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History
- Approval memo.3
- Signed chap.26
- Delivered to governor
- Returned to senate
- Passed assembly
- Ordered to third reading rules cal.20
- Substituted for A788
- Referred to codes
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 60–1
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
Show 2 earlier actions
- 1st report cal.33
- 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.
Relates to the offense of sexual abuse in the first degree
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor RoAnn Destito
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S1882
Title of bill
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to sexual abuse of a person under the age of thirteen
Purpose or general idea of bill
This bill would strengthen New York State's criminal laws that relate to adults who sexually abuse children.
Summary of specific provisions
Section one of this bill would amend Penal Law §130.65 as amended by Chapter 1 of the Laws of 2000, by providing that a person is guilty of sexual abuse in the first degree when he or she is twenty-one years old or older and subjects another person to sexual contact who is less than thirteen years old. Section two of this bill would provide for the effective date.
Justification
In 2001, the New York State Legislature enacted the Sexual Assault Reform Act (SARA). Among other amendments, SARA amended Rape in the First Degree, Penal Law §130.35(4) and Criminal Sexual Act (formerly Sodomy) in the First Degree, Penal Law §130.50(4). Pursuant to SARA, it is a class B violent felony when a perpetrator over the age of eighteen has sexual intercourse or anal or oral contact with a victim under the age of thirteen.
No similar change was made at that time or later to the crime of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, Penal Law §130.65 pursuant to which it is a class D violent felony only when the victim is under the age of eleven. Consequently, if a child who is eleven or twelve years old is subjected to sexual contact by an individual who is eighteen or older, the defendant would be guilty of only a class A misdemeanor.
This legislation would add a subdivision four to Sexual Abuse in the First Degree making it a class D violent felony offense for a child under thirteen to be subjected to sexual contact by a person who is twenty-one or older. Besides protecting these vulnerable victims, this legislation would bring the Sexual Abuse in the First Degree statute in line with Rape and Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree. As the law stands in New York, a person who puts their hand down the pants of an eleven or twelve year old is subjected to the same penalty as a person who steals a pack of gum from a convenience store; this is unacceptable, and this measure seeks to correct that seeming inequity. Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island. and Indiana provide that similar sexual contact with an individual who is eleven or twelve years old is a felony.
Prior legislative history
2010: A.1067A - Passed Assembly/S.1989A Died in Senate 2009: A.1067 - Referred to the Assembly Codes Committee/S.1989 Held in Rules
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
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.