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Speaker Carl E. Heastie
 
     
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A08367 Memo:

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




 
BILL NUMBER: A8367
 
SPONSOR: Thiele

 
TITLE OF BILL:
 
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to notice of the profits
from a crime
 
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
 
To expand the statute to include family members.
 
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
 
Section one of the bill amends the executive law to require companies
who contract to pay any profits from a crime with the family or former
spouses of a person charged with or convicted of a crime to notify the
Office of Victim Services about the contract when the total value of
payments to the family or former spouse exceeds ten thousand dollars.
 
Section two of the bill states the effective date.
 
 
JUSTIFICATION:
 
Crime sells. Live TV and streaming services inundate viewers with docu-
mentaries and movies portraying infamous crimes, serial killers, and
bank robbers. Media outlets pay millions of dollars for rights to the
story of the person who has been charged or convicted of a crime and-ac-
cess to their family and friends.
 
New York has a long history of blocking people charged with or convicted
of a crime from benefiting from their illegal acts through executive law
632-a. This section requires companies to disclose to the Office of
Victim Services (OVS) whenever they enter contracts to pay any profits
from a crime to the person charged with or convicted of a crime or their
representative more than ten thousand dollars.  After notification, OVS
contacts victims or their families to notify them about the funds.
Victims and their families may choose to bring legal action to recover
money earned through the contract.
 
Executive law 632-a does not include the family or former spouse of a
person charged with or convicted of a crime under the notification
requirement. This results in media outlets contracting with family,
rather than the person charged with or convicted of a crime, to avoid
the notification requirements. This loophole deprives victims and their
families of compensation they are entitled to under New York law.
 
This bill amends the executive law to include contracts with family or
former spouses of a person charged with or convicted of a crime to the
notification requirement.
 
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
 
New bill.
 
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
 
None to the state.
 
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
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