Assemblyman Dave McDonough (R,C,I-Merrick) was the original author of legislation that was signed into law late Friday by Gov. Cuomo which mandates that private school administrations must report allegations of abuse as is currently the case with public schools (A.8485-B). McDonough called for the governor to sign this bill into law last Thursday.

            McDonough first authored this legislation in 2016 and worked across the aisle with Chair of the Assembly Education Committee Catherine Nolan (D-Queens), of which he is a member, to pass a version identical to his that was authored by a member of the Majority. Members of the Assembly Minority often hand off legislation to politicians in the Majority to have a better chance of it surviving the legislative process. This measure passed both the Assembly and Senate unanimously.

            “I applaud Gov. Cuomo, Education Chair Catherine Nolan, and my colleagues in the Assembly and Senate for continuing to push this crucial bill all the way to the governor’s desk and beyond,” McDonough said. “Although I originally introduced this bill in 2016, I was content with working across the aisle and garnering Majority support to see that these protections were realized for the sake of hundreds of thousands of private school students across the state.

            “Although much of government can seem gridlocked and divisive, this is a beautiful example of how bipartisanship and good government can produce beneficial results, and I am proud to have spearheaded such a victory,” McDonough concluded.

            As covered by the NY Daily News on Wednesday of last week, a student at Chapin School in New York City collected over 12,000 signatures requesting that Gov. Cuomo sign this bill into law.