STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 945 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. WALSH, PALMESANO, McDONOUGH, BRABENEC, REILLY, MIKULIN, WOERNER, MANKTELOW, DeSTEFANO, SMITH, MILLER, DURSO, GALLA- HAN, SIMPSON, SLATER, BROOK-KRASNY, K. BROWN, CHANG, NOVAKHOV -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. HAWLEY, MORINELLO, TAGUE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting "Jacobe's law" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "Jacobe's law". 2 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 15-a to read 3 as follows: 4 § 15-a. Reporting by school employees. 1. School employees, as defined 5 in subdivision four of this section, shall investigate and verify, in 6 accordance with the provisions of this article, that a reported incident 7 of harassment, bullying or discrimination has occurred. 8 2. Upon a verified incident of harassment, bullying or discrimination, 9 a licensed or certified school counselor, school social worker, school 10 psychologist, school nurse, principal or assistant principal shall 11 discuss with each student involved in the incident whether the student 12 has any health, safety or privacy concerns with the school employee 13 making a reasonable and good faith effort to contact their parent or 14 person in parental relation. Any discussions shall be immediately docu- 15 mented by such school counselor, school social worker, school psychol- 16 ogist, school nurse, principal or assistant principal. 17 3. If a student does not express a health, safety or privacy concern, 18 the school employee shall make a reasonable and good faith effort to 19 contact the parent or person in parental relation of the students 20 involved in the incident by telephone, email, mail or other means to 21 discuss the incident and ways to effectively address the situation. If a EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00115-01-5

A. 945 2 1 student does express a health, safety or privacy concern, such school 2 counselor, school social worker, school psychologist, school nurse, 3 principal or assistant principal shall determine, using their profes- 4 sional judgement, if contacting a student's parent or person in parental 5 relation would be in the best interest of the student. 6 4. As used in this section "school employee" shall mean the principal, 7 superintendent or the principal's or superintendent's designee who is 8 charged with receiving reports of harassment, bullying and discrimi- 9 nation in accordance with paragraph a of subdivision one of section 10 thirteen of this article. 11 § 3. Section 16 of the education law, as amended by chapter 102 of the 12 laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows: 13 § 16. Protection of people who report harassment, bullying or discrim- 14 ination. Any person having reasonable cause to suspect that a student 15 has been subjected to harassment, bullying or discrimination, by an 16 employee or student, on school grounds or at a school function, who, 17 acting reasonably and in good faith, reports such information to school 18 officials, to the commissioner or to law enforcement authorities, acts 19 in compliance with paragraph e or i of subdivision one of section thir- 20 teen of this article or with section fifteen-a of this article, or 21 otherwise initiates, testifies, participates or assists in any formal or 22 informal proceedings under this article, shall have immunity from any 23 civil liability that may arise from the making of such report or from 24 initiating, testifying, participating or assisting in such formal or 25 informal proceedings, and no school district or employee shall take, 26 request or cause a retaliatory action against any such person who, 27 acting reasonably and in good faith, either makes such a report or 28 initiates, testifies, participates or assists in such formal or informal 29 proceedings. 30 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Enacts Jacobe's Law

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