STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1145 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 14, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the right to use campus for free speech activities 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 6438-a 2 to read as follows: 3 § 6438-a. Right to use campus for free speech activities. 1. Expres- 4 sive activities protected under the provisions of this section include, 5 but are not limited to, all forms of peaceful assembly, protests, 6 speeches, distribution of literature, carrying signs, and circulating 7 petitions. 8 2. The outdoor areas of college campuses covered by this article shall 9 be deemed traditional public forums. A college may maintain and enforce 10 reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions that are narrowly 11 tailored and in service of a significant institutional interest only 12 when such restrictions employ clear, published, content and viewpoint- 13 neutral criteria and provide for ample alternative means of expression. 14 Any such restrictions must allow for members of the university community 15 to spontaneously and contemporaneously distribute literature and assem- 16 ble. 17 3. Any person who wishes to engage in noncommercial expressive activ- 18 ity on campus shall be permitted to do so freely, as long as their 19 conduct is not unlawful and does not materially and substantially 20 disrupt the functioning of the institution, subject to the requirements 21 of subdivision two of this section. Nothing in this section grants any 22 person the right to materially disrupt previously scheduled or reserved 23 activities in a portion or section of the campus at that scheduled time. 24 4. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as limiting the right 25 of student expression elsewhere on campus. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00616-01-9

A. 1145 2 1 5. a. The attorney general may bring an action in a court of competent 2 jurisdiction to enjoin a violation of this section. 3 b. Persons whose expressive rights were violated through the violation 4 of this section may bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction 5 to enjoin a violation of this section and to recover compensatory 6 damages, reasonable court costs, and attorneys' fees. In an action 7 brought pursuant to this paragraph, if the court finds a violation of 8 this section, the court shall award an aggrieved person damages of no 9 less than five hundred dollars for the initial violation, plus fifty 10 dollars for each day the violation remains ongoing, which shall accrue 11 starting on the day after the complaint is served on the institution of 12 higher education. The total damages, excluding court costs and attor- 13 ney's fees, available to a plaintiff or set of plaintiffs, in a case or 14 cases stemming from a single controversy shall not exceed two hundred 15 fifty thousand dollars in total. In violations harming multiple plain- 16 tiffs, the court shall divide the damages equally among them until the 17 maximum award is exhausted, if applicable. 18 c. A violation of this section is established by demonstrating that an 19 institution subject to this section maintains a policy that does not 20 conform with the requirement herein or by demonstrating that an institu- 21 tion, by an action of one of its agents or by the enforcement of a poli- 22 cy, violated the free speech rights guaranteed under this section. 23 d. A person must bring suit for a violation of this section not later 24 than one year after the day the cause of action accrues. For purposes of 25 calculating the one-year limitation period, each day that the violation 26 of this section persists, and each day that a policy in violation of 27 this section remains in effect, shall constitute a new violation of this 28 section and, therefore, a new day that the cause of action has accrued. 29 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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