Establishes the right of tenants to call police or emergency assistance without fear of losing their housing

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill creates a new Article 9 in the Civil Rights Law that outlines rights and protections for domestic violence and other crime victims in separate sections of the Article as follows.

New Section 90 of the Civil Rights Law relates to legislative findings.

New Section 91 of the Civil Rights Law provides any person who is a victim of domestic violence or who otherwise believes that he or she is in need of police or emergency assistance the right to request such assistance without penalty or reprisal, by application of a local law or ordinance, for accessing the assistance.

New Section 92 of the Civil Rights Law outlines exceptions to the protections outlined in new section 91 of the Civil Rights Law.

New Section 93 of the Civil Rights Law outlines the rights of property owners to be free of penalty for respecting the rights of an occupant to request police or emergency assistance.

New Section 94 of the Civil Rights Law prohibits limitations on a victim's rights under the article to request police or emergency assistance.

New Section 95 of the Civil Rights Law creates defenses in local ordinance enforcement actions by municipalities or property owners in violation of the protections created under the Article. It also provides for notice to residential occupants in such enforcement actions and standing to contest application of the nuisance ordinance to their residence in the face of an eviction.

New Section 96 of the Civil Rights Law provides for the removal of the perpetrator of violence while assuring continued occupancy by a victim.

New Section 97 of the Civil Rights Law creates remedies for any person or entity aggrieved by a violation of the protections created under the Article.

New Section 98 of the Civil Rights Law allows for guidance by the New York State Office for The Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Division of Criminal Justice Services with respect to drafting of

local nuisance ordinances and evaluation of their impact on access to police and emergency services.

Section 2 of the bill is the effective date.

Justification

No victim of domestic violence or other person threatened with a crime in New York should be afraid to access police or emergency assistance because doing so may jeopardize their housing. Nevertheless, numerous municipalities throughout New York have passed local laws, so called "nuisance ordinances," that have this precise result. While these local laws often aim to address drug, weapon, disorderly conduct, and property crimes and ensure the quiet enjoyment of community members, they are frequently overboard and, instead, have a chilling effect on the reporting of crime by crime victims-particularly victims of domestic violence-that undermines public safety.

Nuisance ordinances have traditionally targeted abandoned properties where crime occurred with more frequency because properties were unsupervised and unattended. Yet, in recent years, more and more municipalities in New York and nationally have employed the nuisance concept to regulate and sanction activities at occupied properties. Nuisance ordinances take several forms. Many ordinances in New York assign points to properties where certain criminal convictions occurred or where certain conduct was merely alleged to have occurred. In some communities, ordinances are triggered if police or emergency services provide aid or are called to a property a certain number of times over a set time period, such as three calls for help to the police over 12 months. Generally, these nuisance laws are applied regardless of whether the residential occupant was a victim of the cited crime or accessed police assistance out of reasonable, legitimate fear or concern. A Harvard study established that an ordinance in Milwaukee punished victims of domestic violence far more frequently than the offenses it was intended to target, such as those related to drugs, property damage, and weapons.

These ordinances may authorize the municipality to directly penalize the residential occupant or may promote "third-party policing," the assigning of policing responsibilities to non-police actors, by holding property owners responsible for the behavior of their tenants. Under this structure, once a property receives a nuisance citation, the owner must "abate the nuisance" or face stiff fines, revocation of rental permits, or property closure. This requirement frequently results in landlords evicting the tenants at issue, for, even if not expressly required, eviction is the only certain abatement method. Under these laws, tenants often have no notice of or standing to contest application of the nuisance ordinance to their residence, even in the face of eviction.

In communities with these ordinances, domestic violence victims reasonably feel they have no choice but to endure threats, harassment, or violence without police intervention when the alternative is the likely eviction, housing insecurity, and risk of homelessness that result from a nuisance citation.

Enforcement of nuisance ordinances can also violate federal and Constitutional protections. Furthermore, when these laws pressure landlords to evict, they put landlords in an untenable position between two legal mandates.

This measure will help ensure that all New Yorkers can request lifesaving emergency aid in response to violence without fearing they will be doubly victimized by housing loss because their call for help triggered a nuisance ordinance that is applied against crime victims. It will protect victims of domestic violence, as well as all residents who need to access emergency and police assistance.

Legislative history

S6924 Committed to Rules 2014

Fiscal implications for state and local governments

None.

Effective date

Immediately and shall apply to all pending actions and proceedings.