NY State Senate Bill 2021-S6924A

Senate Bill S6924A

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Establishes a task force on missing women and girls who are black, indigenous and people of color

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jun 03, 2022	committed to rules
May 16, 2022	advanced to third reading
May 11, 2022	2nd report cal.
May 10, 2022	1st report cal.1220
May 04, 2022	reported and committed to finance
Apr 27, 2022	print number 6924a
Apr 27, 2022	amend and recommit to women's issues
Jan 05, 2022	referred to women's issues
May 20, 2021	referred to women's issues

Votes

- May 4, 2022 - Women's Issues Committee Vote
  S6924A
  
  7
  
  Aye
  
  0
  
  Nay
  
  0
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Women's Issues Committee Vote: May 4, 2022
      
      aye (7)
      
      Cleare
      
      Harckham
      
      Jordan
      
      Kaplan
      
      Salazar
      
      Serrano
      
      Weik
  May 10, 2022 - Finance Committee Vote
  S6924A
  
  21
  
  Aye
  
  0
  
  Nay
  
  1
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  1
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Finance Committee Vote: May 10, 2022
      
      aye (21)
      
      Bailey
      
      Borrello
      
      Breslin
      
      Comrie
      
      Gallivan
      
      Gounardes
      
      Griffo
      
      Harckham
      
      Hoylman-Sigal
      
      Kennedy
      
      Krueger
      
      Liu
      
      Ritchie
      
      Rivera
      
      Salazar
      
      Savino
      
      Serino
      
      Skoufis
      
      Stavisky
      
      Tedisco
      
      Thomas
      
      aye wr (1)
      
      O'Mara
      
      absent (1)
      
      Parker

Bill Amendments

Original

A (Active)

co-Sponsors

View additional co-sponsors

2021-S6924 - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A8347
Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: Executive
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S4266, A5088

2021-S6924 - Summary

Establishes a task force on missing women and girls who are black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) to 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.

2021-S6924 - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S6924

SPONSOR: BIAGGI
 
TITLE OF BILL:

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

 
PURPOSE:

To develop a task force on Missing BIPOC Women and Girls that will work
to address the discrepancies in lack of care/concern for missing and
murdered Black, Indigenous, women and girls of color.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 sets forth legislative findings.

Section 2 sets forth the composition of the taskforce, which will be
composed of the Commissioner of Office of Family and Children's
Services, Commissioner of Division of Criminal Justice Services, State

Police Superintendent, or the designee of those Commissioners.  Addi-
tional members will be appointed by the temporary president of the
Senate (2), by the speaker of the Assembly (2), minority leader of the
Senate (1), and minority leader of the Assembly (1). The task force must
hold hearings in the course of its work and submit a report of its find-
ings and recommendations to the legislature within two years.

Section 3 sets forth the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Oftentimes, cases of missing and murdered BIPOC women and girls are
handled with a lack of concern, attention, and competency. According to
a 2020 report by the Women's Media Center there are approximately 75,000
missing Black women and girls across the United States.  Another report
released by the Sovereign Bodies Institute documents 2,306 missing
Native American women and girls in the U.S.

Advocates and families point to insufficient attention, lack of cultural
awareness from law enforcement, poor or nonexistent communication, and
both past and ongoing violence perpetrated by officers leading to
mistrust of law enforcement. This is paired with the historical underre-
porting and general scarcity of statistics of missing and murdered women
of color, and procedures that result in misclassification, poor record
keeping, and adverse community/tribal relationships.

The tens of thousands of these missing BIPOC women and girls include
abductees, sex trafficking victims, and runaways. These girls experience
the intersection of racism and sexism, which unfortunately results in
pervasive social and economic barriers.

