S 16 NY
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Summary
This bill, known as "Jacobe's Law," requires school administrators to contact parents or guardians when bullying, harassment, or discrimination has been verified to have occurred at a school. When a verified incident occurs, designated school officials must discuss with involved students whether they have health, safety, or privacy concerns. If students do not express such concerns, school officials must make reasonable and good faith efforts to contact parents by telephone, email, mail, or other means to discuss the incident and ways to address it. If students do express health, safety, or privacy concerns, school officials must use their professional judgment to determine whether contacting parents would be in the student's best interest. The bill also extends legal immunity protections to people who report harassment, bullying, or discrimination in compliance with this law.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Official abstract
Enacts Jacobe's Law requiring school administrators to contact the parents or guardians of students when bullying or harassment has occurred.
Sponsor (1)
- James Tedisco Republican · primary
21 coauthors / cosponsors
- Jake Ashby Republican · cosponsor
- George Borrello Republican · cosponsor
- Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick Republican · cosponsor
- Stephen T. Chan Republican · cosponsor
- Patrick M. Gallivan Republican · cosponsor
- Joseph A. Griffo Republican · cosponsor
- Pamela Helming Republican · cosponsor
- Robert Jackson Democratic · cosponsor
- Andrew J. Lanza Republican · cosponsor
- Jack M. Martins Republican · cosponsor
- Mario Mattera Republican · cosponsor
- Dean Murray Republican · cosponsor
- Peter Oberacker Republican · cosponsor
- Thomas F. O'Mara Republican · cosponsor
- Robert Ortt Republican · cosponsor
- Steve Rhoads Republican · cosponsor
- Luis R. Sepúlveda Democratic · cosponsor
- Dan Stec Republican · cosponsor
- Mark Walczyk Republican · cosponsor
- William Weber Republican · cosponsor
- Alexis Weik Republican · cosponsor
Action history (4)
- Jan 8, 2025 REFERRED TO EDUCATION · upper
- Jan 7, 2026 REFERRED TO EDUCATION · upper
- Mar 18, 2026 NOTICE OF COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION - REQUESTED · upper
- May 5, 2026 REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO CODES · upper
Text versions (2)
Full text
Full text imported from assembly.state.ny.us
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Bill No.: Summary Actions Committee Votes Floor Votes Memo Text LFIN Chamber Video/Transcript S00016 Summary: BILL NO S00016   SAME AS SAME AS A00945
  SPONSOR TEDISCO   COSPNSR ASHBY, BORRELLO, CANZONERI-FITZPATRICK, CHAN, GALLIVAN, GRIFFO, HELMING, JACKSON, LANZA, MARTINS, MATTERA, MURRAY, OBERACKER, O'MARA, ORTT, RHOADS, SEPULVEDA, STEC, WALCZYK, WEBER, WEIK   MLTSPNSR   Add §15-a, amd §16, Ed L   Enacts Jacobe's Law requiring school administrators to contact the parents or guardians of students when bullying or harassment has occurred.
Go to top S00016 Text:
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________
16
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025 ___________
Introduced by Sens. TEDISCO, ASHBY, BORRELLO, CANZONERI-FITZPATRICK, GALLIVAN, GRIFFO, HELMING, JACKSON, LANZA, MATTERA, MURRAY, OBERACKER, O'MARA, RHOADS, SEPULVEDA, WALCZYK, WEBER, WEIK -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting "Jacobe's law"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "Jacobe's law". 2 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 15-a to read 3 as follows: 4 § 15-a. Reporting by school employees. 1. School employees, as defined 5 in subdivision four of this section, shall investigate and verify, in 6 accordance with the provisions of this article, that a reported incident 7 of harassment, bullying or discrimination has occurred. 8 2. Upon a verified incident of harassment, bullying or discrimination, 9 a licensed or certified school counselor, school social worker, school 10 psychologist, school nurse, principal or assistant principal shall 11 discuss with each student involved in the incident whether the student 12 has any health, safety or privacy concerns with the school employee 13 making a reasonable and good faith effort to contact their parent or 14 person in parental relation. Any discussions shall be immediately docu- 15 mented by such school counselor, school social worker, school psychol- 16 ogist, school nurse, principal or assistant principal. 17 3. If a student does not express a health, safety or privacy concern, 18 the school employee shall make a reasonable and good faith effort to 19 contact the parent or person in parental relation of the students 20 involved in the incident by telephone, email, mail or other means to 21 discuss the incident and ways to effectively address the situation. If a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00115-01-5
S. 16 2
1 student does express a health, safety or privacy concern, such school 2 counselor, school social worker, school psychologist, school nurse, 3 principal or assistant principal shall determine, using their profes- 4 sional judgement, if contacting a student's parent or person in parental 5 relation would be in the best interest of the student. 6 4. As used in this section "school employee" shall mean the principal, 7 superintendent or the principal's or superintendent's designee who is 8 charged with receiving reports of harassment, bullying and discrimi- 9 nation in accordance with paragraph a of subdivision one of section 10 thirteen of this article. 11 § 3. Section 16 of the education law, as amended by chapter 102 of the 12 laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows: 13 § 16. Protection of people who report harassment, bullying or discrim- 14 ination. Any person having reasonable cause to suspect that a student 15 has been subjected to harassment, bullying or discrimination, by an 16 employee or student, on school grounds or at a school function, who, 17 acting reasonably and in good faith, reports such information to school 18 officials, to the commissioner or to law enforcement authorities, acts 19 in compliance with paragraph e or i of subdivision one of section thir- 20 teen of this article or with section fifteen-a of this article , or 21 otherwise initiates, testifies, participates or assists in any formal or 22 informal proceedings under this article, shall have immunity from any 23 civil liability that may arise from the making of such report or from 24 initiating, testifying, participating or assisting in such formal or 25 informal proceedings, and no school district or employee shall take, 26 request or cause a retaliatory action against any such person who, 27 acting reasonably and in good faith, either makes such a report or 28 initiates, testifies, participates or assists in such formal or informal 29 proceedings. 30 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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