Camps in New York will be required to check whether staffers are listed on state and national sex offender registries under a law signed this summer by Gov. Kathy Hochul. 

The new measure covers all summer and day camps, including single-purpose or unregistered camps that offer soccer clinics or band camp. 

“When parents send their children to summer camp, they want their children to have a fun and healthy experience, but foremost they need to know that they are in a safe environment," said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, who sponsored the measure with state Sen. Eligah Reichlin-Melnick. "With this new legislation, all camps are now required to check their employees’ and volunteers’ backgrounds on both the state and national sex offender registries. I’ll continue to fight for common-sense laws such as this to protect children and give families peace-of-mind when sending their children to camp in New York State.”

Hochul signed the law on June 30, and it takes effect in six months' time. Reichlin-Melnick called the provision a "common-sense law." 

"For too many years, parents would send their kids to camp assuming that the counselors had been required to go through a background check to make sure that they were not on the sex-offender registry," he said. "And yet until now, for thousands of kids in New York attending unregistered camps, that was not the case."

Both lawmakers touted the approval of the legislation as the summer camp season is winding down this month. The measure was also praised by camp directors and organizations that run camps in New York.

"This important legislation is a critical step in ensuring that staff at all camps, registered and unregistered, are subject to background checks that will further provide parents with the confidence that their child will be in good hands each summer," said Todd Rothman, a day camp director and a board member of the New York State Camp Directors Association.