Bill Text: NY A01534 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires a defendant who causes the death of a person with children due to driving while intoxicated or impaired to pay for child support of such children until they reach the age of 18 years old.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-10 - referred to governmental operations [A01534 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-A01534-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1534 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 10, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. K. BROWN -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Governmental Operations AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring a defendant who causes the death of a person with children due to driving while intoxicated or impaired to pay for child support 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 "Tsakos' Law". 2 § 2. Subdivisions 5 and 11 of section 621 of the executive law, 3 subdivision 5 as amended by chapter 189 of the laws of 2018 and subdivi- 4 sion 11 as amended by chapter 178 of the laws of 2019, are amended to 5 read as follows: 6 5. "Victim" shall mean (a) a person who suffers personal physical 7 injury as a direct result of a crime; (b) a person who is the victim of 8 either the crime of (1) unlawful imprisonment in the first degree as 9 defined in section 135.10 of the penal law, (2) kidnapping in the second 10 degree as defined in section 135.20 of the penal law, (3) kidnapping in 11 the first degree as defined in section 135.25 of the penal law, (4) 12 menacing in the first degree as defined in section 120.13 of the penal 13 law, (5) criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation as 14 defined in section 121.11 of the penal law, (6) harassment in the second 15 degree as defined in section 240.26 of the penal law, (7) harassment in 16 the first degree as defined in section 240.25 of the penal law, (8) 17 aggravated harassment in the second degree as defined in subdivision 18 three or five of section 240.30 of the penal law, (9) aggravated harass- 19 ment in the first degree as defined in subdivision two of section 240.31 20 of the penal law, (10) criminal contempt in the first degree as defined 21 in subdivision (b) or subdivision (c) of section 215.51 of the penal 22 law, (11) stalking in the fourth, third, second or first degree as 23 defined in sections 120.45, 120.50, 120.55 and 120.60 of the penal law, 24 (12) labor trafficking as defined in section 135.35 of the penal law, EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03087-01-5A. 1534 2 1 (13) sex trafficking as defined in section 230.34 of the penal law; or 2 (14) sex trafficking of a child as defined in section 230.34-a of the 3 penal law; a vulnerable elderly person or an incompetent or physically 4 disabled person as defined in section 260.31 of the penal law who incurs 5 a loss of savings as defined in subdivision twenty-four of this section; 6 or a person who has had a frivolous lawsuit filed against them; (c) a 7 child victim of a person or persons who died as a direct result of 8 either the crime of (1) vehicular manslaughter in the second degree as 9 defined in section 125.12 of the penal law, (2) vehicular manslaughter 10 in the first degree as defined in section 125.13 of the penal law, or 11 (3) aggravated vehicular homicide as defined in section 125.14 of the 12 penal law. 13 11. For purposes of this article "child victim" shall mean a person 14 less than eighteen years of age who suffers physical, mental or 15 emotional injury, or loss or damage, as a direct result of a crime or 16 any violation listed in subdivision twelve of section six hundred thir- 17 ty-one of this article, or as a result of witnessing a crime or any 18 violation listed in subdivision twelve of section six hundred thirty-one 19 of this article, or a child of a victim of a crime listed in paragraph 20 (c) of subdivision five of this section. 21 § 3. Subdivision 2 of section 631 of the executive law, as amended by 22 chapter 233 of the laws of 2020, is amended and a new subdivision 19 is 23 added to read as follows: 24 2. Any award made pursuant to this article shall be in an amount not 25 exceeding out-of-pocket expenses, including indebtedness reasonably 26 incurred for medical or other services necessary as a result of the 27 injury upon which the claim is based; loss of earnings or support 28 resulting from such injury not to exceed thirty thousand dollars; loss 29 of savings not to exceed thirty thousand dollars; burial expenses not 30 exceeding six thousand dollars of a victim who died on or after November 31 first, nineteen ninety-six as a direct result of a crime; the costs of 32 crime scene cleanup and securing of a crime scene not exceeding twenty- 33 five hundred dollars; reasonable relocation expenses not exceeding twen- 34 ty-five hundred dollars; reasonable employment-related transportation 35 expenses, not exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars [and]; the unreim- 36 bursed cost of repair or replacement of articles of essential personal 37 property lost, damaged or destroyed as a direct result of the crime; and 38 child support for a child victim pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivi- 39 sion five of section six hundred twenty-one of this article until such 40 child reaches the age of eighteen. An award for loss of earnings shall 41 include earnings lost by a parent or guardian as a result of the hospi- 42 talization of a child victim under age eighteen for injuries sustained 43 as a direct result of a crime. In addition to the medical or other 44 services necessary as a result of the injury upon which the claim is 45 based, an award may be made for rehabilitative occupational training for 46 the purpose of job retraining or similar employment-oriented rehabilita- 47 tive services based upon the claimant's medical and employment history. 48 For the purpose of this subdivision, rehabilitative occupational train- 49 ing shall include but not be limited to educational training and 50 expenses. An award for rehabilitative occupational training may be made 51 to a victim, or to a family member of a victim where necessary as a 52 direct result of a crime. An award for employment-related transporta- 53 tion expenses shall be limited to the time period necessary due to the 54 personal physical injuries sustained as a direct result of the crime 55 upon which the claim is based, as determined by the medical information 56 collected during the investigation of the claim.A. 1534 3 1 19. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of this article, where 2 a child victim has lost a parent or parents as a result of a crime list- 3 ed in paragraph (c) of subdivision five of section six hundred twenty- 4 one of this article the claimant shall be eligible of an award of child 5 support which shall be paid monthly to the child victim's other parent 6 or legal guardian until such child victim reaches the age of eighteen. 7 Such award of child support shall be determined by the office after 8 taking into consideration the claimant's financial resources. 9 § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 632 of the executive law, as amended by 10 chapter 287 of the laws of 1972, is amended to read as follows: 11 1. The award shall be paid in a lump sum, except that in the case of 12 death or protracted disability the award shall provide for periodic 13 payments to compensate for loss of earnings or support; or in the case 14 of a child victim pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision five of 15 section six hundred twenty-one of this article the award of child 16 support shall be paid monthly until such child victim reaches the age of 17 eighteen. No award made pursuant to this article shall be subject to 18 execution or attachment other than for expenses resulting from the inju- 19 ry which is the basis for the claim. 20 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
