BILL NUMBER: S6227

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to repeal section 260.15 of the penal law relating to affirmative
defenses to the charge of endangering the welfare of a child

 
PURPOSE:

To repeal subdivision 15 of section 260 of the penal law to remove the
affirmative defense against prosecution for endangering the welfare of a
child on the basis of religious beliefs or affiliation.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 repeals section 260.15 of the penal law.

Section 2 is the effective date. This act shall take effect immediately.

 
JUSTIFICATION:
              

New York law currently allows those accused of child endangerment based
upon refusal to provide proper medical care or treatment to an ill child
a defense against those charges on the grounds that their religious
affiliation prescribes prayer as the principal treatment for illness.

Religious exemptions like the one in section 260.15 proliferated in
state codes after the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act
of 1974, which conditioned the receipt of federal child abuse grants on
states enacting religious exemptions to child abuse statutes. The feder-
al government later reversed that requirement, but few states moved to
alter their statutes again to conform with that reversal.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has reaffirmed twice in the last
decade through public policy statements that it "believes that religious
exemptions to state child abuse and neglect laws should be
repealed...(because t)hese exemptions fail to provide an equivalent
level of protection to children whose parents practice spiritual healing
and children whose parents do not."

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.