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History
- Referred to codes
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.
Makes the inability to pay child support an affirmative defense to non-support of child offenses, rather than an element of such offenses
In Assembly Committee · Codes · Sponsor Janele Hyer-Spencer
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to non-support of a child
Purpose
Requires a delinquent parent to demonstrate as an affirmative defense that the inability to pay excuses his or her failure to provide child support for their minor child.
Summary of provision
Section one amends sections 260.05 & 260.06 of the penal law by deleting the defendant's ability to pay from the definition of the offense found in such sections and adds to both sections a new provision that allows a defendant to show inability to pay as an affirmative defense.
Justification
Persons who are legally obligated to provide child support should not be permitted to escape criminal prosecution where they have deliberately taken action to avoid paying child support by engaging in wasteful personal spending and concealment of funds. Currently, parents guilty of the crime of non-support of a child may escape criminal liability simply because the prosecutor is tasked with proving the unknowable, that is, the parent's ability to pay. The ability to pay is an inherently subjective question which requires that the prosecutor submit evidence not only of the parent's income and spending but proof which distinguishes between legitimate expenses and wasteful spending. This amendment will rightly place the burden of proving inability to pay on the parent, who alone possesses the necessary information to answer that question.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implication
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.