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S3934Senate2015-2016 Session

Relates to the repeal of authorization for the chief privacy officer to serve in multiple positions within the department of education

Sponsor John J. FlanaganSD-2Affects Education
Status
Stricken
Impact
Pending
Passage
Pending

Bill progress

Step 2 of 7

In committee · Education

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Sponsors

Primary sponsor
John J. Flanagan

Senator · Senate District 2

Chair, Education

No co-sponsors yet.

History

  1. Recommit, enacting clause stricken
  2. Referred to education
  3. Committed to rules
  4. Advanced to third reading
  5. 2nd report cal.
  6. 1st report cal.214
  7. Referred to education

Full text

The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.

Sponsor's memo

BILL NUMBER:S3934

Title of bill

An act to repeal paragraph d of subdivision 2 of section 2-d of the education law, relating to certain provisions relating to the chief privacy officer

Purpose

To repeal the requirement that a Chief Privacy Officer may hold more than one position at the State Education Department.

Summary of provisions

Section 1: Section 1 repeals paragraph d of subdivision 2 of section 2-d of the education law.

Section 2: Section 2 sets forth an immediate effective date.

Existing law

Current law allows for a Chief Privacy Officer to hold more than one position within the State Education Department.

Justification

The 2014-2015 Enacted Budget included comprehensive student data and privacy legislation to ensure an appropriate balance between necessary data being used in a responsible way by educators and schools and the protection of such elements of that data that relate to the personal identifiers of students and teachers. One of the most critical aspects of the legislation was to establish a Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) within the State Education Department (SED). The CPO would be in charge of ensuring that appropriate balance is maintained throughout the State by establishing a Parents Bill of Rights for Data Privacy and Security and being a contact person for the public to get information and report incidents of possible malfeasance or a data breach, among other responsibilities.

The legislation as enacted was intended to allow SED flexibility in hiring a CPO from within the department, if that is what SED chose to do, by stating that the CPO "may" hold more than one position within the department. It was not the intent of the legislation to state conclusively that the CPO "must" be hired from within SED and that he or she "must" hold more than one position within the department. Unfortunately, it has been interpreted by the Division of Budget (DOB) that the language as enacted created a "part-time" position at SED, when in fact it should be a full time position. The enacted legislation set forth stringent hiring criteria that required the CPO to be, among other things, intimately knowledgeable about information systems and the educational system in the State. All told the requirements of being the CPO and the responsibilities that the CPO is to undertake are that of a full time position within SED.

SED has yet to fill the position of CPO, primarily because it has been determined by DOB to be a part time position, when in fact it is not.

By repealing this paragraph, it will clarify that the position is indeed a full time position and will significantly help SED hire a CPO. To ensure our students' and teachers' personal data is protected, it is imperative that a CPO be hired as expeditiously as possible. This legislation will ensure that happens.

Legislative history

2015: New bill.

Fiscal implications

No new fiscal implication. This legislation would help the State Education Department hire an appropriately qualified Chief Privacy Officer.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.

Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.