STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6175--B
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 11, 2017
___________
Introduced by Sen. GOLDEN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to misapplication of
construction rental equipment and theft of services
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 165.03 to
2 read as follows:
3 § 165.03 Misapplication of construction rental equipment.
4 1. A person is guilty of misapplication of construction rental equip-
5 ment when, knowingly possessing construction rental equipment of another
6 pursuant to an agreement that the same will be returned to the owner at
7 a future time:
8 (a) he or she loans, leases, pledges, pawns or otherwise encumbers
9 such property valued in excess of one thousand dollars without the
10 consent of the owner thereof in such manner as to create a risk that the
11 owner will not be able to recover it or will suffer pecuniary loss; or
12 (b) he or she intentionally refuses to return such property valued in
13 excess of one thousand dollars to the owner pursuant to the terms of the
14 rental agreement provided that the owner shall have made a written
15 demand for the return of such equipment in person or by certified mail
16 at an address indicated in the rental agreement and he or she inten-
17 tionally refuses to return such equipment for a period of ten days after
18 such demand has been received or should reasonably have been received.
19 Such written demand shall state: (i) the date and time at which the
20 equipment was to have been returned under the rental agreement; (ii)
21 that the owner does not consent to the continued withholding or retain-
22 ing of such equipment and demands its return; and (iii) that the contin-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11411-04-7
S. 6175--B 2
1 ued withholding or retaining of the equipment may constitute a class E
2 felony punishable by a fine of up to two thousand dollars or by a
3 sentence to a term of imprisonment for a period of up to one year or by
4 both such fine and imprisonment.
5 2. As used in this section, the terms owner and rental agreement shall
6 be defined as in subdivision one of section three hundred ninety-nine-w
7 of the general business law, as added by chapter three hundred seventy-
8 two of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-five. The term construction
9 rental equipment shall mean any equipment or tools generally used in the
10 construction trade and rented to an individual or business under such
11 terms as are agreed upon in writing by the parties to such agreement.
12 3. In any prosecution under paragraph (a) of subdivision one of this
13 section, it is a defense that, at the time the prosecution was
14 commenced, (a) the defendant had recovered possession of the equipment
15 within the time specified in the original rental agreement or any amend-
16 ment thereto, unencumbered as a result of the unlawful disposition, and
17 (b) the owner had suffered no material economic loss as a result of the
18 unlawful disposition.
19 4. In any prosecution under paragraph (b) of subdivision one of this
20 section, it is a defense that at the time the prosecution was commenced,
21 (a) the owner had recovered possession of the equipment and suffered no
22 economic loss as a result of the unlawful retention, or (b) the owner
23 failed to comply with the provisions of section three hundred ninety-
24 nine-w of the general business law, as added by chapter three hundred
25 seventy-two of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-five.
26 Misapplication of construction rental equipment is a class E felony.
27 § 2. Section 165.15 of the penal law is amended by adding a new subdi-
28 vision 12 to read as follows:
29 12. Obtaining or having control over commercial construction rental
30 equipment of another person or entity pursuant to a rental agreement, he
31 or she fails to return such equipment to the owner thereof on the date
32 specified for return in such rental agreement.
33 § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
34 have become a law.
