BILL NUMBER: S7988

SPONSOR: MAYER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to retaining records
relating to certain acts of alleged misconduct

 
PURPOSE:

To allow school districts to retain records related to certain allega-
tions of child sexual abuse for the duration of the civil or criminal
statute of limitations.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subdivision 2 of section 1128-A of the education law to
allow districts to retain records related to allegations covered by
paragraph f of subdivision 3 of section 30.10 of the criminal procedure
law or subdivision b of section 208 of the civil practice law for the
duration of the statute of limitations.

              

Section 2 sets the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The Child Victims Act (Chapter 11 of the laws of 2019), extended the
statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse to pursue
criminal charges or file a civil lawsuit. Under the new law, prosecutors
may initiate criminal proceedings for certain sexual offenses committed
against a child until they turn 23. Survivors of child sexual abuse may
bring a civil case against an alleged abuser or party whose intentional
or negligent acts or omission allegedly allowed such conduct until they
turn 55.

The changes in the CVA are trauma-informed and will give survivors a
meaningful opportunity to pursue justice through civil or criminal cases
for abuse they suffered as children. They also necessitate that New York
review provisions of law that reflect the prior shorter statute of limi-
tations. This bill seeks to update one such provision.  Section 1128-A
of the education law requires school districts to expunge any records
related to allegations of child abuse in a school setting after 5 years.
Under the new CVA statute of limitations, these records are likely to be
relevant in cases filed after that 5 year time frame expires.

This legislation provides an exception to the expungement requirement,
allowing districts to retain records related to allegations that could
be the subject of either criminal or civil action under the CVA until
the statute of limitations expires. These records will be subject to the
confidentiality protections in section 1127 of the education law, but
will allow,school districts to access relevant information if a CVA-re-
lated care arises.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.