Amd 659, Fam Ct Act (as proposed in S.2475-B & A.6046-B); amd 76, 76-c, 76-f, 76-g & 77-l, Dom Rel L
Declares that a law authorizing a child to be removed from their parent or guardian based on the parent or guardian allowing their child to receive gender-affirming care is against the public policy of this state; relates to forum in domestic relations cases.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7506
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
June 1, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. HOYLMAN-SIGAL -- read twice and ordered printed, and
when printed to be committed to the Committee on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the family court act and the domestic relations law, in
relation to gender-affirming care
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 659 of the family court act, as
2 added by a chapter of the laws of 2023 amending the family court act and
3 other laws relating to gender-affirming care, as proposed in legislative
4 bills numbers S. 2475-B and A. 6046-B, is amended to read as follows:
5 1. A law [of another state] that authorizes a child to be removed from
6 their parent or guardian based on the parent or guardian allowing their
7 child to receive gender-affirming care is against the public policy of
8 this state and shall not be enforced or applied in a case pending in a
9 court in this state.
10 § 2. Section 76 of the domestic relations law is amended by adding a
11 new subdivision 4 to read as follows:
12 4. The presence of a child in this state for the purpose of obtaining
13 gender-affirming care, as defined by section sixty-five hundred thirty-
14 one-b of the education law, is sufficient to meet the requirements of
15 paragraph (b) of subdivision one of this section.
16 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 76-c of the domestic relations law, as
17 added by chapter 386 of the laws of 2001, is amended to read as follows:
18 1. A court of this state has temporary emergency jurisdiction if the
19 child is present in this state and:
20 (a) the child has been abandoned [or];
21 (b) it is necessary in an emergency to protect the child, a sibling or
22 parent of the child; or
23 (c) the child is present in this state because the child has been
24 unable to obtain gender-affirming care, as defined by section sixty-five
25 hundred thirty-one-b of the education law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11693-01-3
S. 7506 2
1 § 4. Subdivisions 3 and 4 of section 76-f of the domestic relations
2 law are renumbered subdivisions 4 and 5, and a new subdivision 3 is
3 added to read as follows:
4 3. In a case where the provision of gender-affirming care to the child
5 is at issue, a court of this state shall not determine that it is an
6 inconvenient forum and must find that it is a more appropriate forum
7 where the law or policy of the other state that may take jurisdiction
8 limits the ability of a parent to obtain gender-affirming care for their
9 child. For the purposes of this section, "gender-affirming care" has
10 the same meaning as defined by section sixty-five hundred thirty-one of
11 the education law.
12 § 5. Subdivision 4 of section 76-g of the domestic relations law, as
13 added by chapter 386 of the laws of 2001, is amended to read as follows:
14 4. In making a determination under this section, a court shall not
15 consider as a factor weighing against the petitioner any taking of the
16 child, or retention of the child after a visit or other temporary relin-
17 quishment of physical custody, from the person who has legal custody, if
18 there is evidence that the taking or retention of the child was to
19 protect the petitioner from domestic violence or the child or sibling
20 from mistreatment or abuse, or for the purposes of obtaining gender-af-
21 firming care, as defined by section sixty-five hundred thirty-one-b of
22 the education law, for the child and the law or policy of the other
23 state limits the ability of a parent to obtain gender-affirming care for
24 their child.
25 § 6. Section 77-l of the domestic relations law, as added by chapter
26 386 of the laws of 2001, is amended to read as follows:
27 § 77-l. 1. Recognition and enforcement. A court of this state shall
28 accord full faith and credit to an order issued by another state and
29 consistent with this article which enforces a child custody determi-
30 nation by a court of another state unless the order has been vacated,
31 stayed, or modified by a court having jurisdiction to do so under title
32 two of this article, unless recognition and enforcement would violate
33 subdivision one-c of section two hundred forty of this chapter or
34 section one thousand eighty-five of the family court act.
35 2. (a) A law that authorizes a state agency to remove a child from
36 their parent or guardian based on the parent or guardian allowing their
37 child to receive gender-affirming care is against the public policy of
38 this state and shall not be enforced or applied in a case pending in a
39 court in this state.
40 (b) For the purpose of this subdivision, "gender-affirming care" shall
41 have the same meaning as provided by section sixty-five hundred thirty-
42 one-b of the education law.
43 § 7. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision,
44 section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent
45 jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or
46 invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation
47 to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or part thereof
48 directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have
49 been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the legislature
50 that this act would have been enacted even if such invalid provisions
51 had not been included herein.
52 § 8. This act shall take effect immediately.
