Provides immunity from prosecution for certain individuals engaged in prostitution who are victims of or witnesses to a crime and who report such crime or assist in the investigation or prosecution.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1029A
SPONSOR: Kelles TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to individuals engaged in
prostitution who are victims of or witnesses to a crime
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To encourage sex workers who are crime victims and witnesses to seek
help without fear of being prosecuted for prostitution.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 creates a new Penal Law § 230.45 to provide immunity from
prosecution under § 230.00 (prostitution), § 230.03 (prostitution in a
school zone), and § 230.40 (permitting prostitution) to victims of and
witnesses to crimes under the following circumstances: when the victim
or witness reports the crime to a law enforcement agency, seeks or
receives health care services, or aids in the investigation of the
crime..
Section 2 is the effective date, 60 days after it becomes a law.
JUSTIFICATION:
Sex workers often are victims and witnesses of violent crime and coer-
cive. exploitation but often don't report crimes due to fear of arrest
for prostitution. When criminal abusers are not reported, they continue
their violent acts with impunity. The most recent, prescient example is
of the Long Island Serial Killer. In 2023, Suffolk County law enforce-
ment arrested Rex Heuermann for the murders of three women whose bodies
were discovered over a decade prior while there are other unsolved
murders that may be associated with this suspect. His victims were known
sex workers and he continued patronizing sex workers while law enforce-
ment monitored him without obtaining potentially helpful testimony from
witnesses or victims.
This bill protects a victim or witness to a crime from prosecution for
prostitution, prostitution in a school zone, or permitting prostitution
(which is what a roommate would be charged with) when they seek help.
The concept is similar to the so-called "Good Samaritan" law enacted in
2011 to protect people who seek help for someone suffering an overdose.
Similar legislation has already been passed in Alaska, California, Colo-
rado, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. This legis-
lation has also received support from: Alvin Bragg (NYC DA), Decriminal-
ize Sex Work, ECLI-VIBES, Girl Vow Inc., We Are Revolutionary, SOAR
Institute, Old Pros, Legal Aid Society, and Hudson Catskill HoUsing
Coalition.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: A7471 - 3rd Reading Calendar
2021-22: A255a (Gottfried) - 3rd Reading Calendar
2019-20: A8869 (Gottfried) - Codes reported to Rule,s
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect 60 days after it shall have become a law, and
shall apply to any prosecution pending on or after the time it shall
take effect.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1029--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. KELLES, SEAWRIGHT, SAYEGH, SIMON, STECK, PAULIN,
GALLAGHER, VANEL, OTIS, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, EPSTEIN, CRUZ, GLICK, LEVEN-
BERG, BURDICK, SHIMSKY, LAVINE, LEMONDES, McDONOUGH, SHRESTHA, MAMDA-
NI, REYES, HUNTER, BICHOTTE HERMELYN, FORREST, STERN, DINOWITZ,
R. CARROLL, GIBBS, SIMONE, DAIS, CUNNINGHAM, WALKER, DeSTEFANO,
WEPRIN, ANDERSON, TAPIA, TAYLOR, MEEKS, HEVESI, ROMERO, BORES, ROSEN-
THAL, KASSAY, KIM -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
-- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended
and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to individuals engaged in
prostitution who are victims of or witnesses to a crime
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 230.45 to
2 read as follows:
3 § 230.45 Immunity from prosecution.
4 This section applies where a person is the victim of or a witness to a
5 crime (including an individual who becomes aware that another person is
6 a victim of a crime), and has engaged or is alleged to have engaged in
7 an act prohibited under section 230.00, 230.03, or 230.40 of this arti-
8 cle at or in reasonable proximity to the time of the crime or under
9 circumstances reasonably related to the crime, and, in good faith, (a)
10 reports the crime to a criminal law enforcement agency, (b) seeks or
11 receives health care services as a result of the crime, or (c) assists
12 or attempts to assist in the investigation or prosecution of the crime.
13 No such victim or witness to the crime shall be charged or prosecuted
14 for an offense under section 230.00, 230.03, or 230.40 of this article
15 which is alleged to have been committed at or in reasonable proximity to
16 the time of the crime or under circumstances reasonably related to the
17 crime for which the person is a victim or witness. As used in this
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00064-02-5
A. 1029--A 2
1 section, "crime" shall include an act that reasonably appears to be a
2 crime, regardless of whether it results in a conviction as a crime.
3 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
4 have become a law, and shall apply to any prosecution pending on or
5 after the time it shall take effect.
