Do you support this bill?

Senate Bill S5887

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Establishes the class E felony of dissemination of false missing child information

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Codes Committee

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

2025-S5887 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:
Senate Codes
Law Section:
Penal Law
Laws Affected:
Add §240.49, Pen L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:
2009-2010: S6226
2011-2012: S2937
2013-2014: S4156
2015-2016: S3491
2017-2018: S2630
2019-2020: S400
2021-2022: S5609
2023-2024: S4280

2025-S5887 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Establishes the class E felony of dissemination of false missing child information.

2025-S5887 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S5887 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5887
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 3, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  LANZA  -- 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  dissemination  of  false
   information about a missing child
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 240.49  to
 read as follows:
 § 240.49 DISSEMINATION OF FALSE MISSING CHILD INFORMATION.
   A PERSON IS GUILTY OF DISSEMINATION OF FALSE MISSING CHILD INFORMATION
 WHEN, KNOWING THE INFORMATION SUCH PERSON REPORTED, CONVEYED, CIRCULATED
 OR  DISSEMINATED IS FALSE OR BASELESS, SUCH PERSON STATES OR REPORTS, BY
 ANY MEANS, THAT A CHILD IS A MISSING CHILD AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION ONE
 OF SECTION EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTY-SEVEN-E OF THE EXECUTIVE LAW, AND  AS  A
 RESULT  OF SUCH REPORT, CONVEYANCE, CIRCULATION OR DISSEMINATION, PUBLIC
 FUNDS WERE EXPENDED TO INVESTIGATE AND/OR LOCATE THE  PURPORTED  MISSING
 CHILD.
   DISSEMINATION OF FALSE MISSING CHILD INFORMATION IS A CLASS E FELONY.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
 
 
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10341-01-5

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.