New York Senate Bill S02123

New York 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/15/25
• Refer: 1/15/25
• Refer: 1/7/26

Caption

Requires background checks and fingerprinting of certain construction contractors working in school facilities; requires the contractors to run such background checks.

Summary

This bill expands New York’s existing fingerprinting and criminal history clearance requirements for school-related personnel to include certain construction contractors and their employees who perform construction or maintenance work in facilities occupied by students. It amends the Education Law to define “construction contractor,” add contractors to the list of entities subject to fingerprinting and clearance procedures, and require the Commissioner of Education to create or expand an internet-based portal so contractors can review fingerprint results and arrest notifications for their workers. The bill also updates related forms and procedures for school districts, charter schools, BOCES, nonpublic schools, and contractors, including identifying the specific construction or maintenance project involved. The bill further amends the Social Services Law so construction contractors are treated as “providers” for purposes of statewide central register child abuse and maltreatment clearances in certain settings. It also provides that, where a program already has a construction contractor perform the required checks on its employees under the child welfare clearance process, the program itself does not need to duplicate those checks for contractor employees working on site. The measure is intended to streamline and standardize screening for workers who may have access to schoolchildren or child-serving facilities while reducing redundant fingerprinting for individuals already cleared in state systems.

Impact

The bill would change state law by extending background check, fingerprinting, and clearance obligations to construction contractors working in or around school facilities and certain child-serving programs. It amends Education Law sections governing school employee fingerprinting and criminal history review, and Social Services Law provisions governing child abuse/maltreatment registry checks, thereby broadening the categories of workers and entities subject to screening. It also creates a new statutory definition of “construction contractor” and authorizes electronic access to fingerprint results for contractors through a protected portal. Affected parties include school districts, charter schools, BOCES, nonpublic schools, construction firms, contractor employees, and certain child-care and social-service providers.

Sentiment

Based on the bill text and caption, the measure appears generally protective and administrative in nature, aimed at enhancing child safety and clarifying screening procedures for workers with access to school and child-serving facilities. The absence of recorded committee debate or votes means there is no documented public sentiment in the provided materials, but the structure of the bill suggests a policy rationale likely to be viewed favorably by proponents of school safety and workforce vetting. The bill also includes process improvements intended to reduce duplication, which may make it more acceptable to affected employers.

Contention

The main point of potential contention is the expansion of background-check requirements to construction contractors, which could impose added compliance, administrative, and timing burdens on contractors and on school or child-serving facilities that hire them. Another possible issue is the bill’s requirement that contractors access fingerprint results through a web portal and manage arrest notifications, raising questions about privacy, data access, and implementation. At the same time, the bill tries to limit duplication by allowing reliance on existing fingerprint records and by exempting programs from rerunning checks when contractor employees have already been properly screened, so proponents may emphasize efficiency while opponents may focus on cost and operational burden.