What's happening
This bill creates a prom and graduation safety program to provide educational materials on substance abuse risks for high school students and families.
Why it matters
Targets critical risk periods. By focusing on prom and graduation—a time when adolescents may be at higher risk for substance use—the program aims to prevent dangerous behaviors during milestone events often associated with increased experimentation.
Multi-agency collaboration. The law requires the Office of Mental Health, Department of Health, State Education Department, and State Police to coordinate, ensuring that materials are medically accurate, educationally appropriate, and aligned with law enforcement perspectives.
Accessible, updated resources. By mandating that educational materials be available online and updated annually, the bill ensures that students, parents, and educators have ongoing access to current information about substance abuse trends among youth.
Emphasizes family and educator involvement. The inclusion of parents, guardians, and educators in the outreach recognizes that prevention is most effective when the broader community is informed and engaged.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Prom and Graduation Safety Program
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to ways and means
- Reported referred to ways and means
- Referred to alcoholism and drug abuse
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1039
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 14, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse
AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to the creation of a prom and graduation safety program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The mental hygiene law is amended by adding a new section 19.26 to read as follows: § 19.26 Prom and graduation safety program.
(a) The office shall establish a prom and graduation safety program within the office, which shall focus upon ensuring the safety of adolescents attending their prom and celebrating high school graduation.
(b) The commissioner, in conjunction with the department of health, the state education department, and the division of state police, shall develop educational materials for students, educators, and parents and guardians with information and tips on how to keep adolescents safe and healthy, including, but not limited to, the dangers of the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, prescription medications, and illicit drugs with a focus on drugs that are prevalent among school-aged youth. Such educational materials, including printable brochures, shall be available on the websites of the office and the state education department and shall be updated annually.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02465-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.