NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5359
SPONSOR: Cruz TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the real property law, in relation to increasing
required training for real estate brokers and real estate salespeople to
prevent discrimination
PURPOSE:
This bill aims to prevent unequal treatment and discrimination and
promote fair housing by requiring additional hours of instruction
required for real estate brokers and salespersons licenses relating to
legacy of segregation, unequal treatment, the historic lack of access to
housing opportunity experienced by disadvantaged groups, and other
related topics.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends real property law section 441 to require that the
Secretary of State, upon notice and a public hearing, to promulgate
rules establishing the content of the instruction pertaining to fair
housing and/or discrimination in the sale or rental of real property or
an interest in real property. Requires the content of instruction to
include, but not be limited to, courses on (1) the legacy of segre-
gation, unequal treatment, and historic lack of access to opportunity in
housing; (2) unequal access to amenities and resources on the basis of
race, disability, and other protected characteristics;
(3) federal, state, and local fair housing laws and (4) anti-bias train-
ing.
Section 2: Amends Section 441 of real property law and adds a new para-
graph (d) requiring applicants for a real estate broker license to
demonstrate a general and fair understanding of the laws, rules and
regulations pertaining to fair housing and discrimination in the sale or
rental of real property or an interest in real property. Requires appli-
cants to complete at least one hundred fifty-two hours of real estate
courses approved by the Secretary of State. Mandates the instruction
required for a real estate brokers license include instruction on the
responsibility for ensuring that each licensed real estate salesman
under such broker's supervision is in compliance with his or her obli-
gations under applicable federal, state, and local fair housing laws.
Section 3: Requires applicants for real estate salesperson license to
demonstrate the completion of at least seventy-seven hours of courses
approved by the secretary of state. Requires those applicants to provide
information, where the Department reasonably requires, of their know-
ledge of laws, rules, and regulations pertaining to fair housing and
discrimination in the sale or rental of real property or an interest in
real property.
Section 4: Amends real property law paragraph (c) of section 441 to
require the secretary of state to require approved faculty to sign a
document under oath, approved by and submitted to the department of
state, attesting to compliance with all applicable statutory and regula-
tory requirements pertaining to the instruction of the established
curriculum. Directs the secretary of state to promulgate penalties for
faculty that fail to meet their obligations required under this section,
including but not limited to, the suspension of their instructor certif-
icate for the first failure and the revocation of their instructor
certificate for any subsequent failure.
Section 5: Effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
On November 17, 2019, Newsday, a news organization in Long Island and
New York City, published a three-year investigation of discrimination by
real estate agents, revealing evidence of widespread separate and
unequal treatment of minority potential homebuyers and minority communi-
ties on Long Island. Additionally, the investigation revealed that Long
Island's dominant residential brokerage firms appeared to be helping to
solidify racial separations.
Newsday conducted 86 matching tests in areas stretching from the New
York City line to the Hamptons and from Long Island Sound to the South
Shore. In forty percent of the tests, evidence suggested that brokers
subjected minority testers to disparate treatment when compared with
white testers, with inequalities rising to almost fifty percent for
black potential buyers.
This bill is designed to prevent the unequal treatment of potential
minority homebuyers by increasing overall instructional training as well
as increasing instructional training pertaining to fair housing and
discrimination in the sale or rental of real property or an interest in
real property.
This bill also attempts to prevent discriminatory tactics in the real
estate industry by expanding the content of instruction to include
courses on (1) the legacy of segregation, unequal treatment, and histor-
ic lack of access to opportunity in housing, (2) unequal access to amen-
ities and resources on the basis of race, disability, and other
protected characteristics, (3) federal, state, and local fair housing
laws, and(4) anti-bias training.
Newsday's evaluation of real estate courses demonstrated an alarming
deficiency in the quality of courses. In several of the courses
reviewed, instructors spent significant time making flippant jokes about
discrimination,•debating with students about whether or not ethnic or
religious groups constituted racial categories, and what kind of indi-
viduals are more or less racist.
The need for higher standards for certifying real estate instructors is
obvious. To better enforce these mandates and ensure instructors are
fulfilling their requirements for instruction, instructors shall be
required to sign a document under oath, approved by and submitted to the
Department of State, attesting to compliance.
