NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4818
SPONSOR: Hyndman TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to increasing penalties
for violations relating to test agencies and standardized testing
PURPOSE:
To increase the penalty amount for violations relating to test agencies
and standardized testing.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one amends section 347 of the education law to provide the
violations for truth in testing will be $2,000 per violation.
Section two sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2016, College Board administered the newest iteration of the Scholas-
tic Aptitude Test (SAT) and there were significant delays in processing
the Question and Answer Service (QAS) reports that allow a student to
see what the scoring was for each question on the exam that student
took. A student's right to see this information was created under the
Trust in Testing Law, codified in the education law. Services like
College Board that administer these exams are required to provide the
information within the timeframe set. forth in statute.
The Truth in Testing Law, along with the requisite violations for civil
penalties, was enacted in 1979. The fine amount has not been updated
since then. The amount set forth in this legislation accounts for
inflation through the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which values $500 at
that time to be worth around $2,000 in 2016. This is an update to ensure
that the penalty has the proper value per violation and measures up to
the intent of the original law.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4818
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 23, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HYNDMAN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to increasing penalties
for violations relating to test agencies and standardized testing
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 347 of the education law, as amended by chapter 351
2 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 347. Violations. Any test agency which violates any section of this
4 article shall be liable for a civil penalty of not more than [one] two
5 thousand dollars for each violation.
6 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06955-01-3
