NY State Senate Bill 2025-S5831

Senate Bill S5831

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Prohibits the governor from granting themselves or any person involved with furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a reprieve, commutation or pardon

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Judiciary Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 24, 2025	opinion referred to judiciary
Mar 04, 2025	to attorney-general for opinion
Mar 03, 2025	referred to judiciary

2025-S5831 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A1844
Current Committee:: Senate Judiciary
Law Section:: Constitution, Concurrent Resolutions to Amend
Laws Affected:: Amd Art 4 §4, Constn
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2021-2022: S7329, A8234
2023-2024: S5946, A4315

2025-S5831 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Prohibits the governor from granting themselves or any person involved with furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a reprieve, commutation or pardon.

2025-S5831 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5831

SPONSOR: SKOUFIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY proposing an amendment
to section 4 of article 4 of the constitution, in relation to prohibit-
ing the governor from granting themselves or any person involved with
furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a reprieve, commutation
or pardon

 
PURPOSE:

To prohibit the governor from granting himself or herself or any person
involved with furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a reprieve,
commutation or pardon.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Resolved (if the Assembly concur), that article 4 of the
state constitution to prohibit a sitting governor from granting them-
selves or any person who was involved in furthering the illegal conduct

of the governor a reprieve, commutation, or pardon.

Section 2: Refers to the resolution to the next legislative session in
conformity with the requirements of the constitution.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Pursuant to the state constitution, the Governor has the power to grant
reprieves, commutations, and pardons after conviction for all offenses
except treason and cases of impeachment. The courts of NYS have held the
Governor's power to grant pardons, reprieves, and commutations is unlim-
ited and cannot be limited by statute or court decisions. Thus, a
sitting Governor can pardon people who may have furthered the Governor's
unlawful activity. Additionally, while the public officer's law provides
that any office holder convicted of a felony automatically vacates their
office, a Governor can be convicted of various misdemeanors and remain
in office.

Thus, a sitting Governor convicted of misdemeanor offenses such as sexu-
al misconduct, forcible touching, or certain types of sexual abuse will
remain in office and could even pardon themselves.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

Senate

2021: S7329, Opinion Referred to Judiciary

2022: S7329, Opinion Referred to Judiciary

2023: S5946, Opinion Referred to Judiciary

2024: S5946, Opinion Referred to Judiciary

Assembly

2021: A8234, Opinion Referred to Judiciary
2022: A8234, Opinion Referred to Judiciary

2023: A4315, Opinion Referred to Judiciary

2024: A4315, Opinion Referred to Judiciary

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Resolved (If the Assembly concur), That the foregoing amendment be
referred to the first regular legislative session convening after the
next succeeding general election of members of the assembly, and, in
conformity with section 1 of Article 19 of the constitution, be
published for 3 months previous to the time of such election.

2025-S5831 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5831
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 3, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
 
             CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY
 
 proposing an amendment to section 4 of article 4 of the constitution, in
   relation to prohibiting the governor from granting themselves  or  any
   person  involved with furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a
   reprieve, commutation or pardon
 
   Section 1. Resolved (if the Assembly concur), That section 4 of  arti-
 cle 4 of the constitution be amended to read as follows:
   §  4.  The  governor  shall  have the power to grant reprieves, commu-
 tations and pardons after conviction, for all  offenses  except  treason
 and   cases   of   impeachment,  upon  such  conditions  and  with  such
 restrictions and limitations, as [he or  she]  THE  GOVERNOR  may  think
 proper,  subject  to such regulations as may be provided by law relative
 to the manner of applying for pardons. THE GOVERNOR SHALL NOT  HAVE  THE
 POWER  TO  GRANT  A REPRIEVE, COMMUTATION OR PARDON TO THEMSELVES, OR TO
 ANY PERSONS INVOLVED WITH FURTHERING ANY ILLEGAL OR UNLAWFUL CONDUCT  OF
 SUCH  GOVERNOR.  Upon  conviction  for  treason, the governor shall have
 power to suspend the execution of the sentence, until the case shall  be
 reported  to  the  legislature at its next meeting, when the legislature
 shall either pardon, or commute the sentence, direct  the  execution  of
 the  sentence,  or grant a further reprieve. The governor shall annually
 communicate to the legislature each case  of  reprieve,  commutation  or
 pardon  granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which the
 convict was convicted, the sentence and its date, and the  date  of  the
 commutation, pardon or reprieve.
   §  2.  Resolved (if the Assembly concur), That the foregoing amendment
 be referred  to  the  first regular legislative session convening  after
 the  next succeeding general election of members of  the  assembly, and,
 in conformity  with  section 1 of  article 19 of   the constitution,  be
 published for 3 months previous to the time of such election.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD89053-01-5

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