STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3452
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 27, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. HELMING -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to the removal
of a criminal action to a veterans treatment court
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds and declares
2 that New York, along with the rest of the country, owes an enduring debt
3 to the brave people who have served in our nation's armed forces. Their
4 service in defense of our country and its ideals must never be forgot-
5 ten. We also must not fail to recognize that when veterans return from
6 foreign conflicts their transition to civilian life is not always an
7 easy one and can be marked by depression, other forms of mental illness
8 and substance abuse. Studies have shown that the trauma a soldier
9 suffers while deployed is a major contributing factor to low level, but
10 often persistent, criminal activity.
11 New York stands in the vanguard for treating veterans whose criminal
12 conduct is linked to their military service. In 2008, the nation's first
13 veterans treatment court was started in the Buffalo city court. By
14 recognizing the root causes of many veterans' contacts with the criminal
15 justice system and applying proven resources, including counseling,
16 treatment for drug or alcohol addiction, hands-on assistance with hous-
17 ing needs and job training and placement, we have led the way in reduc-
18 ing recidivism among returning veterans. Starting with that single court
19 in Buffalo, the veterans treatment court has become the model for many
20 other states. While New York now has twenty veterans treatment courts
21 and at least two additional courts in the planning stage, not all of New
22 York's veterans live in a jurisdiction that currently has such a court.
23 We can do better.
24 In order to broaden the availability of veterans treatment courts to
25 qualified veterans, this act would authorize the transfer of a criminal
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07211-01-5
S. 3452 2
1 case against a qualified veteran whose charges are pending in a local
2 criminal court that is not a veterans treatment court to another local
3 criminal court within the same county that is a veterans treatment
4 court. Following the successful "drug hub court" model, the case could
5 only be transferred on the application of the defendant, and with the
6 consent of the court and district attorney. Recognizing that resource
7 constraints and the need for extensive planning and coordination among
8 the judiciary and local, state and federal agencies have limited the
9 availability of veterans treatment courts in certain jurisdictions in
10 the state, this measure also would permit a qualified veteran to apply
11 to have their criminal case transferred to a veterans treatment court
12 located in an adjoining county. This will ensure the broadest possible
13 reach of every existing veterans treatment court, and send a signal that
14 New York and its courts are committed to acknowledging and serving the
15 special needs of the greatest number of qualified veterans. In practical
16 terms, the act would immediately more than double the number of counties
17 where veterans charged with criminal offenses would have access to the
18 proven benefits of a veterans treatment court.
19 § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 180.20 of the criminal procedure law, as
20 amended by chapter 67 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as
21 follows:
22 3. Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, in
23 any county outside a city having a population of one million or more,
24 upon or after arraignment of a defendant on a felony complaint pending
25 in a local criminal court having preliminary jurisdiction thereof, such
26 court may, upon motion of the defendant and with the consent of the
27 district attorney, order that the action be removed from the court in
28 which the matter is pending to another local criminal court in the same
29 county which has been designated a drug court by the chief administrator
30 of the courts, or to another court in the same county or an adjoining
31 county that has been designated a veterans treatment court by the chief
32 administrator of the courts, and such drug court or veterans treatment
33 court may then dispose of such felony complaint pursuant to this arti-
34 cle; provided, however, that an order of removal issued under this
35 subdivision shall not take effect until five days after the date the
36 order is issued unless, prior to such effective date, the drug court or
37 veterans treatment court notifies the court that issued the order that:
38 (a) it will not accept the action, in which event the order shall not
39 take effect, or
40 (b) it will accept the action on a date prior to such effective date,
41 in which event the order shall take effect upon such prior date.
42 Upon providing notification pursuant to paragraph (a) or (b) of this
43 subdivision, the drug court or veterans treatment court shall promptly
44 give notice to the defendant, [his or her] such defendant's counsel and
45 the district attorney.
46 § 3. To the extent practicable, the chief administrator of the courts
47 shall establish such number of veterans treatment courts as may be
48 necessary to fulfill the purposes of this act.
49 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
