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A03816 Summary:

A03816 Actions:

A03816 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
 submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)



 
BILL NUMBER: A3816
 
SPONSOR: Lavine

 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the penal law, in relation to adding
animal fighting as a criminal act when referring to enterprise
corruption
 
 
PURPOSE:
 
This legislation would define animalfighting as a criminal act when
referring to enterprise corruption.
 
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
 
Section 1. This bill amends penal law section 460.10 subdivision 1 to
include subdivision 2 of section 351 of the agriculture and markets law
as a criminal act when referring to enterprise corruption.
 
 
JUSTIFICATION:

Animal fighting fuels some of the most violent enterprises which corrupt
our neighborhoods. Apart from the well-established social science link
between violence against animals and violence against people, the New
York law enforcement community has seen first-hand that vigorous inves-
tigation and prosecution of animal fighting exposes gang networks,
narcotics rings, weapons trafficking activity, and other sophisticated
and violent criminal enterprises.
 
Animal fighting is the pitting of two dogs against each other for amuse-
ment or gain. It can also be the pitting of a dog against another type
of animal (even a human). While money need not be exchanged to qualify
the act as illegal, there is indeed a significant financial machine
behind this disgusting "blood sport."  According to some estimates, dog
fighting is a billion-dollar underground economy - just in the United
States. Some studies put the United States' share of this enterprise at
a full third of the global dog fighting economy. Money is not only made
by abhorrent wagers on the outcomes of fights, but also through the
illicit breeding, marketing, trading, and sale of dogs. Professional
fighters will market the bloodlines of their winners, make money off of
forced breeding sessions (whether successful or not), and sell litters
as fast as they can be produced. The underground industry is such that,
besides the fighters, there are individuals who specialize as "promo-
ters" of fights, as breeders, as trainers, and as sellers. Because the
activity must go undetected, there is also a strong subversive demand
for medications, specialized equipment, veterinary services, and "dark
web" communication platforms (unregistered internet sites, invisible to
public view). Another awful truth of this already-atrocious enterprise
is that fighters will sometimes steal animals from their surrounding
community - small dogs or cats - to use for bait or training for their
kennels.

This is not a distant problem. It is happening in virtually every corner
of the state. As law enforcement has grown more attuned to its
detection, fighting rings have been targeted and brought down, and,
along with those rings, law enforcement has seized guns and heroin,
uncovered domestic abuse and child abuse, and rescued countless dogs
from a lifetime of torture. However, the methodologies of detection are
still lacking - for no justifiable purpose besides oversight.  Despite
being an inherently "social" activity (i.e. more than one defendant must
be involved), animal fighting is currently not an enterprise crime
eligible-offense. This bill will allow animal fighting charges to be
eligible for an enterprise corruption charge in applicable circumstance.
By including animal fighting as an eligible offense, law enforcement and
prosecutors will gain valuable tools in combating this heinous category
of crime.
 
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
 
New Bill.
 
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
 
To be determined.
 
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

A03816 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          3816
 
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 30, 2017
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced by M. of A. LAVINE -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Codes
 
        AN  ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to adding animal fighting as
          a criminal act when referring to enterprise corruption
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Paragraph  (b)  of subdivision 1 of section 460.10 of the
     2  penal law, as amended by chapter 442 of the laws of 2006, is amended  to
     3  read as follows:
     4    (b)  Any  felony  set  forth  elsewhere  in the laws of this state and
     5  defined by the tax law relating to alcoholic beverage, cigarette,  gaso-
     6  line  and  similar motor fuel taxes; article seventy-one of the environ-
     7  mental conservation law relating to water pollution, hazardous waste  or
     8  substances  hazardous or acutely hazardous to public health or safety of
     9  the environment; article twenty-three-A  of  the  general  business  law
    10  relating  to  prohibited acts concerning stocks, bonds and other securi-
    11  ties, article twenty-two of the general business law concerning  monopo-
    12  lies; subdivision two of section three hundred fifty-one of the agricul-
    13  ture and markets law.
    14    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
 
 
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05507-01-7