NY State Senate Bill 2023-S5946

Senate Bill S5946

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Prohibits the governor from granting himself or herself or any person involved with furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a reprieve, commutation or pardon

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Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Judiciary Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 29, 2024	opinion referred to judiciary
Jan 04, 2024	to attorney-general for opinion
Jan 03, 2024	referred to judiciary
Apr 12, 2023	opinion referred to judiciary
Mar 24, 2023	to attorney-general for opinion
Mar 23, 2023	referred to judiciary

co-Sponsors

2023-S5946 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A4315
Current Committee:: Senate Judiciary
Law Section:: Constitution, Concurrent Resolutions to Amend
Laws Affected:: Amd Art 4 §4, Constn
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:: S7329, A8234

2023-S5946 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Prohibits the governor from granting himself or herself or any person involved with furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a reprieve, commutation or pardon.

2023-S5946 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5946

SPONSOR: SKOUFIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY proposing an amendment
to section 4 of article 4 of the constitution, in relation to prohibit-
ing the governor from granting himself or herself or any person involved
with furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a reprieve, commu-
tation or pardon

 
PURPOSE:

To prohibit the governor from granting himself or herself or any person
involved with furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a reprieve,
commutation or pardon.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of the resolution amends § 4 article 4 of the state consti-
tution to prohibit a sitting governor from granting themselves or any
person who was involved in furthering the illegal conduct of the gover-

nor a reprieve, commutation, or pardon.

Section two refers the resolution to the next legislative session, in
conformity with the requirements of the constitution.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Pursuant to the state constitution the Governor has the power to grant
reprieves, commutations, and pardons after conviction for all offenses
except treason and cases of impeachment. The courts of NYS have held the
Governor's power to grant pardons, reprieves, and commutations is unlim-
ited and cannot be limited by statute or court decision. Thus, a sitting
Governor has the authority to pardon people who may have furthered the
Governor's own unlawful activity.

Additionally, while the public officers law provides that any office
holder convicted of a felony automatically vacates their office, a
Governor can be convicted of various misdemeanors and remain in office.
Thus, a sitting Governor convicted of misdemeanor offenses such as sexu-
al misconduct, forcible touching, or certain types of sexual abuse will
remain in office and could even pardon themselves.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

Senate

2021-2022: S7329, Opinion referred to Judiciary

Assembly

2021-2022: A8234, Opinion referred to Judiciary

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Resolved (If the Assembly concur), That the foregoing amendment be
referred to the first regular legislative session convening after the
next succeeding general election of members of the assembly, and, in
conformity with section 1 of article 19 of the constitution, be
published for 3 months previous to the time of such election.

2023-S5946 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5946
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 23, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sens. SKOUFIS, BORRELLO -- read twice and ordered printed,
   and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
 
             CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY
 
 proposing an amendment to section 4 of article 4 of the constitution, in
   relation  to prohibiting the governor from granting himself or herself
   or any person involved with furthering  the  illegal  conduct  of  the
   governor a reprieve, commutation or pardon
 
   Section  1. Resolved (if the Assembly concur), That section 4 of arti-
 cle 4 of the constitution be amended to read as follows:
   § 4. The governor shall have the  power  to  grant  reprieves,  commu-
 tations  and  pardons  after conviction, for all offenses except treason
 and  cases  of  impeachment,  upon  such  conditions   and   with   such
 restrictions  and limitations, as he or she may think proper, subject to
 such regulations as may be provided by law relative  to  the  manner  of
 applying  for  pardons. THE GOVERNOR SHALL NOT HAVE THE POWER TO GRANT A
 REPRIEVE, COMMUTATION OR PARDON TO HIMSELF OR HERSELF, OR TO ANY PERSONS
 INVOLVED WITH FURTHERING ANY ILLEGAL OR UNLAWFUL CONDUCT OF SUCH  GOVER-
 NOR.  Upon  conviction  for  treason,  the  governor shall have power to
 suspend the execution of the sentence, until the case shall be  reported
 to  the  legislature  at  its  next  meeting, when the legislature shall
 either pardon, or commute the sentence,  direct  the  execution  of  the
 sentence,  or  grant  a  further  reprieve.  The governor shall annually
 communicate to the legislature each case  of  reprieve,  commutation  or
 pardon  granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which the
 convict was convicted, the sentence and its date, and the  date  of  the
 commutation, pardon or reprieve.
   §  2.  Resolved (if the Assembly concur), That the foregoing amendment
 be referred  to  the  first regular legislative session convening  after
 the  next succeeding general election of members of  the  assembly, and,
 in conformity  with  section 1 of  article 19 of   the constitution,  be
 published for 3 months previous to the time of such election.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD89061-01-3

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Senate Bill S5946

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Sponsored By

James Skoufis