Senate Bill Improving Child Care Protections Becomes Law

The New York State Senate announced that Lulu and Leo’s Law, a Senate bill protecting children from fraudulent child care providers, has been signed into law today. 

The measure (S9070A, Chapter 195), sponsored by Senator Andrew Lanza (R-C-I, Staten Island), establishes a Class A misdemeanor for a caregiver to make a false written statement that misrepresents their background for employment. It also criminalizes providing false written statements about someone else’s qualifications as a caregiver. The measure known “Lulu and Leo’s Law” comes in response to the brutal murder of Lulu and Leo Krim by their nanny, Joselyn Ortega. The children’s parents, who had paid and trusted Ortega to care for their children, relied on fabrications of Ortega’s past childcare experiences when she in fact had no experience at all.

Senator Lanza said, “This new law will hopefully prevent another child care tragedy like the one that happened to the Krim family. The bottom line is that the person that the Krims hired was not the person that they were led to believe that she was because they were lied to. This new law will protect children and their parents who hire a caregiver. When someone recommends an employee who would be entrusted with the lives of other peoples' babies, they should not lie. I am glad to have partnered with Assemblyman Otis on this important issue and thank Governor Cuomo for signing it into law. I would also like to thank Lulu and Leo’s parents, Marina and Kevin Krim, for their strength and decency, without whom we would not have this lifesaving law.”