Relates to appeals of parole determination, including parole release interviews, parole decisions by the board and petitions regarding release decisions.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
889
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and
Correction
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to appeals of parole
determination
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision 4 of section 259-i of
2 the executive law, paragraph (a) as amended by section 11 of part E of
3 chapter 62 of the laws of 2003 and paragraph (b) as amended by chapter
4 322 of the laws of 2021, are amended to read as follows:
5 (a) Except for determinations made upon preliminary hearings upon
6 allegations of violation of presumptive release, parole, conditional
7 release or post-release supervision, all determinations made pursuant to
8 this section may be appealed in accordance with rules promulgated by the
9 board except that a decision by the board denying parole release shall
10 be a final decision for the purposes of article seventy-eight of the
11 civil practice law and rules. Any board member who participated in the
12 decision from which the appeal is taken may not participate in the
13 resolution of that appeal. The rules of the board may specify a time
14 within which any appeal shall be taken and resolved.
15 (b) Upon an appeal [to the] from a board decision, the incarcerated
16 individual may be represented by an attorney. Where the incarcerated
17 individual is financially unable to provide for [his or her] their own
18 attorney, upon request an attorney shall be assigned pursuant to the
19 provisions of subparagraph (v) of paragraph (f) of subdivision three of
20 this section.
21 § 2. Subdivision 5 of section 259-i of the executive law, as amended
22 by chapter 166 of the laws of 1991, is amended to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02285-01-5
S. 889 2
1 5. Actions of the board. Any action by the board or by a hearing offi-
2 cer pursuant to this article shall be deemed a judicial function and
3 shall not be reviewable if done in accordance with law except that upon
4 an appropriate petition the court may consider a release decision de
5 novo. The court may in its own discretion require an appearance by the
6 petitioner. The court may affirm the decision of the board, modify the
7 decision, order a de novo interview for reconsideration by the board or
8 provide a release date for the petitioner.
9 § 3. Subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of subdivision 6 of section
10 259-i of the executive law, as amended by chapter 322 of the laws of
11 2021, is amended to read as follows:
12 (i) The board shall provide for the making of a verbatim record of
13 each parole release interview within thirty days of such interview,
14 except where a decision is made to release the incarcerated individual
15 to parole supervision, and each preliminary and final revocation hear-
16 ing, except when the decision of the presiding officer after such hear-
17 ings result in a dismissal of all charged violations of parole, condi-
18 tional release or post release supervision. An audio recording shall
19 also be made of each parole release interview in its entirety. All docu-
20 ments submitted to the board shall be included in the hearing record for
21 purposes of appeal.
22 § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
23 it shall have become a law.