If an instructor fails to meet their statutory and regulatory obli-
gations, penalties prescribed by the Department of State shall be
imposed, including but not limited to, the suspension of their instruc-
tor certificate for the first failure and the revocation of their
instructor certificate for any subsequent failure.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding next
succeeding the date on which it shall have become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5359
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 16, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CRUZ -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the real property law, in relation to increasing
required training for real estate brokers and real estate salespeople
to prevent discrimination
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 441 of the real property law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph (e) to read as follows:
3 (e) The secretary of state shall, upon notice and a public hearing,
4 promulgate rules establishing the content of the instruction pertaining
5 to fair housing and/or discrimination in the sale or rental of real
6 property or an interest in real property required by paragraph (a) of
7 this subdivision. Such instruction shall include, but not be limited to,
8 courses on: (1) the legacy of segregation, unequal treatment, and
9 historic lack of access to opportunity in housing; (2) unequal access to
10 amenities and resources on the basis of race, disability, and other
11 protected characteristics; (3) federal, state, and local fair housing
12 laws; and (4) anti-bias training.
13 § 2. Paragraphs (b) and (c) of subdivision 1 of section 441 of the
14 real property law, as amended by chapter 183 of the laws of 2006, are
15 amended and a new paragraph (d) is added to read as follows:
16 (b) Such further information as the department may reasonably require
17 shall be furnished by the applicant including sufficient proof of having
18 taken and passed a written examination and answered such questions as
19 may be prepared by the department to enable it to determine the trust-
20 worthiness of the applicant if an individual, or of each member of a
21 co-partnership or each member of a limited liability company or each
22 officer of a corporation for whom a license as a broker is asked, and
23 his or their competency to transact the business of real estate broker
24 in such a manner as to safeguard the interests of the public. In deter-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06385-04-1
A. 5359 2
1 mining competency, the department shall require proof that the person
2 being tested to qualify to apply for a broker's license has a fair know-
3 ledge of the English language, a fair understanding of the general
4 purposes and general legal effect of deeds, mortgages, land contracts of
5 sale, and leases, a general and fair understanding of the obligations
6 between principal and agent, a general and fair understanding of the
7 laws, rules and regulations pertaining to fair housing and discrimi-
8 nation in the sale or rental of real property or an interest in real
9 property, as well as of the provisions of this section. The applicant
10 must also furnish proof that he has attended for at least one hundred
11 [twenty] fifty-two hours and has successfully completed a real estate
12 course or courses approved by the secretary of state as to method and
13 content and supervision which approval may be withdrawn if in the opin-
14 ion of the secretary of state said course or courses are not being
15 conducted properly as to method, content and supervision, and that
16 either the applicant has actively participated in the general real
17 estate brokerage business as a licensed real estate salesman under the
18 supervision of a licensed real estate broker for a period of not less
19 than two years or has had the equivalent experience in general real
20 estate business for a period of at least three years, the nature of
21 which experience shall be established by affidavit duly sworn to under
22 oath and/or other and further proof required by the department of state.
23 Computer-based and distance-learning courses may be approved by the
24 department so long as providers demonstrate the ability to monitor and
25 verify participation by the applicant for the specified time period.
26 Notwithstanding the foregoing authority to approve computer-based and
27 distance-learning courses, the department may prescribe that specified
28 subjects or hours must be presented in a classroom setting.
29 (c) In the event the applicant shall be a licensed salesman under this
30 article and shall have submitted acceptable proof pursuant to the
31 provisions of either paragraph (d) of subdivision one-A of this section
32 or paragraph (a) of subdivision three of this section of having attended
33 and successfully completed [seventy-five] seventy-seven hours of an
34 approved real estate course or courses, six hours of which have been
35 focused on fair housing and discrimination in the sale or rental of real
36 property or an interest in real property, within eight years of the date
37 of the application, the department may accept and credit same against
38 the one hundred [twenty] fifty-two hours required hereunder.