Law enforcement categorizes missing BIPOC girls as runaways which leaves
cases to be pushed aside and treated with a lack of urgency.  BIPOC
women and girls are all too often and easily erased from public
discussion. We must not let these women and girls fall victim to the
systemic failures that they are not responsible for. By developing a
task force on this crisis, New York State can take charge and acknowl-
edge the work that must be done to bring justice for missing BIPOC women
and girls.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Undetermined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2021-S6924 - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6924
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 20, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  BIAGGI -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Women's Issues
 
 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
 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. Families of Native American women and girls who have  gone  missing
 report a lack of cultural awareness by law enforcement and express frus-
 tration that their cases are not pursued.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11613-01-1

 S. 6924                             2
 
   h.  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,  reflect
 the  diversity of New York state, and have experience in cultural compe-
 tency.
   b. 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;
   (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;
   (vi) identify major traffic hubs and highways  that  lead  to  or  are
 responsible  for  the  facilitation  of the abduction of BIPOC women and
 girls; and
   (vii) Create a state-wide awareness campaign.
   c. 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.
   d. 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
 speaker of the assembly, the minority  leader  of  the  senate  and  the
 minority  leader  of  the  assembly a report containing its findings and
 recommendations.
   § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day  after  it  shall
 have  become  a  law and shall expire and be deemed repealed three years
 after such date.

co-Sponsors

View additional co-sponsors

2021-S6924A (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A8347
Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: Executive
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S4266, A5088

2021-S6924A (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S6924A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S6924A

SPONSOR: BIAGGI
 
TITLE OF BILL:

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

 
PURPOSE:

To develop a task force on Missing BIPOC Women and Girls that will work
to address the discrepancies in lack of care/concern for missing and
murdered Black, Indigenous, women and girls of color.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 sets forth legislative findings.

Section 2 sets forth the composition of the taskforce, which will be
composed of the Commissioner of Office of Family and Children's
Services, Commissioner of Division of Criminal Justice Services, State

Police Superintendent, or the designee of those Commissioners.  Addi-
tional members will be appointed by the temporary president of the
Senate (2), by the speaker of the Assembly (2), minority leader of the
Senate (1), and minority leader of the Assembly (1). The task force must
hold hearings in the course of its work and submit a report of its find-
ings and recommendations to the legislature within two years.

Section 3 sets forth the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Oftentimes, cases of missing and murdered BIPOC women and girls are
handled with a lack of concern, attention, and competency. According to
a 2020 report by the Women's Media Center there are approximately 75,000
missing Black women and girls across the United States.  Another report
released by the Sovereign Bodies Institute documents 2,306 missing
Native American women and girls in the U.S.

Advocates and families point to insufficient attention, lack of cultural
awareness from law enforcement, poor or nonexistent communication, and
both past and ongoing violence perpetrated by officers leading to
mistrust of law enforcement. This is paired with the historical underre-
porting and general scarcity of statistics of missing and murdered women
of color, and procedures that result in misclassification, poor record
keeping, and adverse community/tribal relationships.

The tens of thousands of these missing BIPOC women and girls include
abductees, sex trafficking victims, and runaways. These girls experience
the intersection of racism and sexism, which unfortunately results in
pervasive social and economic barriers.

Law enforcement categorizes missing BIPOC girls as runaways which leaves
cases to be Pushed aside and treated with a lack of urgency.  BIPOC
women and girls are all too often and easily erased from public
discussion. We must not let these women and girls fall victim to the
systemic failures that they are not responsible for. By developing a
task force on this crisis, New York State can take charge and acknowl-
edge the work that must be done to bring justice for missing BIPOC women
and girls.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Undetermined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it becomes law.

2021-S6924A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  6924--A
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 20, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  BIAGGI,  BROUK, CLEARE, GAUGHRAN, HOYLMAN, MAYER,
   MYRIE, RAMOS, RIVERA, SALAZAR -- read twice and ordered  printed,  and
   when  printed  to  be  committed to the Committee on Women's Issues --
   recommitted to the Committee on  Women's  Issues  in  accordance  with
   Senate  Rule  6, sec. 8 -- 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
 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.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11613-02-2

 S. 6924--A                          2
 
   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
 speaker of the assembly, the minority  leader  of  the  senate  and  the
 S. 6924--A                          3
 
 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.

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Senate Bill S6924A

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Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Bill Amendments

co-Sponsors

2021-S6924 - Details

2021-S6924 - Summary

2021-S6924 - Sponsor Memo

2021-S6924 - Bill Text download pdf

co-Sponsors

2021-S6924A (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S6924A (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S6924A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S6924A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments