This bill creates a tax credit for New York employers who pay down their employees' undergraduate student loan debt. Employers can claim a credit equal to the amount they pay toward an employee's federal, state, or institutional undergraduate loan debt (including interest), up to $10,000 per employee annually. The credit applies to loans related to undergraduate programs and covers both principal and interest payments. It directly affects employers who choose to assist employees with student debt and employees who receive this financial support.
Establishes graduate tuition assistance program awards; sets amounts of such awards; provides for restrictions on such awards; makes related provisions.
Relates to establishing the COVID-19 children scholarship; provides that children whose parent, primary caretaker or sibling died or was disabled as a result of contracting COVID-19 shall be eligible for such scholarship.
Allows the higher education services corporation to consider an applicant's change in income due to the loss of employment in determining eligibility and award amount for the tuition assistance program.
This bill requires New York teachers and school leaders to complete at least 10 hours of mandatory continuing education every five years focused on mental health and trauma-informed care, as part of their existing 100-hour license renewal requirement. It directs the health and education departments to develop course materials covering topics like identifying mental health concerns, trauma-informed practices, crisis de-escalation, and adverse childhood experiences. The training must include evidence-based programs such as mental health first aid and will be integrated into standard professional development. This directly affects all licensed educators renewing their credentials after 2026, aligning their professional development with mental health support for students.
Directs the office of mental health to develop materials relating to suicide prevention and identifying signs of depression for school-aged children; authorizes school districts to include suicide prevention in health class curriculum.
Establishes the sector partnership enhancement and reinforcement program to assist in the identification of target industry clusters and employers for creation of new local sector partnerships and to provide grants to emerging and existing local sector partnerships and to community colleges seeking to establish local sector partnerships for recruitment activities; makes an appropriation therefor.
This bill (A 3589, "Protects library access to electronic literary materials") bans restrictive clauses in contracts between publishers and libraries for electronic literary materials (e-books and digital audiobooks). It specifically prohibits terms that limit libraries' core functions, such as restricting loans, limiting preservation copies, or controlling loan periods. The law applies to licensing agreements for literary monographs (single-volume works) and declares such prohibited terms unenforceable, with libraries able to seek remedies under state law. It does not apply to contracts between libraries and aggregators (companies licensing multiple publishers' collections).
Requires two qualified psychiatrists to be employed by each school district to perform and coordinate the provision of mental health services in the public schools.
Requires comprehensive training at least one time per year for school bus drivers and school bus attendants in the discouragement, prevention and detection of harassment, bullying and discrimination.