39 (d) The one hundred fifty-two hours of an approved real estate course
40 or courses required by paragraph (b) of this subdivision shall include
41 instruction on fair housing and discrimination in the sale or rental of
42 real property or an interest in real property as described in paragraph
43 (e) of subdivision three of this section and instruction on the licensed
44 real estate broker's responsibility for ensuring that each licensed real
45 estate salesman under such broker's supervision is in compliance with
46 his or her obligations under applicable federal, state, and local laws,
47 rules, and regulations pertaining to fair housing and discrimination in
48 the sale or rental of real property or an interest in real property.
49 § 3. Paragraphs (b) and (d) of subdivision 1-A of section 441 of the
50 real property law, paragraph (b) as amended by chapter 81 of the laws of
51 1995, and paragraph (d) as amended by chapter 183 of the laws of 2006,
52 are amended to read as follows:
53 (b) Each applicant for a salesman's license shall provide such further
54 information as the department may reasonably require, appearing at such
55 time and place as may be designated by the department, to take a written
56 examination and answer such questions as may be prepared by the depart-
A. 5359 3
1 ment to enable it to determine the trustworthiness of the applicant and
2 the applicant's competence to transact the business of real estate
3 salesman in such a manner as to safeguard the interests of the public,
4 including the applicant's working knowledge of the basic concepts of law
5 pertaining to contracts, real property, agency and this article which
6 govern conduct of such business, knowledge of laws, rules, and regu-
7 lations pertaining to fair housing and discrimination in the sale or
8 rental of real property or an interest in real property, mastery of
9 basic skills needed to perform the applicant's duties, working knowledge
10 of the ethical obligations of a real estate salesman, and knowledge of
11 the provisions of the general obligations law pertaining to performance
12 of the applicant's duties.
13 (d) Anything to the contrary herein notwithstanding, on and after the
14 effective date of this paragraph, no salesman's license or conditional
15 license shall be issued by the department unless the application there-
16 for has been accompanied by proof that prior to such application the
17 applicant has attended at least [seventy-five] seventy-seven hours and
18 successfully completed a real estate course or courses approved by the
19 secretary of state as to method and content and supervision, which
20 approval may be withdrawn if in the opinion of the secretary of state
21 said course or courses are not properly conducted as to method, content
22 and supervision. Computer-based and distance-learning courses may be
23 approved by the department so long as providers demonstrate the ability
24 to monitor and verify participation by the applicant for the specified
25 time period. Notwithstanding the foregoing authority to approve compu-
26 ter-based and distance-learning courses, the department may prescribe
27 that specified subjects or hours must be presented in a classroom
28 setting.
29 § 4. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 3 of section 441 of the real proper-
30 ty law, as amended by chapter 470 of the laws of 1998, is amended to
31 read as follows:
32 (c) (i) The secretary of state shall promulgate rules establishing the
33 method, content, setting and supervision requirements of the continuing
34 education real estate course or courses provided for in this section. In
35 establishing the requirements for the continuing education course or
36 courses, the secretary of state shall permit alternatives with respect
37 to content and method of presentation in consideration of the type of
38 brokerage practiced and the availability of the sources of such course
39 or courses in different areas of the state. Each course shall have an
40 established curriculum composed primarily of real estate practice and
41 professional responsibility and ethics and properly prepared written
42 materials of the subject matter which shall be distributed as part of
43 the course. It shall be taught by a qualified faculty with attorneys
44 presenting legal subjects. Credit shall be awarded on the basis of one
45 hour for each sixty minutes of actual attendance and records shall be
46 maintained of attendance at each session which shall be transmitted to
47 the department at the conclusion of the course. Computer-based and
48 distance learning courses may be approved by the department so long as
49 providers demonstrate the ability to monitor and verify participation by
50 the licensee for the specified time period.
51 (ii) The secretary of state shall require approved faculty to sign a
52 document under oath, approved by and submitted to the department of
53 state, attesting to compliance with all applicable statutory and regula-
54 tory requirements pertaining to the instruction of the established
55 curriculum. The secretary of state shall promulgate penalties for facul-
56 ty that fail to meet the obligations required under this section and
A. 5359 4
1 department of state regulations including, but not limited to, the
2 temporary suspension of their instructor certificate for the first such
3 failure and the revocation of their instructor certificate for any
4 subsequent failure.
5 § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
6 the date on which it shall have become a law.
