Ren Art 9 SS90 & 91 to be Art 10 SS100 & 101, add Art 9 SS90 - 98, Civ Rts L
Establishes the right of tenants to call police or emergency assistance without fear of losing their housing as the result of landlord actions or local nuisance laws.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1322
SPONSOR: Lavine (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the civil rights law, in relation to
the right to call for police and emergency assistance and providing
victim protections
PURPOSE OF BILL: This legislation will help ensure that victims of
domestic violence and crime victims can access police or emergency
assistance without fear of losing their housing.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: OF BILL:
Section 1 of the bill creates a new Article 9 in the Civil Rights Law
that outlines rights and protections for domestic violence and other
crime victims in separate sections of the Article as follows.
New Section 90 of the Civil Rights Law relates to legislative findings.
New Section 91 of the Civil Rights Law provides any person who is a
victim of domestic violence or who otherwise believes that he or she is
in need of police or emergency assistance the right to request such
assistance without penalty or reprisal, by application of a local law or
ordinance, for accessing the assistance.
New Section 92 of the Civil Rights Law outlines exceptions to the
protections outlined in new section 91 of the Civil Rights Law.
New Section 93 of the Civil Rights Law outlines the rights of property
owners to be free of penalty for respecting the rights of an occupant to
request police or emergency assistance.
New Section 94 of the Civil Rights Law prohibits limitations on a
victim's rights under the article to request police or emergency assist-
ance.
New Section 95 of the Civil Rights Law creates defenses in local ordi-
nance enforcement actions by municipalities or property owners in
violation of the protections created under the Article. It also provides
for notice to residential occupants in such enforcement actions and
standing to contest application of the nuisance ordinance to their resi-
dence in the face of an eviction.
New Section 96 of the Civil Rights Law provides for the removal of the
perpetrator of violence while assuring continued occupancy by a victim.
New Section 97 of the Civil Rights Law creates remedies for any person
or entity aggrieved by a violation of the protections created under the
Article.
New Section 98 of the Civil Rights Law allows for guidance by the New
York State Office for The Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Divi-
sion of Criminal Justice Services with respect to drafting of local
nuisance ordinances and evaluation of their impact on access to police
and emergency services.
Section 2 of the bill is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION: No victim of domestic violence or other person threat-
ened with a crime in New York should be afraid to access police or emer-
gency assistance because doing so may jeopardize their housing. Never-
theless, numerous municipalities throughout New York have passed local
laws, so called "nuisance ordinances," that have this precise result.
While these local laws often aim to address drug, weapon, disorderly
conduct, and property crimes and ensure the quiet enjoyment of community
members, they are frequently overboard and, instead, have a chilling
effect on the reporting of crime by crime victims-particularly victims
of domestic violence-that undermines public safety.
Nuisance ordinances have traditionally targeted abandoned properties
where crime occurred with more frequency because properties were unsu-
pervised and unattended. Yet, in recent years, more and more munici-
palities in New York and nationally have employed the nuisance concept
to regulate and sanction activities at occupied properties. Nuisance
ordinances take several forms. Many ordinances in New York assign points
to properties where certain criminal convictions occurred or where
certain conduct was merely alleged to have occurred. In
some.communities, ordinances are triggered if police or emergency
services provide aid or are called to a property a certain number of
times over a set time period, such as three calls for help to the police
over 12 months. Generally, these nuisance laws are applied regardless of
whether the residential occupant was a victim of the cited crime or
accessed police assistance out of reasonable, legitimate fear or
concern. A Harvard study established that an ordinance in Milwaukee
punished victims of domestic violence far more frequently than the
offenses it was intended to target, such as those related to drugs,
property damage, and weapons.
These ordinances may authorize the municipality to directly penalize the
residential occupant or may promote "third-party policing," the assign-
ing of policing responsibilities to non-police actors, by holding prop-
erty owners responsible for the behavior of their tenants. Under this
structure, once a property receives a nuisance citation, the owner must
"abate the nuisance" or face stiff fines, revocation of rental permits,
or property closure. This requirement frequently results in landlords
evicting the tenants at issue, for, even if not expressly required,
eviction is the only certain abatement method. Under these laws, tenants
often have no notice of or standing to contest application of the
nuisance ordinance to their residence, even in the face of eviction.
