Senate Bill S394

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    394
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. MYRIE, BAILEY, BRISPORT, BROUK, CLEARE, FERNANDEZ,
   GONZALEZ, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACKSON, KAVANAGH, MAY, RAMOS, RIVERA,  SALA-
   ZAR,  SEPULVEDA,  SERRANO, WEBB -- read twice and ordered printed, and
   when printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims,  Crime
   and Correction
 
 AN  ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to establishing applica-
   tion processing and review requirements  for  reprieves,  commutations
   and pardons
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
 the "Clemency Justice Act".
   §  2.  Legislative  findings  and intent. The legislature hereby finds
 that families and communities are  frequently  torn  apart  due  to  the
 United States' overzealous legal system and immigration system, and that
 one of the predominant tools to mitigate this issue, executive clemency,
 is  grossly underused. Between 2017-2020, the governor's office received
 6,405 clemency applications while only granting 81 pardons and 14 commu-
 tations. The legislature further finds  that  the  clemency  process  is
 convoluted,  unequal,  and  difficult to navigate with no way for appli-
 cants to check the status of their application or expedite it in case of
 an emergency. Meanwhile, an estimated 9,000 people, of which  the  over-
 whelming  majority are people of color, are serving life sentences while
 an unprecedented pandemic  ravages  prisons  and  detention  centers.  A
 simpler,  more  holistic  approach  to  granting clemency would begin to
 address the systemic injustices of the immigration  and  criminal  legal
 systems.
   § 3. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 15-a to read
 as follows:
   §  15-A.  PROCESS  AND  REQUIREMENTS  FOR CONSIDERING APPLICATIONS AND
 REQUESTS FOR REPRIEVES, COMMUTATIONS AND PARDONS. 1. UPON RECEIPT OF  AN
 APPLICATION  FOR  A  REPRIEVE, COMMUTATION OR PARDON, THE GOVERNOR SHALL
 PROVIDE TO THE APPLICANT:
              

 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01661-01-5
 S. 394                              2
 
   A. A WRITTEN NOTIFICATION THAT THE APPLICATION HAS BEEN RECEIVED;
   B.  A  RECEIPT  NUMBER THAT THE APPLICANT CAN THEN USE TO CHECK ON THE
 APPLICANT'S APPLICATION STATUS;
   C. GUIDELINES FOR SUPPLEMENTING THE  APPLICATION  WITH  ADDITIONAL  OR
 UPDATED INFORMATION; AND
   D.  AN  ELECTRONIC  OR WRITTEN NOTIFICATION WHEN A DECISION IS MADE ON
 THE APPLICATION.
   2. A.  THE APPLICATION FOR A REPRIEVE,  COMMUTATION  OR  PARDON  SHALL
 INCLUDE A SECTION ALLOWING APPLICANTS TO DESCRIBE AN URGENT NEED FOR THE
 REPRIEVE,  COMMUTATION  OR  PARDON. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, AN
 "URGENT NEED" SHALL INCLUDE, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, A  PENDING  DEPORTA-
 TION  PROCEEDING  OR  FINAL  DEPORTATION  ORDER,  HUMANITARIAN CONCERNS,
 HEALTH ISSUES AND THE AGING STATUS OF THE APPLICANT.
   B. APPLICANTS ARE PERMITTED  TO  UPDATE  AN  APPLICATION  TO  INDICATE
 URGENT   NEED   DUE  TO  CHANGED  CIRCUMSTANCES  FOLLOWING  THE  INITIAL
 SUBMISSION OF THE APPLICATION.
   3. THE GOVERNOR SHALL ISSUE  A  DECISION  ON  APPLICATIONS  INDICATING
 URGENT  NEED  WITHIN  NINETY  DAYS  FROM  THE  DATE  THE  APPLICATION IS
 RECEIVED.  ALL OTHER APPLICATIONS SHALL BE GRANTED OR DENIED, OR CONTIN-
 UED WITHIN ONE YEAR FROM THE DATE THAT THE APPLICATION IS RECEIVED.  ALL
 APPLICANTS SHALL RECEIVE WRITTEN NOTIFICATION OF ANY SUCH  ACTION  TAKEN
 ON  THE  APPLICATION. CONTINUED APPLICATIONS SHALL BE LEFT OPEN TO ALLOW
 APPLICANTS TO SUBMIT FURTHER SUPPORTING MATERIALS  ACCORDING  TO  GUIDE-
 LINES PROVIDED TO THE APPLICANT BY THE GOVERNOR.
   §  4.  Section 17 of the executive law, as added by chapter 545 of the
 laws of 1971, is amended to read as follows:
   § 17. Governor to [communicate  annually  to  legislature,  reprieves,
 commutations  and  pardons. He must annually communicate to the legisla-
 ture, each case of reprieve, commutation or pardon; stating the name  of
 the  convict,  the crime of which he was convicted, the sentence and its
 date, and the date  of  the  commutation,  pardon  or  reprieve]  SUBMIT
 REPORTS  TO  THE  LEGISLATURE  ON A QUARTERLY BASIS REGARDING REPRIEVES,
 COMMUTATIONS AND PARDONS. 1. THE GOVERNOR SHALL SUBMIT A REPORT  TO  THE
 LEGISLATURE  ON  A QUARTERLY BASIS REGARDING REPRIEVES, COMMUTATIONS AND
 PARDONS.
   2. SUCH REPORT SHALL INCLUDE:
   A. THE NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS FOR REPRIEVES, COMMUTATIONS AND  PARDONS
 SUBMITTED PURSUANT TO SECTION FIFTEEN-A OF THIS ARTICLE; AND
   B.  IF  A REPRIEVE, COMMUTATION OR PARDON WAS GRANTED: (I) THE DATE OF
 THE COMMUTATION, PARDON OR REPRIEVE; AND (II) THE AGE, GENDER, RACE  AND
 ETHNICITY OF THE APPROVED APPLICANT; OR
   C.  IF  A REPRIEVE, COMMUTATION OR PARDON WAS DENIED, THE AGE, GENDER,
 RACE AND ETHNICITY OF THE DENIED APPLICANT.
   3. SUCH REPORTS SHALL NOT INCLUDE ANY PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMA-
 TION ABOUT APPLICANTS.
   4. THE REPORTS REQUIRED BY  THIS  SECTION  SHALL  BE  PUBLISHED  ON  A
 PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE WEBSITE.
   §  5.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
 have become a law and shall apply to applications for reprieves,  commu-
 tations  and  pardons received before, on or after the effective date of
 this act.  Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or  repeal
 of  any  rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act
 on its effective date are authorized to be made on or before such date.