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Sponsors
16 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to mental health
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Defines repeat sex offender and establishes procedures for the evaluation and supervision of repeat sex offenders requiring continuing civil management
In Senate Committee · Mental Health And Developmental Disabilities · Sponsor William T. Stachowski
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:A10146
Title of bill
An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to defining "repeat sex offender" and establishing procedures for the eval- uation and supervision of repeat sex offenders requiring continuing civil management
Purpose or general idea of bill
To clarify and properly establish better procedures for the evaluation and supervision of repeat sex offenders requiring continuing civil management
Summary of specific provisions
Section 2 Subdivisions (a), (d), and (g) of section 10.05 of the mental hygiene law, as added by chapter 7 of the laws of 2007, are amended to read as follows:
That all repeat sex offenders will be referred by the Department of Corrections to the three person case review team, without first going to the multi-disciplinary review team for initial evaluation;
that the case review team will be comprised of at least two psychiatric examiners with expertise, as defined by the legislation;
that the staffing and administration of the case review team will be conducted by the Department of Criminal Justice Services instead of the Office of Mental Health;
that following the evaluation, the case review team will make a decision to refer the case to the Attorney Generals office, two of the three members of the case review team must be in agreement that a referral needs to be made;
that the Attorney Generals Office and the respondent will be notified in writing of this decision.
Justification
As it is now written SOMTA (sex offender management and treatment act) contains an inherent conflict of interests for the State Office of Mental Health. This conflict arises from the fact that OMH is responsible for making the evaluations that determine a person's refer- ral to the Attorney General's office for a petition of civil management while at the same time being the agency that would bear the fiscal burden if that petition were to be granted. A 100 year old repeat sex offender in Western New York who went under the current structure of the multi-disciplinary review team was allowed to be set free under super- vision of parole instead of being civilly confined. It was a matter of just a few weeks ' before this repeat sex offender violated his parole and publicly expressed that he 'couldn't wait to be with his grandchil- dren", even though the same individual had gone to prison and served his time for sexual abuse of his own sibling. Weighing the costs of civil management during a time of immense state fiscal crisis could play, however inadvertently, a role in the decision making process and there- fore a revised method of evaluation needs to be developed. This bill would revise the method that will still place the mental health of the
sex offender in the forefront of its' decision making process while also taking into consideration the concern for the public's safety and protecting the criminal justice system as well as the rights of the citizens of the state.
Prior legislative history
New bill
Fiscal implications
To be determined
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the 30th day after it shall have become law; provided that effective immediately, the addi- tion, amendment and or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized and directed to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.