S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  8347--A
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             October 20, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. REYES, SIMON, ANDERSON, EPSTEIN, CARROLL, GONZA-
   LEZ-ROJAS, FERNANDEZ, GLICK, L. ROSENTHAL -- Multi-Sponsored by --  M.
   of  A.    BRAUNSTEIN  --  read  once  and referred to the Committee on
   Governmental Operations -- recommitted to  the  Committee  on  Govern-
   mental  Operations  in  accordance  with  Assembly  Rule  3, sec. 2 --
   committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as  amended  and
   recommitted to said committee
 
 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:
 
   Section  1.  Legislative  findings  and  intent. The legislature finds
 that:
   a. According to a 2020 report by the Women's Media  Center  there  are
 64,000-75,000 missing black women and girls across the United States.
   b.  Cases  involving  black  women  and girls often do not receive the
 attention they need and there are often barriers to families reporting a
 loved one, such as mistrust of police, and racial disparities in how law
 enforcement treat disappearances.
   c. The tens of thousands of black women  and  girls  who  are  missing
 include  abductees,  sex  trafficking victims, and runaways. Black women
 and girls exist at the intersection of racism and sexism, and often face
 worse health, wealth, housing, education, and employment outcomes.
   d. Black girls comprise over 40% of domestic sex  trafficking  victims
 in the United States.
   e.  Law  enforcement  often categorize missing black girls as runaways
 and fail to treat their cases with urgency.
   f. According to a 2020 report by the  Sovereign  Bodies  Institute,  a
 nonprofit,  indigenous-led research organization, at least 2,306 missing
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11613-03-2
 A. 8347--A                          2
              

 
 Native American women and girls have gone missing in the last  40  years
 in the United States, about 1,800 of whom were killed or vanished.
   g.  Systemic  vulnerability and compounding suppressions have resulted
 in mass amounts of disappeared indigenous  peoples,  with  the  National
 Congress  of American Indians finding that an estimated 40% of women who
 are victims of sex  trafficking  identify  as  American  Indian,  Alaska
 Native, or First Nations.
   h.  Families  of Native American women and girls who have gone missing
 report a lack of cultural awareness, systemic  racism  and  sexism,  and
 widespread  apathy by law enforcement and express frustration that their
 cases are not pursued.
   i. There is not comprehensive state or federal data about missing  and
 murdered  Native  Americans.  Advocates  argue that poor record keeping,
 racial misclassification, adverse relationships between  tribal  govern-
 ments  and  outside  law  enforcement  have  led to an underreporting of
 cases.
   § 2. a. There is hereby established a task force on missing women  and
 girls  who  are black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC). Such task
 force shall be composed of the commissioner of the office of family  and
 children's  services,  the  commissioner  of  the  division  of criminal
 justice services, the superintendent of state police, or  the  designees
 of  such  commissioners  and superintendent. Additional members shall be
 appointed as follows, two shall be appointed by the temporary  president
 of  the  senate,  two shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly,
 one shall be appointed by the minority leader of  the  senate,  and  one
 shall be appointed by the minority leader of the assembly. Members shall
 be representative of the communities experiencing this crisis, including
 directly  impacted individuals, reflect the diversity of New York state,
 and have experience in cultural competency.
   b. Task force members shall receive no compensation for their services
 but shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary  expenses  incurred  in
 the performance of their duties.
   c. The task force shall:
   (i)  develop policy changes that will work to address the lack of care
 and concern for missing and murdered BIPOC women and girls with New York
 state governmental agencies, including identifying  policies  to  ensure
 first responders are culturally competent;
   (ii)  advance  the  knowledge  of communities on the severity of BIPOC
 women and girls who are missing and murdered;
   (iii) ensure  BIPOC  communities  are  educated  and  trained  on  the
 prevention,  protection,  and  protocols relating to missing BIPOC women
 and girls as it relates to social media;
   (iv) develop a strategy to collect statistics, demographics,  surveys,
 oral histories, and data analysis;
   (v)  recommend  preventive programming and ideas to advance the safety
 of women and girls, including  policies  that  address  the  overlapping
 forms of oppression faced by BIPOC women and girls;
   (vi)  identify  major  traffic hubs, highways, and resource extraction
 sites that lead to or are responsible for the facilitation of the abduc-
 tion of BIPOC women and girls; and
   (vii) create a state-wide awareness campaign.
   d. In carrying out the duties of the task force, such task force shall
 seek public input by holding public hearings in each region of the state
 and accepting public input in writing.
   e. On or before two years after the effective date of  this  act,  the
 task  force  shall  submit to the temporary president of the senate, the
 A. 8347--A                          3
 
 speaker of the assembly, the minority  leader  of  the  senate  and  the
 minority  leader  of  the  assembly a report containing its findings and
 recommendations. Such reports shall be made available to the public.
   §  3.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
 have become a law and shall expire and be deemed  repealed  three  years
 after such date.