Do you support this bill?

Assembly Bill A8254

Signed By Governor

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to training police officers on how to respond to situations involving individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status Via S4767 - Signed by Governor

Please enter your contact information

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

Votes

co-Sponsors

2025-A8254 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Senate Version of this Bill:
S4767
Law Section:
Executive Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §840, Exec L; amd §13.43, Ment Hyg L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:
2021-2022: S6859
2023-2024: S2366

2025-A8254 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to training police officers on how to respond to situations involving individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities.

2025-A8254 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8254
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                                May 5, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. JACKSON -- read once and referred to the Commit-
   tee on Codes
 
 AN ACT to amend the  executive  law  and  the  mental  hygiene  law,  in
   relation  to  training police officers on how to respond to situations
   involving individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other develop-
   mental disabilities

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section 840 of the execu-
 tive  law, as added by section 4 of part JJ of chapter 57 of the laws of
 2018, is amended to read as follows:
   (a) Develop,  maintain  and  disseminate,  in  consultation  with  the
 commissioner  of  the office for people with developmental disabilities,
 written policies and procedures consistent with  section  13.43  of  the
 mental  hygiene  law,  regarding  the  handling  of emergency situations
 involving individuals with autism spectrum disorder and  other  develop-
 mental  disabilities. Such policies and procedures shall make provisions
 for the education and training of new and veteran police officers on the
 handling of emergency situations involving individuals with autism spec-
 trum disorder and other developmental disabilities,  INCLUDING  BUT  NOT
 LIMITED TO TRAINING ON THE APPROPRIATE USE OF FORCE ON SUCH INDIVIDUALS,
 AS  WELL AS TRAINING ON APPROPRIATE TECHNIQUES FOR DEESCALATING ENCOUNT-
 ERS WITH SUCH INDIVIDUALS THAT  IS  CONSISTENT  WITH  SUCH  INDIVIDUAL'S
 SAFETY; and
   §  2.  Subdivision  (b) of section 13.43 of the mental hygiene law, as
 added by section 1 of part JJ of chapter 57 of  the  laws  of  2018,  is
 amended to read as follows:
   (b)  Such  training  shall address appropriate response techniques for
 dealing with both adults and minors with autism  spectrum  disorder  and
 other  developmental disabilities, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO TRAINING
 ON THE APPROPRIATE USE OF FORCE ON SUCH INDIVIDUALS, AS WELL AS TRAINING
 ON APPROPRIATE TECHNIQUES FOR DEESCALATING ENCOUNTERS WITH SUCH INDIVID-
 UALS THAT IS CONSISTENT WITH SUCH INDIVIDUAL'S SAFETY.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.