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- Referred to codes
Full text
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Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S4250
Title of bill
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to making technical corrections to the descriptions of certain bribery offenses and defenses
Purpose or general idea of bill
This legislation would amend the mens rea element of the public official bribery statute to require only an intent to influence.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 of the bill amends section 200.00 of the penal law (Bribery in the Third Degree) to add the intent to influence as an element to the crime.
Section 2 of the bill amends section 200.03 of the penal law (Bribery in the Second Degree) to add the intent to influence as an element to the crime.
Section 3 of the bill amends section 200.04 of the penal law (Bribery in the First Degree) to add the intent to influence as an element to the crime.
Section 4 of the bill amends section 200.05 of the penal law (Bribery; defense) to add as a defense to the crime of bribery that the benefit a defendant conferred, or offered or agreed to confer, upon the public servant was a legitimate campaign contribution.
Section 5 of the bill provides that the act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
Justification
In 2013, the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York's White Collar Crime Task Force issued a report noting that "the statutes governing the bribery of public officials unnecessarily heighten the burden for prosecuting such conduct."
Current law requires a mutual agreement between the bribe-giver and the public official, or a unilateral belief by the bribe-giver that the bribe will in fact influence the public official. New York's other bribery laws, as with bribery laws in the vast majority of other states, only require that the bribe-giver "intends to influence" the bribe-receiver.
This legislation would amend the mens rea element of the public-servant bribery statute to require only an intent to influence. It also creates a defense to ensure that legitimate campaign contributions are not criminalized.
Prior legislative history
None, new bill.
Fiscal implications
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.