What's happening
This bill prohibits property owners and associations from banning religious items on dwelling entry doors, with certain exceptions for safety, legality, and size.
Why it matters
Protects individual religious expression. The bill ensures that tenants, homeowners, and condo owners are legally allowed to display items of religious significance on their front doors, which supports personal religious freedom in shared or multi-unit living environments.
Limits on property and association control. By restricting property owners and associations from adopting rules that ban religious displays (with certain exceptions), the bill shifts some authority away from these entities and toward individual residents, potentially affecting how community standards and aesthetics are managed.
Establishes clear exceptions for safety and legality. The bill allows restrictions only when religious items pose safety risks, violate existing laws, are obscene, or are excessively large, balancing religious rights with reasonable concerns about building safety, public order, and shared spaces.
Standardizes procedures for temporary removal. When maintenance or repairs require religious items to be taken down, associations must notify residents and allow re-display after work is finished, ensuring residents' rights are respected even during building upkeep.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Protect Religious Displays at Home
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to governmental operations
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.
Allow Religious Symbols on Homes
In Senate Committee · Codes · Sponsor Anna Kaplan
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
9531
IN ASSEMBLY
January 24, 2020
Introduced by M. of A. LAVINE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to the display of religious items on dwellings
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The civil rights law is amended by adding a new section 79-p to read as follows:
§ 79-p. Display of religious items on dwellings. 1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a property owner shall not enforce or adopt a restrictive covenant or any other restriction that prohibits one or more religious items from being displayed or affixed on any entry door or entry doorframe of a dwelling.
2. To the extent permitted by the New York State Constitution and the United States Constitution, this section shall not prohibit the enforcement or adoption of a restrictive covenant or other restriction prohibiting the display or affixing of a religious item on any entry door or entry doorframe to a dwelling that:
(a) threatens the public health or safety;
(b) hinders the opening or closing of any entry door;
(c) violates any federal, state, or local law;
(d) contains graphics, language or any display that is obscene or otherwise illegal; or
(e) individually or in combination with any other religious item displayed or affixed on any entry door or doorframe, has a total size greater than thirty-six by twelve square inches, provided it does not exceed the size of the door.
3. (a) No governing document of an association shall limit or prohibit the display of one or more religious items on the entry door or entry doorframe of a member's separate interest.
(b) If an association is performing maintenance, repair, or replacement of an entry door or doorframe that serves a member's separate interest, the member may be required to remove a religious item during the time the work is being performed. After completion of the associ-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13987-01-9
A. 9531 2
ation's work, the member may again display or affix the religious item. The association shall provide individual notice to the member regarding the temporary removal of the religious item.
4. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) "property owner" means an association, board, member, landlord, or sublessor;
(b) "association" means a nonprofit corporation or unincorporated association created for the purpose of managing a common interest development;
(c) "board" means the board of directors of an association;
(d) "member" means an owner of a separate interest; and
(e) "religious item" means an item displayed because of sincerely held religious belief.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.