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Senate Bill S8904

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Relates to repeated instances of harassment giving rise to a charge of aggravated harassment in the second degree and harassment in the first degree

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Codes Committee

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2023-S8904 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:
A7928
Current Committee:
Senate Codes
Law Section:
Penal Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §§240.30 & 240.25, Pen L
Versions Introduced in 2025-2026 Legislative Session:
S5348, A462

2023-S8904 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to repeated instances of harassment giving rise to a charge of aggravated harassment in the second degree and harassment in the first degree; clarifies that the victim of such separate offenses does not need to be the same individual.

2023-S8904 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S8904 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8904
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 26, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  CHU  --  read  twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
 
 AN ACT to amend the penal law, in  relation  to  repeated  instances  of
   harassment
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Subdivision 5 of  section  240.30  of  the  penal  law,  as
 amended  by  chapter  188  of  the  laws  of 2014, is amended to read as
 follows:
   5. He or she commits the crime of harassment in the first  degree  and
 has  previously  been  convicted of the crime of harassment in the first
 degree as defined by section 240.25 of this article within the preceding
 ten years, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR  NOT  THE  ALLEGED  VICTIM  OF  SUCH
 HARASSMENT IS THE SAME VICTIM FROM SUCH PRIOR OFFENSE.
   § 2. Section 240.25 of the penal law, as amended by chapter 109 of the
 laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
 § 240.25 Harassment in the first degree.
   A person is guilty of harassment in the first degree when [he]:
   1.  HE  or she intentionally and repeatedly harasses another person by
 following such person in or about a public place or places or by  engag-
 ing in a course of conduct or by repeatedly committing acts which places
 such person in reasonable fear of physical injury; OR
   2.  HE  OR  SHE COMMITS THE OFFENSE OF HARASSMENT IN THE SECOND DEGREE
 AND HAS PREVIOUSLY BEEN CONVICTED OF THE  CRIME  OF  HARASSMENT  IN  THE
 SECOND  DEGREE  AS  DEFINED BY SECTION 240.26 OF THIS ARTICLE WITHIN THE
 PRECEDING FIVE YEARS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT THE ALLEGED VICTIM OF
 SUCH HARASSMENT IS THE SAME VICTIM FROM SUCH PRIOR OFFENSE; OR
   3. HE OR SHE ENGAGES IN A PATTERN OF HARASSMENT OF  MULTIPLE  INDIVID-
 UALS  AS  THE  TERM  HARASSMENT  IS  DEFINED  BY  SECTION 240.26 OF THIS
 ARTICLE.
   This section shall not apply to activities regulated by  the  national
 labor  relations  act, as amended, the railway labor act, as amended, or
 the federal employment labor management act, as amended.
   Harassment in the first degree is a class B misdemeanor.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.

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