STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         4932--A
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                     March 29, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  GRIFFO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern-
          ment  Operations  --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,   ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  executive law and the penal law, in relation to
          protections against anti-Semitism in the human rights law
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Legislative  findings and determinations. The legislature
     2  finds and determines that discrimination and attacks have been  unfairly
     3  and  wrongfully  levied and directed against the Jewish people and their
     4  faith for generations, from ancient times to the present. Such discrimi-
     5  nation and attacks, manifesting themselves through  acts  of  anti-Semi-
     6  tism, have proven to be among the most despicable acts of mankind, call-
     7  ing  witness  to  countless  acts  of  death, deprivation, injustice and
     8  holocaust.
     9    The legislature further finds and determines that anti-Semitism  sadly
    10  remains  today,  still  a  persistent,  disturbing  problem  in  certain
    11  segments of society, political movements, on college  campuses,  and  by
    12  select disturbed and/or seriously misguided or hateful individuals.
    13    The  legislature  also finds and determines that acts of anti-Semitism
    14  have even very recently resulted in  homicidal  attacks  against  Jewish
    15  places  of worship in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and in the defacement and
    16  mutilation of publicly displayed photographs in New York City of a prom-
    17  inent and respected Jewish member of the United States Supreme Court.
    18    The legislature additionally finds and determines that both the feder-
    19  al Department of Justice, and the federal Department of Education,  have
    20  properly  concluded  that both state and federal law prohibits discrimi-
    21  nation against persons of the Jewish faith, as well as members of  other
    22  religious  groups,  when  such  discrimination is based on the actual or
    23  perceived religious faith, shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, or
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10873-02-9

        S. 4932--A                          2
     1  when the discrimination is based on actual or perceived  citizenship  or
     2  residence  in  a  country whose residents share a dominant religion or a
     3  distinct religious identity.
     4    The  legislature  further  finds  and  determines  that persons of the
     5  Jewish faith, and/or of Jewish heritage, are continuing  to  be  threat-
     6  ened,  harassed  or intimidated in their daily lives, work and education
     7  (including on their college campuses) and in the practice of their reli-
     8  gion, by acts of anti-Semitism, due to  the  basis  of  their  religious
     9  belief,  shared  ancestry  or  ethnic characteristics, including but not
    10  limited to harassing conduct  that  creates  a  hostile  environment  so
    11  severe,  pervasive,  or  persistent  as to interfere with or limit their
    12  ability to participate in or benefit from the services,  activities,  or
    13  opportunities  offered by their daily life, work, schools or practice of
    14  their faith and/or religious principles.
    15    The legislature finally  finds  and  determines  that  legislation  is
    16  therefore  necessary  to  place a definition of anti-Semitism within the
    17  state human rights law, to specifically provide that acts of  anti-Semi-
    18  tism  shall constitute a violation of the state human rights law, and to
    19  further provide that anti-Semitism that incites, causes  or  results  in
    20  any  act  of  violence,  or  injury  to  a  person,  or the damage to or
    21  destruction of real or personal property, shall be deemed to  constitute
    22  a hate crime.
    23    §  2.  Section  292  of the executive law is amended by adding two new
    24  subdivisions 37 and 38 to read as follows:
    25    37. The term "creed" means  a  set  of  moral,  religious  or  ethical
    26  beliefs, and the practices and observances associated with such beliefs,
    27  and  shall  include  both  traditional religious beliefs associated with
    28  recognized, organized religions, as well as belief systems that may  not
    29  be  expressed  by  such  organized  religious  groups.   The protections
    30  provided by this article shall  not  only  include  protections  against
    31  discrimination  based  on  creed, including but not limited to discrimi-
    32  nation against anyone practicing a belief in any form  of  Christianity,
    33  Judaism,  Islam,  Hinduism,  Buddhism or any other type of religion, but
    34  shall also specifically provide for protections against anti-Semitism.
    35    38. The term "anti-Semitism" means the public demonstration  of  nega-
    36  tive  actions, behaviors or perceptions regarding those persons practic-
    37  ing the Jewish religion or exhibiting a Jewish heritage, including:
    38    a. hatred or severe disparagement toward the Jewish  people  or  their
    39  culture;
    40    b. rhetorical, violent and/or physical manifestations directed against
    41  Jewish  or  non-Jewish  individuals or property, Jewish community insti-
    42  tutions, and/or Jewish religious facilities;
    43    c. the calling for, aiding, encouraging, supporting or justifying  the
    44  killing, harming or defaming of anyone, simply for practicing the Jewish
    45  religion or exhibiting a Jewish heritage;
    46    d. making false and mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, demeaning or
    47  stereotypical allegations, about persons practicing the Jewish religion,
    48  or  about those who exhibit a Jewish heritage, or about the myth about a
    49  world Jewish conspiracy, or about Jewish persons  allegedly  controlling
    50  the media, economy, government or other societal institutions;
    51    e.  accusing  those  practicing  the  Jewish religion, or exhibiting a
    52  Jewish heritage, whether singularly or  collectively,  as  being  wholly
    53  responsible  for  any  real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single
    54  Jewish person or group;
    55    f. accusing those practicing the  Jewish  religion,  or  exhibiting  a
    56  Jewish  heritage,  whether  singularly  or collectively, as being wholly

        S. 4932--A                          3
     1  responsible for any real or imagined wrongdoing committed by  the  state
     2  of Israel; and
     3    g.  accusing  those  practicing  the  Jewish religion, or exhibiting a
     4  Jewish heritage, whether singularly or collectively, of being more loyal
     5  to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jewish people worldwide, than
     6  to the interests of the people of the state  of  New  York,  or  to  the
     7  interests of the people of the United States of America.
     8    §  3.  Section  297  of  the  executive law is amended by adding a new
     9  subdivision 11 to read as follows:
    10    11. In reviewing, investigating, adjudicating or  determining  whether
    11  there has been a violation of this article on the basis of creed, and/or
    12  to  afford  protections against anti-Semitism, as defined by subdivision
    13  thirty-eight of section two hundred ninety-two of  this  article,  as  a
    14  result  of  actions  taken  against  a person because of an individual's
    15  actual or perceived Jewish religious practices, or Jewish  ancestry,  or
    16  Jewish  ethnic  characteristics,  the division or the court upon review,
    17  shall take into consideration the definition of anti-Semitism  contained
    18  in  subdivision  thirty-eight  of section two hundred ninety-two of this
    19  article, as part of its  assessment,  in  any  decision,  determination,
    20  adjudication  or  judgment  as to whether the alleged practice was moti-
    21  vated by anti-Semitic intent.
    22    § 4. Section 485.05 of the penal law is amended by adding a new subdi-
    23  vision 5 to read as follows:
    24    5. In addition to any other hate crime provided for in  this  section,
    25  any  person  who commits an act of anti-Semitism, as defined in subdivi-
    26  sion thirty-eight of section two hundred  ninety-two  of  the  executive
    27  law,  that  incites, causes or results in any act of violence, or injury
    28  to a person, or the damage to or destruction of real or personal proper-
    29  ty, shall be deemed to constitute a hate crime under this section.
    30    § 5. Nothing in the act shall be deemed to diminish or  infringe  upon
    31  any  right  protected under section 3 or 8 of Article I of the Constitu-
    32  tion of the State of New York, or by the first amendment to  the  United
    33  States Constitution.
    34    § 6. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
    35  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.