What's happening
Writing a plain-English summary… Track this bill to get it by email.
Why it matters
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to codes
- Referred to codes
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:A8590
Title of bill
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to presump- tive evidence of hate crimes
Purpose
Change New York State's Hate Crime Law in order to facilitate law enforcement's ability to promptly charge a hate crime after an initial investigation. A recent incident involving the vicious assault of an African-American man in the community of Roosevelt illustrates the need for an amendment to the statute. A presumption added to Penal Law 485.05 to provide that if during the commission of the one of the enumerated crimes hateful language, i.e. racial or ethnic slurs, is verbally communicated by the suspect; a Hate Crime may be summarily charged by the police.
Summary of provisions
Penal Law 485.05 be amended by adding the following provision:
485.05 Hate Crimes Presumption
During the commission of a "Specified Offense" as listed in the 485 section of the New New York State Hate Crime Law it will be presumptive evidence of hate crime motivation for this section if the offender verbally utilizes any of the commonly known Profane slurs or biased language used to describe the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orien- tation of the victim.
The inflammatory language used in these types of crimes creates unrest in our communities. This change would be significant in improving police relations with all our communities by sending a strong message that bias typed behavior will not be tolerated, especially during the commission of such serious type crimes.
Justification
The proposed amendment would make it the defendant's burden to disprove that given the hateful language used, bias was not a primary or significant motivating factor in committing the crime. These would be important issues for a court to review. Hate crimes motivated by invidious hatred toward a particular group need to be recognized and properly brought before a court. The amendment will for more cases to be charged by the police as Hate Crimes and be considered by criminal courts for the imposition of greater punishment.
Legislative history
New Bill
Fiscal implications
None to the State
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.