Bill Text: NY A10827 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Prevents evictions during the COVID-19 covered period.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 39-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-16 - referred to housing [A10827 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A10827-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          10827

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      July 16, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  COMMITTEE  ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Reyes) --
          read once and referred to the Committee on Housing

        AN ACT preventing evictions during the COVID-19 covered period

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Emergency
     2  Housing Stability and Displacement Prevention Act".
     3    § 2. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds  and  declares
     4  that  the COVID-19 pandemic has been a public health and economic crisis
     5  unparalleled by any in modern history. The State has lost over 30,000 of
     6  its citizens and more than  380,000  have  been  confirmed  infected,  a
     7  number  which continues to escalate.  A clear consensus of public health
     8  experts predicts subsequent waves of increasing infections, which  could
     9  lead  to graver consequences to public health and the economy than those
    10  that have occurred thus far. The lack of a  cure  or  effective  vaccine
    11  means  there  is no definitive endpoint to the harm from COVID-19 on the
    12  State. The legislature further finds and declares that housing instabil-
    13  ity and homelessness lead to worse health outcomes for  individuals  and
    14  in  doing  so  worsen  public  health. The legislature further finds and
    15  declares that the COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant economic instabil-
    16  ity and job losses has worsened an existing  housing  crisis  state-wide
    17  where  millions  of  tenants were already rent-burdened, and millions of
    18  homeowners were already struggling to remain current on their mortgages.
    19  The existing housing crisis disproportionately impacts Black and  Latinx
    20  individuals  and communities. The legislature further finds and declares
    21  that the well-documented disproportionate impacts of both  the  COVID-19
    22  pandemic  and  the  housing  crisis  on  communities of color are deeply
    23  connected to and rooted in  systemic  racism.  The  legislature  further
    24  finds  and  declares that the State is presently in a state of emergency
    25  and extra ordinary measures have been  implemented  in  all  aspects  of
    26  society  to  protect  public health and welfare. The legislature further
    27  finds and declares that it is counterproductive  to  public  health  and
    28  welfare  to allow evictions and foreclosures until the COVID-19 pandemic
    29  has passed and sufficient time has  been  provided  for  communities  to

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD16728-03-0
        A. 10827                            2

     1  recover.  Accordingly,  the  legislature  must protect public health and
     2  welfare and extend a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures until  one
     3  year after this crisis has concluded.
     4    § 3. For the purposes of this act, the "COVID-19 covered period" shall
     5  include  March  7, 2020 through the end of the state of emergency in the
     6  state of New York plus one full year.  For the purposes of this act, the
     7  "state of emergency" period includes, but is not limited to, any  period
     8  referenced  in  Executive Orders 202, 202.8, 202.28 and any other execu-
     9  tive order that closed or otherwise restricted public or  private  busi-
    10  nesses  or  places  of public accommodation, or required postponement or
    11  cancellation of all non-essential gatherings of individuals of any  size
    12  for any reason in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, within the state of
    13  New York.  For the purposes of this act, "lawful occupant" of a residen-
    14  tial  or  commercial property shall mean any person or business for whom
    15  eviction proceedings in a court of law  would  be  legally  required  to
    16  remove  said  occupant  from  the  residential  or  commercial property,
    17  including but not limited to, any person who  occupied  the  residential
    18  property for thirty consecutive days or longer.
    19    § 4. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary:
    20    1.  No court shall authorize the execution or enforcement of a warrant
    21  of eviction or order a monetary judgment  for  rent  arrears  against  a
    22  tenant or lawful occupant of a residential or commercial property during
    23  the COVID-19 covered period.
    24    2.  No  court shall accept for filing any papers commencing any action
    25  or proceeding seeking a judgment of possession or  a  monetary  judgment
    26  against  a  tenant or lawful occupant of a residential property for rent
    27  or use and occupancy during the COVID-19 covered period.
    28    3. No  court  shall  issue  a  warrant  of  eviction  or  judgment  of
    29  possession  against  a  residential or commercial tenant or other lawful
    30  occupant, or execute a judgment of foreclosure and sale of any owner-oc-
    31  cupied or rented residential or commercial property, during the COVID-19
    32  covered period.
    33    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.