
    31    (i) develop policy changes that will work to address the lack of  care
    32  and concern for missing and murdered BIPOC women and girls with New York
    33  state  governmental  agencies,  including identifying policies to ensure
    34  first responders are culturally competent;
    35    (ii) advance the knowledge of communities on  the  severity  of  BIPOC
    36  women and girls who are missing and murdered;
    37    (iii)  ensure  BIPOC  communities  are  educated  and  trained  on the
    38  prevention, protection, and protocols relating to  missing  BIPOC  women
    39  and girls as it relates to social media;
    40    (iv)  develop a strategy to collect statistics, demographics, surveys,
    41  oral histories, and data analysis;
    42    (v) recommend preventive programming and ideas to advance  the  safety
    43  of  women  and  girls,  including  policies that address the overlapping
    44  forms of oppression faced by BIPOC women and girls;
    45    (vi) identify major traffic hubs, highways,  and  resource  extraction
    46  sites that lead to or are responsible for the facilitation of the abduc-
    47  tion of BIPOC women and girls; and
    48    (vii) create a state-wide awareness campaign.
    49    d. In carrying out the duties of the task force, such task force shall
    50  seek public input by holding public hearings in each region of the state
    51  and accepting public input in writing.
    52    e.  On  or  before two years after the effective date of this act, the
    53  task force shall submit to the temporary president of  the  senate,  the
    54  speaker  of  the  assembly,  the  minority  leader of the senate and the
    55  minority leader of the assembly a report  containing  its  findings  and
    56  recommendations. Such reports shall be made available to the public.
        S. 4266--A                          3
 
     1    §  3.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
     2  have become a law and shall expire and be deemed  repealed  three  years
     3  after such date.