Bill Text: NY A01378 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to presumptive evidence that a person committed a hate crime by evaluating a certain set of facts and circumstances.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-09 - referred to codes [A01378 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-A01378-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1378

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     January 9, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M. of A. SIMON, JACKSON -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Codes

        AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to presumptive evidence  that
          a person committed a hate crime

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

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 2 of  section  485.05  of  the  penal  law,  as
     2  amended by chapter 8 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
     3    2. (a) Proof of race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender
     4  identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability or
     5  sexual orientation of the defendant, the victim or of both the defendant
     6  and  the  victim  does  not,  by  itself,  constitute legally sufficient
     7  evidence satisfying the people's burden under paragraph (a)  or  (b)  of
     8  subdivision one of this section.
     9    (b)  If  it is established that a person committed a specified offense
    10  as defined in subdivision three of this section, the following facts and
    11  circumstances, either individually or in combination with each other, is
    12  presumptive evidence that such person committed a hate crime pursuant to
    13  subdivision one of this section:
    14    (i) the defendant made declarations  or  statements  contemporaneously
    15  with  committing  the  specified  offense  regarding  the  race,  color,
    16  national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression,  reli-
    17  gion,  religious  practice,  age,  disability or sexual orientation of a
    18  person, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct;
    19    (ii) the people have established  the  defendant's  pattern  of  prior
    20  prejudice  regarding  race,  color,  national  origin, ancestry, gender,
    21  gender identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age,  disa-
    22  bility  or sexual orientation, and the offense committed by such defend-
    23  ant was against the same protected class as the defendant's  established
    24  prior prejudice;

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02868-01-5
        A. 1378                             2

     1    (iii) the person against whom the offense was committed is a member of
     2  a  perceived  group  that was outnumbered by members of another group in
     3  the area where the offense was committed; or
     4    (iv)  the people have established that the defendant made bias-related
     5  drawings, markings, symbols or graffiti at or near where the offense was
     6  committed.
     7    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.