Relates to public health emergency allowances against sentences for certain incarcerated individuals; allows up to twelve months of public health emergency allowances to be given to incarcerated individuals during a public health crisis.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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5293
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 20, 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 correction law, in relation to public health emer-
gency allowances against sentences for certain incarcerated individ-
uals
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The correction law is amended by adding a new section 803-c
2 to read as follows:
3 § 803-c. Public health emergency allowances against indeterminate and
4 determinate sentences. 1. Every person confined in an institution of the
5 department or a facility in the department of mental hygiene serving an
6 indeterminate or determinate sentence of imprisonment, except a person
7 serving a sentence with a maximum term of life imprisonment, shall
8 receive a public health emergency time allowance against the term or
9 maximum term of such person's sentence imposed by the court. Such allow-
10 ances shall be granted for time served during a public health emergency
11 in accordance with this section if:
12 (a) the governor declares a state of disaster emergency pursuant to
13 section twenty-eight of the executive law in response to such public
14 health emergency;
15 (b) the public health emergency arises as a result of a communicable
16 or infectious disease; and
17 (c) the public health emergency results in the modification of correc-
18 tional facility operations.
19 2. Except as provided by subdivision three of this section, public
20 health emergency allowances awarded pursuant to subdivision one of this
21 section shall provide further remission from both the maximum and mini-
22 mum term of an incarcerated individual's sentence at the rate of six
23 months for each month, or portion thereof, served during a state of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09893-01-5
S. 5293 2
1 disaster emergency declared by the governor pursuant to section twenty-
2 eight of the executive law in response to the public health emergency.
3 3. Public health emergency allowances shall not be available to any
4 person serving an indeterminate or determinate sentence authorized for a
5 sex offense under article one hundred thirty of the penal law.
6 4. An incarcerated individual shall not be awarded a public health
7 emergency allowance in excess of twelve months of remission for any
8 single public health emergency.
9 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
