Senate BillPassed first house
S 441: Includes certain persons of Middle Eastern and North African heritage and speakers of Haitian Creole as language minorities.
What S 441 does, verified May 1, 2026
The bill aims to amend the election law to include certain language groups as minority groups. It expands the definition of language minorities to include speakers of Haitian Creole and persons of Middle Eastern or North African heritage. These groups will be recognized alongside American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives, and Spanish-speaking individuals as part of the state's language minority designation. The changes will take effect one year after the bill becomes a law.
Bill journey
✓IntroducedComplete
✓In CommitteeComplete
✓First Chamber FloorComplete
4Second ChamberCurrent
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: referred to election law (2026-04-28)Alert me
Author and sponsors
Full contact details, staff, and committees with Connect, $16/moUnlockRecent actions17 total · showing 5
| Apr. 28, 2026 | referred to election law |
| Apr. 28, 2026 | DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY |
| Apr. 28, 2026 | PASSED SENATE |
| Apr. 27, 2026 | ADVANCED TO THIRD READING |
| Apr. 22, 2026 | 2ND REPORT CAL. |
Latest bill textIntroduced version, January 8, 2025 · 197 words
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 441 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. MYRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to including speakers of Haitian Creole as language minorities The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 5-a of section 17-204 of the election law, as 2 added by chapter 226 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows: 3 5-a. "Language minorities" or "language-minority group" means persons 4 who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives, speakers of 5 Haitian Creole, or of Spanish heritage. "Language minorities" or 6 "language-minority group" shall also mean persons of Middle Eastern or 7 North African heritage as defined by the federal office of management 8 and budget's statistical policy directive fifteen. 9 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01724-01-5
Text of S 441 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions