NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5476
SPONSOR: Smith TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to the unlawful wearing of a
body vest
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this legislation is to expand the class E felony offense
of the unlawful wearing of a body vest to anyone who is wearing a body
vest during the commission of a misdemeanor or a felony and who is in
possession of a deadly weapon.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of this bill amends subdivision 1 of section 270.20 of the
Penal Law by making the felony offense of the unlawful wearing of a body
vest a gender neutral crime. Furthermore, this bill expands this offense
to anyone who is wearing a body vest during the commission of a misde-
meanor or a felony offense and who is in possession of a deadly weapon
at the time of the commission of the misdemeanor or felony.
Section two of this bill amends sect scan 70.25 of the Penal law by
adding a new subdivision (2-h) which would, upon a person's conviction
of the unlawful wearing of a body vest, require the sentence to be
imposed by the court to run consecutively to any sentence imposed upon
the conviction of a misdemeanor or felony offense arising from the same
criminal transaction.
Section three of this bill contains the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Body vests are a great source of protection and help safeguard law
enforcement personnel who in turn, provides for the public's safety.
While the advantages of body vests are quite recognizable in this
respect, the same advantages provided by body vests can be used by crim-
inals and other individuals with malicious intent. Stronger laws are
needed in order to deter and prevent criminals from utilizing these
vests, a necessity that this bill aims to accomplish.
Under current law, the unlawful wearing of a body vest is only applica-
ble when the perpetrator has committed a violent felony offense and was
an possession of a firearm, rifle, or shotgun at the time. This is
rational and common sense legislation that will make this offense appli-
cable to anyone who is committing a misdemeanor or felony and is in
possession of a deadly weapon. This bill will aid law enforcement in
carrying out their duties and quelling dangerous situations and persons
as it will result in fewer criminals utilizing body vests in the commis-
sions of their crimes. Making it punishable to wear a body vest to
assist in any crime, not just a violent felony, irrespective of the
exact type of deadly weapon being used will force criminals to think
twice about deciding to use these vests and allow our law enforcement to
do their job efficiently.
the offense of the unlawful wearing of a body vest currently results in
a sentence imposed by the court that runs concurrently with the sentence
imposed for the conviction of.the overall criminal transaction. By all
the punishment for wearing a body vest to run concurrently these perpe-
trators are not getting a true sense of banishment for committing the
crime of unlawfully wearing a body vest. This bill would remedy that
problem as criminals choosing to wear a body vest would have to serve
two distinct sentenbes, one for the felony or misdemeanor and one for
the wearing of a body vest thus, resulting in a greater time spent
incarcerated and restitution in a much creamer deterrent effect. This
bill would also serve as deterrence as it would result in a greater
overall punishment.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2019 referred to codes
2020 referred to codes
20201-2022: A4739 - Held for consideration in Codes
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5476
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 10, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SMITH -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to the unlawful wearing of a
body vest
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 270.20 of the penal law, as
2 amended by chapter 371 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 § 270.20 Unlawful wearing of body armor.
5 1. A person is guilty of the unlawful wearing of body armor when
6 acting either alone or with one or more other persons he or she commits
7 any [violent felony offense defined in section 70.02] misdemeanor or
8 felony defined in this chapter while possessing a [firearm, rifle or
9 shotgun] deadly weapon defined in section 10.00 of this chapter and in
10 the course of and in furtherance of such crime he or she wears body
11 armor.
12 2. For the purposes of this section "body armor" means any product
13 that is a personal protective body covering intended to protect against
14 gunfire, regardless of whether such product is to be worn alone or is
15 sold as a complement to another product or garment.
16 The unlawful wearing of body armor is a class E felony.
17 § 2. Section 70.25 of the penal law is amended by adding a new subdi-
18 vision 2-h to read as follows:
19 2-h. Whenever a person is convicted of unlawful wearing of a body vest
20 as defined in section 270.20 of this chapter, the sentence imposed by
21 the court for such offense shall run consecutively to any sentence
22 imposed upon conviction of a misdemeanor or felony offense defined in
23 this chapter arising from the same criminal transaction.
24 § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
25 have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01033-01-3
