Assembly Bill A10959

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   10959
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             September 9, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. LiPetri) --
   read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
 
 AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to including crimes committed
   based on political ideology as a hate crime
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section  1.  The opening paragraph of section 485.00 of the penal law,
 as amended by chapter 8 of the laws of  2019,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   The legislature finds and determines as follows: criminal acts involv-
 ing  violence,  intimidation and destruction of property based upon bias
 and prejudice have become more prevalent in New  York  state  in  recent
 years.    The  intolerable  truth  is that in these crimes, commonly and
 justly referred to as "hate crimes", victims are intentionally selected,
 in whole or in part, because of  their  race,  color,  national  origin,
 ancestry,  gender,  gender  identity  or expression, religion, religious
 practice, age, disability, POLITICAL  IDEOLOGY  or  sexual  orientation.
 Hate  crimes  do  more than threaten the safety and welfare of all citi-
 zens. They inflict on victims incalculable physical and emotional damage
 and tear at the very fabric of free society. Crimes motivated by invidi-
 ous hatred toward particular groups not only harm individual victims but
 send a powerful message of intolerance and discrimination to all members
 of the group to which the victim belongs. Hate crimes can and do  intim-
 idate  and  disrupt  entire communities and vitiate the civility that is
 essential to healthy democratic  processes.  In  a  democratic  society,
 citizens  cannot  be required to approve of the beliefs and practices of
 others, but must never commit criminal acts on account of them.  Current
 law  does not adequately recognize the harm to public order and individ-
 ual safety that hate crimes cause. Therefore, our laws must be strength-
 ened to provide clear recognition of the gravity of hate crimes and  the
 compelling importance of preventing their recurrence.
   §  2.  The  opening  paragraph  of section 485.00 of the penal law, as
 amended by section 2 of part R of chapter 55 of the  laws  of  2020,  is
 amended to read as follows:
   The legislature finds and determines as follows: criminal acts involv-
 ing  violence,  intimidation and destruction of property based upon bias
              

 and prejudice have become more prevalent in New  York  state  in  recent
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD17271-01-0

 A. 10959                            2
 
 years. The intolerable truth is that in these crimes, commonly and just-
 ly  referred to as "hate crimes", victims are intentionally selected, in
 whole or in part, because of their race, color, national origin,  ances-
 try,  gender,  gender  identity or expression, religion, religious prac-
 tice, age, disability, POLITICAL IDEOLOGY or  sexual  orientation.  Hate
 crimes  do  more  than  threaten the safety and welfare of all citizens.
 They inflict on victims incalculable physical and emotional  damage  and
 tear  at  the very fabric of free society. Crimes motivated by invidious
 hatred toward particular groups not only  harm  individual  victims  but
 send a powerful message of intolerance and discrimination to all members
 of  the group to which the victim belongs. Hate crimes can and do intim-
 idate and disrupt entire communities and vitiate the  civility  that  is
 essential  to  healthy  democratic  processes.  In a democratic society,
 citizens cannot be required to approve of the beliefs and  practices  of
 others, but must never commit criminal acts on account of them. However,
 these criminal acts do occur and are occurring more and more frequently.
 Quite  often,  these  crimes of hate are also acts of terror. The recent
 attacks in Monsey, New York as well as the shootings in El Paso,  Texas;
 Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania;  Sutherland Springs, Texas; Orlando, Florida;
 and Charleston, South Carolina illustrate that mass killings  are  often
 apolitical,  motivated  by the hatred of a specific group coupled with a
 desire to inflict mass casualties. The current law emphasizes the  poli-
 tical  motivation  of  an  act over its catastrophic effect and does not
 adequately recognize the harm to public order and individual safety that
 hate crimes cause. Therefore, our laws must be strengthened  to  provide
 clear  recognition  of  the  gravity  of  hate crimes and the compelling
 importance of preventing their recurrence.
   § 3. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section  485.05  of  the  penal  law,  as
 amended  by  chapter  8  of  the  laws  of  2019, are amended to read as
 follows:
   1. A person commits a hate crime when he or she  commits  a  specified
 offense and either:
   (a)  intentionally  selects  the  person  against  whom the offense is
 committed or intended to be committed in whole or  in  substantial  part
 because  of  a  belief or perception regarding the race, color, national
 origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, reli-
 gious practice, age, disability, POLITICAL  IDEOLOGY  or  sexual  orien-
 tation  of  a  person, regardless of whether the belief or perception is
 correct, or
   (b) intentionally commits the act or acts constituting the offense  in
 whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding
 the  race,  color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or
 expression, religion, religious  practice,  age,  disability,  POLITICAL
 IDEOLOGY  or  sexual  orientation of a person, regardless of whether the
 belief or perception is correct.
   2. Proof of race, color, national  origin,  ancestry,  gender,  gender
 identity  or  expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability,
 POLITICAL IDEOLOGY or sexual orientation of the defendant, the victim or
 of both the defendant and the victim does  not,  by  itself,  constitute
 legally  sufficient  evidence satisfying the people's burden under para-
 graph (a) or (b) of subdivision one of this section.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately; provided,  however,  that
 section  two  of  this act shall take effect on the same date and in the
 same manner as section 2 of part R of chapter 55 of the  laws  of  2020,
 takes effect.