In communities with these ordinances, domestic violence victims reason-
ably feel they have no choice but to endure threats, harassment, or
violence without police intervention when the alternative is the likely
eviction, housing insecurity, and risk of homelessness that result from
a nuisance citation.
Enforcement of nuisance ordinances can also violate federal and Consti-
tutional protections. Furthermore, when these laws pressure landlords to
evict, they put landlords in an untenable position between two legal
mandates.
This measure will help ensure that all New Yorkers can request lifesav-
ing emergency aid in response to violence without fearing they will be
doubly victimized by housing loss because their call for help triggered
a nuisance ordinance that is applied against crime victims. It will
protect victims of domestic violence, as well as all residents who need
to access emergency and police assistance.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: Passed Assembly A9056 2013-14
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: None.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Immediately and shall apply to all pending actions
and proceedings.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1322
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 9, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LAVINE, WEINSTEIN, WEPRIN, ROSENTHAL, MOSLEY,
BRONSON, PEOPLES-STOKES -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. LUPINACCI,
PERRY -- read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to the right to call
for police and emergency assistance and providing victim protections
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Article 9 and sections 90 and 91 of the civil rights law,
2 as renumbered by chapter 310 of the laws of 1962, are renumbered article
3 10 and sections 100 and 101, and a new article 9 is added to read as
4 follows:
5 ARTICLE 9
6 RIGHT TO CALL POLICE AND EMERGENCY
7 ASSISTANCE/VICTIM PROTECTIONS
8 Section 90. Legislative findings.
9 91. Right to call for police and emergency assistance; victim
10 protections.
11 92. Protections not applicable to breaches of lease, illicit
12 activities or other violations of law.
13 93. Right of property owners to be free of penalty for respect-
14 ing the rights of an occupant to request police or emer-
15 gency assistance.
16 94. Limitation on right to request police or emergency assist-
17 ance prohibited.
18 95. Defenses.
19 96. Removal of the perpetrator of violence while assuring
20 continued occupancy by victim.
21 97. Remedies.
22 98. Guidance authorized.
23 § 90. Legislative findings. No victim of domestic violence, or other
24 person threatened with violence or in jeopardy of harm, should fail to
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03311-01-5
A. 1322 2
1 access police or emergency assistance when needed because of the fear
2 that doing so may result in losing their housing through eviction or
3 other actions to remove them from the property. Some local laws or poli-
4 cies have the effect of treating such requests for police or emergency
5 aid as a disturbance constituting a "public nuisance" or otherwise
6 treating the individual faced with the violence and in need of assist-
7 ance as an undesirable tenant or undesirable influence on the neighbor-
8 hood based upon a call for help to their home. Legislation is needed to
9 assure that victims of violence or threats of harm or violence are not
10 penalized in relation to any law enforcement activity and intervention
11 necessary to address offender accountability and victim safety.
12 Municipalities throughout the state have increasingly begun to adopt
13 local laws and ordinances to address public nuisances or other intru-
14 sions on the quiet enjoyment of their residents and communities. Despite
15 their intent to aid communities, overly broad ordinances have instead
16 had a harmful chilling effect deterring victims of violence and crime
17 from accessing police assistance and have jeopardized public safety.
18 Given the negative impact that certain provisions have on the community
19 at large, and to victims of crime in particular, remedial legislation is
20 necessary that will both protect the rights of domestic violence and
21 crime victims to access essential police assistance, as well as preserve
22 the locality's right to address conduct that may undermine the communi-
23 ty's safety or integrity.
24 The legislature therefore finds that it is desirable to clarify the
25 law in this area in order to protect women and others from violence and
26 crime.
27 The legislature further finds that there is a need to assure that
28 victims of violence, including persons threatened with harm or violence,
29 have a clear right to access assistance to protect personal or public
30 safety.
31 The legislature finally finds that clarification in this area will
32 advance the state's interest in stopping crime and further the aims of
33 penal laws that depend on citizens to report incidents of crime to law
34 enforcement.
35 With this remedial legislation the legislature specifically intends
36 that the coverage of this article includes, but is not limited to, laws
37 or ordinances that use any form of cumulative point system for the
38 purpose of identifying any persons or properties who or which would be
39 subject to municipal enforcement action.
