Assembly Bill A9056

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9056
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             September 5, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M. of A. GONZALEZ-ROJAS -- read once and referred to the
   Committee on Governmental Operations
 
 AN ACT to amend the executive law and the  administrative  code  of  the
   city  of  New  York,  in  relation to requiring emergency alerts to be
   issued in the ten most commonly spoken languages in the  area  covered
   by such emergency alert

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subparagraph 3 of paragraph b of subdivision 3  of  section
 22 of the executive law, as amended by section 3 of part B of chapter 56
 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
   (3) a system for warning populations who are or may be endangered. ANY
 EMERGENCY  ALERT  ISSUED THROUGH E-MAIL, TEXT, PHONE, SOCIAL MEDIA PLAT-
 FORM, OR INTERNET-BASED FEED SHALL BE ISSUED IN NO FEWER  THAN  THE  TEN
 MOST COMMONLY SPOKEN LANGUAGES WITHIN THE AREA COVERED BY SUCH EMERGENCY
 ALERT.   SUCH NOTIFICATIONS SHALL BE SEPARATED INTO DISTINCT MESSAGES IN
 SEPARATE FEEDS FOR EACH LANGUAGE. A GENERAL VERSION OF EACH NOTIFICATION
 MAY BE USED WHEN A REAL-TIME TRANSLATION IS UNAVAILABLE,  PROVIDED  THAT
 PRIORITY  SHALL  BE  PLACED UPON MAKING NOTIFICATIONS AVAILABLE WITH THE
 GREATEST SPECIFICITY POSSIBLE;
   § 2. Section 30-115 of the administrative code  of  the  city  of  New
 York,  as  added  by local law number 31 of the city of New York for the
 year 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   § 30-115 Emergency notifications. a. Any emergency alert originated by
 a city office or city agency that is issued through a commercial  mobile
 service alert system established pursuant to section 1201 of title 47 of
 the  United  States  code  shall,  to  the extent practicable and to the
 extent permissible under regulations enacted pursuant to  such  section,
 be  issued in no fewer than the [two] TEN most commonly spoken languages
 within the area covered by the emergency  alert  as  determined  by  the
 commissioner  in  consultation  with  the  department  of city planning,
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD13630-01-5
              

 A. 9056                             2
 
 provided that this subdivision does not require the issuance of an emer-
 gency alert in a language if exigent circumstances prohibit the issuance
 of an alert in such language.
   b.  Any  emergency  notification system operated and controlled by the
 office of emergency management for the purposes of aggregating  informa-
 tion  obtained from other offices or agencies to inform the public about
 emergencies or disruptive events through  e-mail,  text,  phone,  social
 media  platform, or internet-based feed shall offer each notification in
 no fewer than the [seven] TEN most commonly spoken languages within  the
 city  as determined by the commissioner in consultation with the depart-
 ment of city planning, provided that this requirement shall not delay or
 prohibit the immediate  issuance  of  notifications  in  any  individual
 language.  Notifications  shall  be  separated into distinct messages in
 separate feeds for each language. A general version of each notification
 may be used when a real-time translation is unavailable,  provided  that
 priority  shall  be  placed upon making notifications available with the
 greatest specificity possible. Any dissemination  limitation  applicable
 to  an  English  language  notification may be applied to its equivalent
 notification in another language. If no potential  recipient  is  regis-
 tered  for  a specific language, then a notification need not be dissem-
 inated in that language.
   § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day  after  it  shall
 have  become  a  law.    Effective  immediately, the addition, amendment
 and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation
 of this act on  its  effective  date  are  authorized  to  be  made  and
 completed on or before such effective date.