Requires a defendant who causes the death of a person with children due to driving while intoxicated or impaired to pay for child support of such children until they reach the age of 18 years old.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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10293
IN ASSEMBLY
May 13, 2022
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Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. K. Brown) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring a defendant
who causes the death of a person with children due to driving while
intoxicated or impaired to pay for child support
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 5 and 11 of section 621 of the executive law,
2 subdivision 5 as amended by chapter 189 of the laws of 2018 and subdivi-
3 sion 11 as amended by chapter 178 of the laws of 2019, are amended to
4 read as follows:
5 5. "Victim" shall mean (a) a person who suffers personal physical
6 injury as a direct result of a crime; (b) a person who is the victim of
7 either the crime of (1) unlawful imprisonment in the first degree as
8 defined in section 135.10 of the penal law, (2) kidnapping in the second
9 degree as defined in section 135.20 of the penal law, (3) kidnapping in
10 the first degree as defined in section 135.25 of the penal law, (4)
11 menacing in the first degree as defined in section 120.13 of the penal
12 law, (5) criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation as
13 defined in section 121.11 of the penal law, (6) harassment in the second
14 degree as defined in section 240.26 of the penal law, (7) harassment in
15 the first degree as defined in section 240.25 of the penal law, (8)
16 aggravated harassment in the second degree as defined in subdivision
17 three or five of section 240.30 of the penal law, (9) aggravated harass-
18 ment in the first degree as defined in subdivision two of section 240.31
19 of the penal law, (10) criminal contempt in the first degree as defined
20 in subdivision (b) or subdivision (c) of section 215.51 of the penal
21 law, (11) stalking in the fourth, third, second or first degree as
22 defined in sections 120.45, 120.50, 120.55 and 120.60 of the penal law,
23 (12) labor trafficking as defined in section 135.35 of the penal law,
24 (13) sex trafficking as defined in section 230.34 of the penal law; or
25 (14) sex trafficking of a child as defined in section 230.34-a of the
26 penal law; a vulnerable elderly person or an incompetent or physically
27 disabled person as defined in section 260.31 of the penal law who incurs
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13957-01-1
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1 a loss of savings as defined in subdivision twenty-four of this section;
2 or a person who has had a frivolous lawsuit filed against them; (c) a
3 child victim of a person or persons who died as a direct result of
4 either the crime of (1) vehicular manslaughter in the second degree as
5 defined in section 125.12 of the penal law, (2) vehicular manslaughter
6 in the first degree as defined in section 125.13 of the penal law, or
7 (3) aggravated vehicular homicide as defined in section 125.14 of the
8 penal law.
9 11. For purposes of this article "child victim" shall mean a person
10 less than eighteen years of age who suffers physical, mental or
11 emotional injury, or loss or damage, as a direct result of a crime or
12 any violation listed in subdivision twelve of section six hundred thir-
13 ty-one of this article, or as a result of witnessing a crime or any
14 violation listed in subdivision twelve of section six hundred thirty-one
15 of this article, or a child of a victim of a crime listed in paragraph
16 (c) of subdivision five of this section.
17 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 631 of the executive law, as amended by
18 chapter 233 of the laws of 2020, is amended and a new subdivision 19 is
19 added to read as follows:
20 2. Any award made pursuant to this article shall be in an amount not
21 exceeding out-of-pocket expenses, including indebtedness reasonably
22 incurred for medical or other services necessary as a result of the
23 injury upon which the claim is based; loss of earnings or support
24 resulting from such injury not to exceed thirty thousand dollars; loss
25 of savings not to exceed thirty thousand dollars; burial expenses not
26 exceeding six thousand dollars of a victim who died on or after November
27 first, nineteen ninety-six as a direct result of a crime; the costs of
28 crime scene cleanup and securing of a crime scene not exceeding twenty-
29 five hundred dollars; reasonable relocation expenses not exceeding twen-
30 ty-five hundred dollars; reasonable employment-related transportation
31 expenses, not exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars [and]; the unreim-
32 bursed cost of repair or replacement of articles of essential personal
33 property lost, damaged or destroyed as a direct result of the crime; and
34 child support for a child victim pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivi-
35 sion five of section six hundred twenty-one of this article until such
36 child reaches the age of eighteen. An award for loss of earnings shall
37 include earnings lost by a parent or guardian as a result of the hospi-
38 talization of a child victim under age eighteen for injuries sustained
39 as a direct result of a crime. In addition to the medical or other
40 services necessary as a result of the injury upon which the claim is
41 based, an award may be made for rehabilitative occupational training for
42 the purpose of job retraining or similar employment-oriented rehabilita-
43 tive services based upon the claimant's medical and employment history.
44 For the purpose of this subdivision, rehabilitative occupational train-
45 ing shall include but not be limited to educational training and
46 expenses. An award for rehabilitative occupational training may be made
47 to a victim, or to a family member of a victim where necessary as a
48 direct result of a crime. An award for employment-related transporta-
49 tion expenses shall be limited to the time period necessary due to the
50 personal physical injuries sustained as a direct result of the crime
51 upon which the claim is based, as determined by the medical information
52 collected during the investigation of the claim.
53 19. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of this article, where
54 a child victim has lost a parent or parents as a result of a crime list-
55 ed in paragraph (c) of subdivision five of section six hundred twenty-
56 one of this article the claimant shall be eligible of an award of child
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1 support which shall be paid monthly to the child victim's other parent
2 or legal guardian until such child victim reaches the age of eighteen.
3 Such award of child support shall be determined by the office after
4 taking into consideration the claimant's financial resources.
5 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 632 of the executive law, as amended by
6 chapter 287 of the laws of 1972, is amended to read as follows:
7 1. The award shall be paid in a lump sum, except that in the case of
8 death or protracted disability the award shall provide for periodic
9 payments to compensate for loss of earnings or support; or in the case
10 of a child victim pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision five of
11 section six hundred twenty-one of this article the award of child
12 support shall be paid monthly until such child victim reaches the age of
13 eighteen. No award made pursuant to this article shall be subject to
14 execution or attachment other than for expenses resulting from the inju-
15 ry which is the basis for the claim.
16 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
