S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
11382
I N A S S E M B L Y
May 15, 2026
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Burroughs)
-- (at request of the Unified Court System) -- read once and referred
to the Committee on Correction
AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to increasing access to
certificates of relief from disabilities and to emphasize that certif-
icates of relief may be issued at the time of sentencing
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 702 of the correction law, as
amended by chapter 488 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as
follows:
1. Any court of this state [may, in its discretion,] SHALL issue a
certificate of relief from disabilities to an eligible offender for a
conviction that occurred in such court, if the court either (a) imposed
a revocable sentence or (b) imposed a sentence other than one executed
by commitment to an institution under the jurisdiction of the state
department of corrections and community supervision, AND DETERMINES THAT
THE REQUIREMENTS OF SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS SECTION HAVE BEEN SATISFIED.
Such certificate [may] SHALL be issued [(i)] at the time sentence is
pronounced, in which case it may grant relief from forfeitures, as well
as from disabilities, [or (ii)] PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THAT IF THE COURT HAS
NOT DETERMINED A CERTIFICATE OF RELIEF FROM ALL DISABILITIES IS
WARRANTED AT THE TIME SENTENCE IS PRONOUNCED, A CERTIFICATE OF RELIEF
FROM DISABILITIES SHALL BE ISSUED at any time thereafter THE COURT
DETERMINES THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS SECTION HAVE BEEN SATISFIED, in
which case it shall apply only to disabilities. Where such court either
imposes a revocable sentence or imposes a sentence other than one
executed by commitment to an institution under the jurisdiction of the
state department of corrections and community supervision, the court,
upon application and in accordance with subdivision two of this section,
shall initially determine the fitness of an eligible offender for such
certificate prior to or at the time sentence is pronounced.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
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