40 § 91. Right to call for police and emergency assistance; victim
41 protections. 1. Any person who is a victim of domestic violence, as
42 defined in section four hundred fifty-nine-a of the social services law,
43 or who otherwise believes he or she is in need of police or emergency
44 assistance has the right to request such assistance and to be free of
45 any direct or indirect penalty or reprisal for accessing assistance, or
46 because he or she resides at a property where domestic violence or other
47 law enforcement activity occurred. Other than as provided in section
48 ninety-two of this article, no victim of conduct which has been used as
49 the grounds for the application of a local law or ordinance established
50 for the purpose of regulating nuisances shall be directly or indirectly
51 penalized, or otherwise subject to reprisal by application of such local
52 law, including by termination or refusal to renew a tenancy or by
53 eviction.
54 2. No residential occupant shall be required, either orally or in
55 writing, to waive rights under this article, and any such waiver shall
56 be void and unenforceable.
A. 1322 3
1 § 92. Protections not applicable to breaches of lease, illicit activ-
2 ities or other violations of law. The protections of this article shall
3 not be deemed to prohibit a municipality from enforcing an ordinance or
4 local law, nor restrict a landlord from terminating, evicting or refus-
5 ing to renew a tenancy, when such action is premised upon grounds other
6 than access of police or emergency assistance or is otherwise premised
7 on conduct unrelated to the residential occupant's status as a target or
8 victim of violence or harm.
9 § 93. Right of property owners to be free of penalty for respecting
10 the rights of an occupant to request police or emergency assistance. No
11 landlord or other property owner shall be subject to fines or loss of
12 permits or licenses by a municipality for failing to take steps to
13 remove an occupant who has exercised rights under this article.
14 § 94. Limitation on right to request police or emergency assistance
15 prohibited. A municipality, municipal authority, landlord or property
16 owner shall not prohibit, restrict, penalize or in any other way direct-
17 ly or indirectly limit any person's exercise of rights under this arti-
18 cle. The protections of this prohibition shall extend to any residential
19 occupant upon whose behalf a third party has called for police or emer-
20 gency assistance.
21 § 95. Defenses. 1. It is a defense to any judicial or administrative
22 action or proceeding taken by any municipality or municipal authority
23 enforcing any local law or ordinance that the enforcement action direct-
24 ly or indirectly penalizes a residential occupant or property owner for
25 the exercise of rights under this article. Prior to initiation of any
26 such enforcement action or proceeding all parties and any residential
27 occupant that may be so impacted shall be given written notice by the
28 municipality of the protections of this article and shall have the right
29 to be heard in the action or proceeding to advance the defenses provided
30 by this article.
31 2. It is a defense in any action or proceeding by a landlord or other
32 owner of real property to regain possession of that property that the
33 action or proceeding directly or indirectly penalizes a residential
34 occupant for the exercise of rights under this article. Any residential
35 occupant whose right to continued occupancy may be impacted by the
36 outcome shall be given notice of the action or proceeding by the party
37 initiating the action or proceeding and shall have the right to appear
38 as a necessary party in accordance with the provisions of the civil
39 practice law and rules and the real property actions and proceedings law
40 in order to advance the defenses provided by this article.
41 § 96. Removal of the perpetrator of violence while assuring continued
42 occupancy by victim. Actions including termination, eviction or refusal
43 to renew a leasehold interest or termination of any other form of lawful
44 occupancy through a judicial proceeding may be carried out against the
45 perpetrator of such violence or harm. Notwithstanding the terms of an
46 existing lease, written or oral, or other form of occupancy agreement,
47 any person with rights described in section ninety-one of this article
48 shall have the right to continue in occupancy, and the court may so
49 order, for a term equivalent to the balance of the original term and
50 under the same terms and conditions as provided in the original lease or
51 occupancy agreement.
52 § 97. Remedies. Any person or entity aggrieved by a violation of the
53 protections created by this article shall have the right to bring an
54 action or special proceeding in a court of appropriate jurisdiction to
55 seek damages and/or declaratory and injunctive relief with respect to
A. 1322 4
1 such violation. A prevailing plaintiff may be entitled to an award of
2 costs and attorney's fees.
3 § 98. Guidance authorized. The New York state office for the
4 prevention of domestic violence and the division of criminal justice
5 services, upon consultation with the other, are jointly authorized to
6 provide guidance with respect to drafting of local nuisance ordinances
7 and evaluation of their impact on access to police and emergency
8 services.
9 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all
10 pending actions and proceedings.
