STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2295
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 16, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. BAILEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to requisite training
instruction for police officers for crimes involving sexual assaults;
and to amend the social services law, in relation to training for
child protective services workers in certain instances
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 840 of the executive law is amended by adding a new
2 subdivision 8 to read as follows:
3 8. The council shall promulgate rules and regulations requiring train-
4 ing and instruction for all police officers with respect to crimes
5 involving sexual assault. Such training and instruction, which shall be
6 designed and presented in consultation with the rape crisis centers
7 experienced in assisting victims in this state, shall include, but not
8 be limited to understanding rape and sexual abuse trauma and psycholog-
9 ical issues confronted by such crime victims, common attributes of
10 offenders, fair treatment standards for crime victims pursuant to arti-
11 cle twenty-three of this chapter, evidence gathering and preservation
12 issues, interview techniques and information concerning the availability
13 of local services for the victims of such crimes. All new officers
14 shall receive such training and instruction, as part of the basic
15 curriculum at the state police academy or at municipal police academies,
16 as applicable. The council shall promulgate such rules and regulations
17 as it deems necessary concerning periodic retraining of police officers
18 regarding crimes involving sexual assault.
19 § 2. The opening and closing paragraphs of subdivision 3 of section
20 421 of the social services law, the opening paragraph as amended by
21 chapter 718 of the laws of 1986 and the closing paragraph as amended by
22 chapter 320 of the laws of 1990, are amended to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06251-01-5
S. 2295 2
1 promulgate regulations setting forth requirements for the performance
2 by local social services departments of the duties and powers imposed
3 and conferred upon them by the provisions of this title and of article
4 ten of the family court act. Such regulations shall establish uniform
5 requirements for the investigation of reports of child abuse or
6 maltreatment under this title. The [department] office of children and
7 family services shall also issue guidelines which shall set forth the
8 circumstances or conditions under which:
9 The [department] office of children and family services shall promul-
10 gate regulations to establish standards for the development of a train-
11 ing curriculum for child protective services workers which teaches
12 appropriate investigatory techniques for reports of sexual abuse and
13 mandates on-going training for child protective services workers, stand-
14 ards for intervention, criteria for case closings, criteria for deter-
15 mining whether or not to initiate a child protective proceeding, and
16 criteria for the formulation of treatment plans and for the delivery of
17 child protective services including specification of the services to be
18 classified as child protective services, which shall also apply to any
19 society for the prevention of cruelty to children which has entered into
20 a currently valid contract with a local department of social services to
21 investigate child abuse or maltreatment reports. The [department] office
22 of children and family services shall promulgate regulations establish-
23 ing minimum standards and practices for the delivery of child protective
24 services in connection with monitoring and supervising respondents and
25 their families as ordered by a family court pursuant to section ten
26 hundred thirty-nine and paragraphs (i), (iii), (iv) and (v) of subdivi-
27 sion (a) of section ten hundred fifty-two of the family court act. Such
28 regulations shall also require local child protective services to comply
29 with notification requirements of the family court act in connection
30 with such monitoring and supervisory responsibilities.
31 § 3. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 5 of section 421 of the social
32 services law, as amended by chapter 470 of the laws of 2024, is amended
33 to read as follows:
34 (b) promulgate regulations setting forth training requirements which
35 shall specify, among other things, that all persons hired by a child
36 protective service on or after April first, nineteen hundred eighty-six
37 shall have satisfactorily completed a course approved by the [depart-
38 ment] office of children and family services within the first three
39 months of employment, in the fundamentals of child protection, provided,
40 however, that on or after April first, two thousand twenty-five, such
41 course may be satisfactorily completed through distance learning methods
42 which evince that all participants are in attendance for the duration of
43 the course and are able to ask questions of the instructor. Each county
44 shall be authorized to adopt a local law, ordinance or resolution to
45 provide for a local department of social services to fulfill the train-
46 ing requirement established by this paragraph through a distance learn-
47 ing method, excluding the annual in service training requirement. Such
48 course shall include at least basic training in the principles and tech-
49 niques of investigations, including relationships with other investi-
50 gative bodies, legal issues in child protection, and methods of remedi-
51 ation, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Such regulations shall also
52 specify that all persons employed by a child protective service on or
53 after December first, two thousand six shall satisfactorily complete six
54 hours of annual in service training, beginning in their second year of
55 employment. Such annual in service training shall include, but is not
56 limited to, review of the protocols for identification and investigation
S. 2295 3
1 of child abuse and maltreatment, any developments in legal, treatment
2 and prevention issues in child protection, and review and analysis of
3 field experiences of child protective services workers.
4 § 4. Subdivision 7 of section 421 of the social services law, as
5 amended by chapter 718 of the laws of 1986, is amended to read as
6 follows:
7 7. take all reasonable and necessary actions to assure that the local
8 departments of social services are kept apprised on a current basis of
9 the laws, regulations and policies of the [department] office of chil-
10 dren and family services concerning child abuse and maltreatment.
11 § 5. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
12 have become a law.