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A01353 Summary:

BILL NOA01353
 
SAME ASSAME AS S00813
 
SPONSORRosenthal
 
COSPNSR
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd S485.05, Pen L
 
Establishes the homeless protection act which designates certain offenses against homeless persons as hate crimes; includes the definition of homelessness.
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A01353 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          1353
 
                               2015-2016 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 12, 2015
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  ROSENTHAL  --  read once and referred to the
          Committee on Codes
 
        AN ACT to amend the penal  law,  in  relation  to  designating  offenses
          against homeless persons as hate crimes
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
     2  the "homeless protection act".
     3    §  2.  Subdivisions  1, 2 and 4 of section 485.05 of the penal law, as
     4  added by chapter 107 of the  laws  of  2000,  are  amended  to  read  as
     5  follows:
     6    1.  A  person  commits a hate crime when he or she commits a specified
     7  offense and either:
     8    (a) intentionally selects the  person  against  whom  the  offense  is
     9  committed  or  intended  to be committed in whole or in substantial part
    10  because of a belief or perception regarding the  race,  color,  national
    11  origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability,
    12  homelessness,  or  sexual orientation of a person, regardless of whether
    13  the belief or perception is correct, or
    14    (b) intentionally commits the act or acts constituting the offense  in
    15  whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding
    16  the  race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious
    17  practice, age, disability, homelessness,  or  sexual  orientation  of  a
    18  person, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct.
    19    2.  Proof of race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion,
    20  religious practice, age, disability, homelessness, or sexual orientation
    21  of the defendant, the victim or of both the  defendant  and  the  victim
    22  does  not,  by itself, constitute legally sufficient evidence satisfying
    23  the people's burden under paragraph (a) or (b)  of  subdivision  one  of
    24  this section.
    25    4. For purposes of this section:
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04224-01-5

        A. 1353                             2
 
     1    (a) the term "age" means sixty years old or more;
     2    (b)  the  term "disability" means a physical or mental impairment that
     3  substantially limits a major life activity; and
     4    (c) the term "homelessness" means the set of circumstances in which an
     5  individual or family is undomiciled, has no fixed address, lacks a fixed
     6  regular nighttime residence, resides in a  place  not  designed  for  or
     7  ordinarily  used  as  a  regular sleeping accommodation for human beings
     8  (such as a hallway, bus station, lobby or similar place), resides  in  a
     9  homeless shelter, resides in a residential program for victims of domes-
    10  tic violence, or resides in a hotel/motel on a temporary basis.
    11    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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