S 4551 New York Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Relates to degree-granting programs offered by SUNY's office of higher education in prison

Summary

Creates within SUNY an office of higher education in prison to coordinate access to higher education for individuals during and after incarceration; directs such office to create a plan by 1/1/2029 to establish a degree-granting program in every viable correctional facility in the state; directs such office to enroll at least 2,000 students in degree-granting programs as soon as practicable; makes related provisions.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 6, 2025 Last action Jan 9, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

S4551 → S4551A · 2 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to add a committee discharge clause, allowing the Education Committee to release the bill without further review. The substantive text of the act itself remains unchanged, establishing a new SUNY office to expand prison education programs.

TECHNICAL

Added language to commit the bill to the Education Committee after printing, then discharged the committee and re-committed the amended bill.

Changed the bill number from 4551 to 4551-A to reflect the amendment status.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Jan 7, 2026

Committee

REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION

upper

Apr 3, 2025

Committee

REFERENCE CHANGED TO HIGHER EDUCATION

upper

Mar 21, 2025

Upper · Passed

PRINT NUMBER 4551A

upper

Mar 21, 2025

Upper · Passed

AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO EDUCATION

upper

Feb 6, 2025

Committee

REFERRED TO EDUCATION

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors