Criminal Justice

This bill creates a new criminal offense called "vehicular homicide" for drivers who cause another person's death through reckless conduct showing extreme disregard for human life. It directly affects drivers whose actions - like severe speeding or ignoring traffic signals - result in fatalities, even if they didn’t intend to cause death. The law classifies vehicular homicide as a class B felony, the same penalty as second-degree murder in New York, making it a serious criminal charge. This change would replace or add to existing laws for deaths caused by negligent or reckless driving.

This bill increases maximum fines for corporations convicted of crimes under New York's criminal law. It raises the top fine for felony convictions from $10,000 to $80,000 and for certain serious misdemeanors from $5,000 to $40,000. For offenses where fines are based on corporate gain, the maximum now triples that gain amount. Signed into law in October 2025, it directly affects corporations found guilty of criminal offenses in New York.

Bill S 3831 amends the state's penal law regarding the crime of persistent sexual abuse. Currently, a person can be charged with persistent sexual abuse if they commit certain sexual abuse offenses and have two or more prior convictions for similar crimes within a ten-year period, excluding time incarcerated. This bill removes that ten-year time limit for prior convictions. As a result, any qualifying past convictions, regardless of when they occurred, would count towards a charge of persistent sexual abuse, affecting how individuals with multiple past sexual abuse convictions are prosecuted for subsequent offenses.