Bill Text: NY S03154 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Directs the office of children and family services to establish Dolly Parton's statewide imagination library program for encouraging children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, to develop a love of reading and learning; directs the office of children and family services to promote the statewide development of local Dolly Parton's Imagination Library programs; advance and strengthen local Dolly Parton's Imagination Library programs with the goal of increasing enrollment; recruit volunteers to assist in the development, promotion, and coordination of local Dolly Parton's Imagination Library programs; solicit donations, gifts, and other funding to financially support local Dolly Parton's Imagination Library programs; develop community engagement; develop, promote, and coordinate a public awareness campaign to make donors aware of the opportunity to donate to the affiliate programs and make the public aware of the opportunity to register eligible children to receive books through the program; administer the local match requirement and coordinate the collection and remittance of local program costs for books and mailing; and develop statewide marketing and communication plans; establishes the imagination library of New York fund.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-28 - PRINT NUMBER 3154A [S03154 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-S03154-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3154--A 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 23, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. COONEY, FAHY, JACKSON, MARTINEZ, MAY, SALAZAR, SCAR- CELLA-SPANTON, WEBB -- read twice and ordered printed, and when print- ed to be committed to the Committee on Libraries -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to creating the Dolly Parton's statewide imagination library of New York; and to amend the state finance law, in relation to establishing the imagination library of New York fund The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The social services law is amended by adding a new section 2 361 to read as follows: 3 § 361. Dolly Parton's statewide imagination library of New York. 1. 4 For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the follow- 5 ing meanings: 6 a. "program" shall mean the statewide imagination library program, 7 Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of New York; 8 b. "fund" shall mean the imagination library of New York fund estab- 9 lished by section ninety-seven-bbbbb of the state finance law; and 10 c. "qualified local entity" shall mean any existing or new local Dolly 11 Parton's imagination library local program partner. 12 2. There is hereby established under the administration of the office 13 of children and family services a Dolly Parton's statewide imagination 14 library of New York for purposes of developing, implementing, promoting, 15 and fostering a comprehensive statewide initiative for encouraging chil- 16 dren from birth to five years of age to develop a love of reading and 17 learning. 18 3. a. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, the office of 19 children and family services shall allocate moneys as grants to provide 20 age-appropriate books on a monthly basis, at home, to each child regis- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03261-02-5S. 3154--A 2 1 tered in the program, from birth to their fifth birthday, inclusive, at 2 no cost to families, through Dolly Parton's imagination library. 3 b. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, the office of chil- 4 dren and family services shall allocate moneys from the fund as grants 5 to qualified local entities that agree to a dollar-for-dollar match for 6 purposes of the program. 7 c. Notwithstanding paragraph b of this subdivision, the office of 8 children and family services may waive the dollar-for-dollar match 9 requirement for a qualified local entity on a case-by-case basis to 10 prevent undue financial hardship. 11 4. The office of children and family services shall coordinate with a 12 nonprofit entity, qualified under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal 13 Revenue Code, and organized solely to promote and encourage reading for 14 children of the state from birth to their fifth birthday, inclusive, for 15 the purpose of implementing this section. 16 5. The office of children and family services shall provide oversight 17 to such nonprofit entity to fiscally manage the imagination library of 18 New York fund, including, but not limited to: 19 a. promoting the statewide development of local Dolly Parton's Imag- 20 ination Library programs; 21 b. advancing and strengthening local Dolly Parton's Imagination 22 Library programs with the goal of increasing enrollment; 23 c. managing the daily operations of the program; 24 d. soliciting donations, gifts, and other funding to financially 25 support local Dolly Parton's Imagination Library programs; 26 e. developing community engagement; 27 f. developing, promoting, and coordinating a public awareness campaign 28 to make donors aware of the opportunity to donate to the affiliate 29 programs and make the public aware of the opportunity to register eligi- 30 ble children to receive books through the program; 31 g. administering the local match requirement and coordinating the 32 collection and remittance of local program costs for books and mailing; 33 h. developing statewide marketing and communication plans; and 34 i. collecting parent and community feedback to show impact and effec- 35 tiveness of the program. 36 6. On or after January first, two thousand thirty, and annually there- 37 after, the office of children and family services shall submit a report 38 to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, and the speaker 39 of the assembly on all the following: 40 a. the deposits made to, and expenditures made from the imagination 41 library of New York fund; 42 b. whether any local match requirements were waived; 43 c. the number of local programs that exist, their location, and which 44 entity or organization serves as the local partner; and 45 d. the number of children that are enrolled and the number of books 46 that have been sent to such enrolled children. 47 7. The office of children and family services may promulgate regu- 48 lations as may be needed for the administration of the program. 49 § 2. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 97-bbbbb 50 to read as follows: 51 § 97-bbbbb. Imagination library of New York fund. 1. There is hereby 52 established in the joint custody of the state comptroller and the 53 commissioner of children and family services an account of the miscella- 54 neous special revenue account to be known as the "Imagination Library of 55 New York fund".S. 3154--A 3 1 2. Moneys in this fund shall be kept separate and shall not be commin- 2 gled with any other moneys in the custody of the state comptroller and 3 the commissioner of children and family services. 4 3. The imagination library of New York fund shall consist of moneys 5 appropriated for the purpose of such account, moneys transferred to such 6 account pursuant to law, contributions consisting of promises or grants 7 of any money or property of any kind or value, or any other thing of 8 value, including grants or other financial assistance from any agency of 9 government and moneys required by the provisions of this section or any 10 other law to be paid into or credited to this account. 11 4. Moneys of the imagination library of New York fund, when allocated, 12 shall be available, subject to the approval of the director of the budg- 13 et, to provide age-appropriate books on a monthly basis, at home, to 14 each child registered in the program, from birth to their fifth birth- 15 day, inclusive, at no cost to families, through Dolly Parton's Imagina- 16 tion Library. 17 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
