Bill Text: NY S06081 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Establishes the homeless protection act which designates certain offenses against homeless persons as hate crimes; includes the definition of homelessness.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO CODES [S06081 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S06081-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         6081--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     March 28, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed  to  be  committed  to  the  Committee  on  Codes -- committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the penal  law,  in  relation  to  designating  offenses
          against homeless persons as hate crimes

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

     1    Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
     2  the "homeless protection act".
     3    §  2.  Subdivisions  1, 2 and 4 of section 485.05 of the penal law, as
     4  amended by chapter 8 of the  laws  of  2019,  are  amended  to  read  as
     5  follows:
     6    1.  A  person  commits a hate crime when he or she commits a specified
     7  offense and either:
     8    (a) intentionally selects the  person  against  whom  the  offense  is
     9  committed  or  intended  to be committed in whole or in substantial part
    10  because of a belief or perception regarding the  race,  color,  national
    11  origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, reli-
    12  gious  practice, age, disability, homelessness, or sexual orientation of
    13  a person, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct, or
    14    (b) intentionally commits the act or acts constituting the offense  in
    15  whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding
    16  the  race,  color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or
    17  expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability, homelessness,
    18  or sexual orientation of a person, regardless of whether the  belief  or
    19  perception is correct.
    20    2.  Proof  of  race,  color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender
    21  identity or expression, religion, religious practice,  age,  disability,
    22  homelessness,  or  sexual orientation of the defendant, the victim or of
    23  both the defendant and the victim does not, by itself, constitute legal-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06488-02-3
        S. 6081--A                          2

     1  ly sufficient evidence satisfying the people's  burden  under  paragraph
     2  (a) or (b) of subdivision one of this section.
     3    4. For purposes of this section:
     4    (a) the term "age" means sixty years old or more;
     5    (b)  the  term "disability" means a physical or mental impairment that
     6  substantially limits a major life activity;
     7    (c) the term "gender identity or expression" means a  person's  actual
     8  or  perceived gender-related identity, appearance, behavior, expression,
     9  or other gender-related characteristic regardless of the sex assigned to
    10  that person at birth, including, but not limited to, the status of being
    11  transgender[.]; and
    12    (d) the term "homelessness" means the set of circumstances in which an
    13  individual or family lacks a fixed regular nighttime residence,  resides
    14  in  a  place  not  designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping
    15  accommodation for human beings,  such  as  a  car,  public  sidewalk  or
    16  street,  hallway,  bus or train station, lobby or similar place, resides
    17  in a residential program for victims of domestic violence, or resides in
    18  a supervised  publicly  or  privately  operated  shelter  designated  to
    19  provide  temporary living arrangements, including hotels and motels paid
    20  for by federal, state, or local government programs for low-income indi-
    21  viduals or by charitable organizations,  congregate  shelters,  homeless
    22  shelters, or transitional housing.
    23    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.