STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7670
IN SENATE
January 6, 2022
___________
Introduced by Sen. HARCKHAM -- 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 expanding the require-
ments for teaching humane education to secondary school students and
provides for the verification of compliance of such instruction
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 809 of the education law, as
2 amended by chapter 542 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. a. The officer, board or commission authorized or required to
5 prescribe courses of instruction shall cause instruction to be given in
6 every elementary school under state control or supported wholly or part-
7 ly by public money of the state, in the humane treatment and protection
8 of animals and the importance of the part they play in the economy of
9 nature as well as the necessity of controlling the proliferation of
10 animals which are subsequently abandoned and caused to suffer extreme
11 cruelty. Such instruction shall be for such period of time during each
12 school year as the board of regents may prescribe and may be joined with
13 work in literature, reading, language, nature study or ethnology. Such
14 weekly instruction may be divided into two or more periods.
15 b. The officer, board, or commission authorized or required to
16 prescribe courses of instruction shall cause instruction to be given in
17 every secondary school under state control or supported wholly or partly
18 by public money of the state, in the humane treatment and protection of
19 animals and the importance of the part they play in the economy of
20 nature as well as the necessity of controlling the proliferation of
21 animals which are subsequently abandoned and caused to suffer extreme
22 cruelty. Such instruction shall include educating students on the prin-
23 ciples of kindness to and respect for animals and observance of laws and
24 rules pertaining to the humane treatment of animals. The commissioner
25 shall determine how to incorporate such instruction in existing curric-
26 ula and the commissioner shall promulgate any regulations needed to
27 carry out such determination.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00984-01-1
S. 7670 2
1 c. A school district shall not be entitled to participate in the
2 public school money on account of any school or the attendance at any
3 school subject to the provisions of this section, if the instruction
4 required [hereby] pursuant to this section is not given therein.
5 § 2. Section 809 of the education law is amended by adding a new
6 subdivision 7 to read as follows:
7 7. Compliance records. The commissioner shall maintain records verify-
8 ing school compliance with the provisions of this section and shall make
9 such information available to the public, including on its website.
10 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
11 the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the
12 addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary
13 for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized
14 to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
