[Adopted 3-19-2013 by L.L. No. 13-2013]
This Legislature hereby finds and determines that the County
of Suffolk seeks to protect the health and safety of its youngest
residents. This Legislature determines that convicted sex offenders
have the highest rate of recidivism when compared to other violent
felons released into the community. This Legislature further finds
that sexual abuse is more likely to occur when a child has a trusting
relationship with the perpetrator. This Legislature also finds and
determines that the County contracts with, and administers funding
for, many agencies which provide services to children. This Legislature
further finds and determines that the County requires all agencies
providing such services to certify that their employees and volunteers
have been the subject of a formal inquiry to the State's Sex
Offender Registry. This Legislature finds that these agencies often
use subcontractors and vendors to provide specific services, such
as professional photography, for their program participants. This
Legislature determines that these subcontractors and vendors frequently
spend extended time with children and are not always supervised. This
Legislature also finds that the employees and volunteers of these
subcontractors and vendors should be screened through the State's
Sex Offender Registry to ensure the safety of the children receiving
services. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to require the
County's contracted youth agencies and all child-care agencies
receiving funds from the County to verify the sex offender status
of their subcontractors and vendors' employees who have direct
contact with the children in the agency's program.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any individual, association, corporation, partnership, institution,
organization or agency which receives funding of any kind from the
County of Suffolk to provide child-care services.
Care for children of preschool age and primary school age
in a group facility, family home or day-care project, defined in Subdivision
9 of Section 410-e of the New York State Social Services Law, or provision
of residential child care for children of preschool age and primary
school age.
Any individual, association, corporation, partnership, institution,
organization or agency which contracts with the County of Suffolk
to provide services to individuals predominantly under the age of
18.
All child-care agencies and contracted youth agencies operating
within the County of Suffolk shall, prior to allowing an employee,
volunteer or agent of a subcontractor or vendor to interact with,
or have access to, a child in their program, make an inquiry to the
publicly available New York State Sex Offender Registry to determine
whether such employee, volunteer or agent appears in said registry.
All agencies subject to this requirement shall maintain a written
record which verifies that an inquiry to the New York State Sex Offender
Registry was in fact conducted each time a new subcontractor or vendor
employee, volunteer or agent interacts with any child, and maintain
said record for at least one year after the date on which the inquiry
was conducted.
Any agency subject to this article shall notify the parents
or guardians of the children enrolled in its program if the agency
intends to allow on its premises an employee, volunteer or agent of
any subcontractor or vendor who is a registered sex offender. Such
notification shall be made in writing at least 10 days prior to the
sex offender entering the subject agency's premises.
This article shall be enforced by the County department which
administers the contract for a contracted youth agency or the County
department which disburses payment to a child-care agency.
Any violation of this article shall be an offense subject to
a civil fine of $500 for any first offense, with each subsequent offense
subject to a fine of $1,000. A penalty shall not be assessed until
after a hearing is held by the Commissioner of the enforcing department,
where an alleged violator shall have an opportunity to be heard.
This article shall apply to all actions occurring on or after
the effective date of this article.
