Enacts the "securing customer assets against malfeasance" or "S.C.A.M." act; increases penalties for a scheme to defraud; broadens the definitions of commercial bribery and bribing a public servant; creates the crime of structuring; expands jurisdiction for tax revenue deprivation; increases penalties for defrauding the government and certain persons over the age of sixty-five.
Requires the secretary of state to develop and mandate training of police department personnel and state police officers on the protocols of the address confidentiality program.
This bill allows courts to award punitive damages against the estate of a deceased person accused of sexual abuse, assault, misconduct, or sex trafficking of minors or adults. It removes the barrier of the defendant's death, enabling victims to pursue punitive damages against the personal representative of the estate in civil lawsuits. The standard for proving punitive damages under this law is a "preponderance of the evidence," and the bill explicitly states that such claims cannot be limited or ended by the defendant's death. It applies to all pending and future cases filed on or after the effective date.
This bill raises penalties for assaulting certain public safety personnel in New York. It specifically increases second-degree assault on police officers, peace officers, firefighters, EMTs, sanitation workers, and other essential service workers from a class D felony to a class C felony (up to 15 years in prison). The law expands protections to include these workers when they're performing official duties, such as a sanitation worker enforcing regulations or a firefighter providing medical aid. It also upgrades aggravated assault on officers to a class A felony (up to 25 years). The bill applies directly to individuals who cause physical injury to these protected personnel while they're carrying out their jobs.
Creates 10 interagency placement committees throughout the state to recommend treatment and rehabilitation programs or strategies for youths with co-existing mental disabilities; directs such committees to establish a process by which youths can be referred to such committees; directs such committees to submit a report annually to the governor and legislature identifying gaps in treatment and rehabilitation options, and any plans or recommendations to increase such options.
This bill requires incarcerated individuals released early by the governor due to prison staffing shortages to complete community service, such as litter removal, as a condition of release. It applies only to those released through executive clemency for staffing reasons, excluding individuals with pardons, on parole, or who have served full sentences. Courts may waive the requirement for disabilities, substance abuse treatment, or other valid reasons, and community service must not displace paid workers or disrupt existing service contracts. The law takes effect immediately upon enactment.
Limits the circumstances under which the case of an adolescent offender may be removed to family court; limits the jurisdiction of family court with respect to certain repeat adolescent offenders.
S 8596 prohibits civil arrests (such as for debt collection) of voters while they are traveling to, at, or returning from polling places in New York, directly affecting voters during election activities. The bill requires law enforcement to obtain a judicial warrant for any arrest in these situations and mandates that officers identify themselves and provide warrants to polling staff if entering a polling place. It also creates reporting requirements for law enforcement actions near polls and allows voters to sue for violations, with courts empowered to issue protective orders.
This bill requires prosecutors to inform crime victims - including those who experienced sexual offenses - about New York's address confidentiality program. The program helps protect victims' home addresses from public disclosure by providing alternative mailing addresses. Prosecutors must now specifically notify victims about this program during case proceedings, as mandated by the new requirements added to state law. This change directly affects victims navigating the justice system by ensuring they learn about available privacy protections. The bill amends existing laws to make this notification a standard step in victim communication.
Prohibits persons convicted of murder or sentenced to life without parole or where the defendant acting either alone or with one or more other persons, commits or attempts to commit robbery, burglary, kidnapping, arson, rape in the first degree, criminal sexual act in the first degree, sexual abuse in the first degree, aggravated sexual abuse, escape in the first degree, or escape in the second degree, and, in the course of and in furtherance of such crime or of immediate flight therefrom, such defendant, or another participant, if there be any, intentionally causes the death of: a police officer; a peace officer; a firefighter; emergency medical technician, ambulance driver, paramedic, physician or registered nurse involved in a first response team, or any other individual who, in the course of official duties, performs emergency response; or an employee of a state correctional institution or was an employee of a local correctional facility, when such person was engaged in the course of performing their official duties, from being eligible for commutation of sentence.
