Senate Bill S6704

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S6704

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to waiving the state's
eleventh amendment sovereign immunity for violations of federal civil
rights law

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. § 298-b. Civil rights remedies restoration. 1. A violation of
section five hundred four of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C.
794),section one thousand five hundred fifty-seven of the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18116), Title II of the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12132 et seq.), the
Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.), Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), Title VI of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), or the provisions of
any other federal statute prohibiting discrimination under a program or
activity receiving federal financial assistance, shall constitute a
violation of this section.

              

2. A person who injures another by a violation of this section shall be
liable for each offense for all remedies available at law, including,
but not limited to, damages for past, current, and future monetary loss-
es, emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of
enjoyment of life, and other non-monetary losses, and any amount that
may be determined by a jury, or a court sitting without a jury, but in
no case less than four thousand dollars, and any attorney's fees, costs,
and expenses, including, but not limited to, expert witness fees, as
determined by the court.

3. In addition to monetary damages pursuant to subdivision two of this
section, the court, as it deems appropriate, may grant as relief any
permanent or preliminary negative or mandatory injunction, temporary
restraining order, order of declaratory judgment, or other relief.

4. Claims for a violation of this section may be filed in any court of
competent jurisdiction. Nothing in this section shall limit any rights
or remedies which are otherwise available under state law. For the sole
purpose of this section, a waiver of the state's eleventh amendment
sovereign immunity from suit pursuant to the eleventh amendment of the
United States Constitution shall upon the effective date of this section
be deemed approved, ratified, validated, and confirmed by the legisla-
ture.

§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

 
PURPOSE AND JUSTIFICATION:

For decades, courts and juries have awarded damages for emotional
distress for violations of federal civil rights statutes passed pursuant
to Congress's authority under the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitu-
tion (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1).

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller,
P.L.L.C., 142 S.Ct. 1562 (2022) prohibits damages for emotional distress
for violations of the Spending Clause statutes at issue there, the Reha-
bilitation Act of 1973, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act, unless they expressly provide for such damages.  The decision will
likely impair the availability of emotional distress damages under other
federal civil rights statutes as well.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Second Circuit in Doherty v. Bice, 101 F.4th 169 (2d Cir. 2024) has
since expanded the Cummings prohibition to claims made under Title II of
the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

As a result of the Cummings decision, an individual whose civil rights
have been violated will be left without the full range of remedies once
available, and perpetrators of discrimination will no longer be required
to make their victims whole.

This legislation restores the damages remedies denied by Cummings and
establishes a statutory minimum of $4,000 for any violation.

 
EXISTING LAW:

None.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New legislation.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to the state

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act will take effect immediately.