Bill Text: NY A06943 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Establishes the "Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act" to prohibit not-for-profit corporations from engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity; allows for recovery of a civil penalty by the state attorney general; creates a private right of action for violations.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-22 - print number 6943a [A06943 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A06943-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         6943--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                       May 9, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M. of A. MAMDANI, SHRESTHA, FORREST, MITAYNES, GALLAGHER
          -- read once and referred to the Committee on  Corporations,  Authori-
          ties  and Commissions -- recommitted to the Committee on Corporations,
          Authorities and Commissions in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2
          -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered  reprinted  as  amended
          and recommitted to said committee

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  not-for-profit  corporation law, in relation to
          establishing the "Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli
          settler violence act" to  prohibit  not-for-profit  corporations  from
          engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
     2  the  "Not  on  our  dime!:  Ending  New  York funding of Israeli settler
     3  violence act".
     4    § 2. The not-for-profit corporation law is amended  by  adding  a  new
     5  section 116 to read as follows:
     6  § 116. Unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity.
     7    (a)  Definitions.  Notwithstanding  any  other provision of law to the
     8  contrary, for the purposes of this section, the  following  terms  shall
     9  have the following meanings:
    10    (1) "Unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity" means aiding
    11  and  abetting  activity  by  the Israeli armed forces, the government of
    12  Israel, or citizen thereof, that is illegal pursuant to the Rome Statute
    13  of the International Criminal Court or under any  of  the  international
    14  treaties  signed at Geneva on the twelfth day of August, nineteen forty-
    15  nine, as amended, or any protocol to such convention to which the United
    16  States is a party, including:
    17    (i) the unlawful transfer of Israeli civilians into occupied  territo-
    18  ry;

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10667-06-4
        A. 6943--A                          2

     1    (ii)  acts of violence committed by Israeli citizens against protected
     2  persons living in occupied territory, including but not limited to homi-
     3  cide, assault, and other acts of physical  violence;  use  of  firearms,
     4  explosives,  or  other  deadly force; the killing or harming of animals,
     5  livestock,  trees,  or  crops;  the destruction, damage, or vandalism of
     6  Palestinian property; or blocking access to Palestinian lands by fencing
     7  off land, erecting structures, or other means;
     8    (iii) the forced transfer or  eviction  of  protected  persons  within
     9  occupied  territory,  or the deportation of protected persons from occu-
    10  pied territory;
    11    (iv) the unilateral acquisition and annexation  of  land  in  occupied
    12  territory; and/or
    13    (v)  the  appropriation,  expropriation, seizure, destruction, demoli-
    14  tion, dismantlement, or confiscation, in whole or in  part,  of  private
    15  Palestinian  land or residential, business, social, or public structures
    16  or infrastructure, inhabited or uninhabited, including but  not  limited
    17  to  homes, apartment buildings, retail shops, food markets, animal shel-
    18  ters, walls, warehouses, water pipes, water storage  facilities,  sewage
    19  systems, electrical lines, roads, medical facilities, and network facil-
    20  ities.
    21    (2) "Occupied territory" means the Israeli-occupied West Bank, includ-
    22  ing East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
    23    (3)  "Protected  persons"  includes civilians in occupied territory in
    24  accordance with international humanitarian law.
    25    (b) Unauthorized support of Israeli  settlement  activity  prohibited.
    26  Unauthorized  support of Israeli settlement activity by a not-for-profit
    27  corporation shall be prohibited as against public policy and  inconsist-
    28  ent with any charitable purpose.
    29    (c) Recovery of civil penalty by attorney general. The attorney gener-
    30  al  may  bring  an action in the name and on behalf of the state against
    31  any trustee, director, manager, or other officer or agent of a  not-for-
    32  profit  corporation, or against a not-for-profit corporation, foreign or
    33  domestic, to recover a sum of not less  than  one  million  dollars  for
    34  knowingly  engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activ-
    35  ities in violation of paragraph (b) of this section.  Such action  shall
    36  be  brought no later than ten years after the commission of the act upon
    37  which such action is based.
    38    (d) Private right of action. An individual damaged by a  violation  of
    39  this  section  may  bring  a civil action against any trustee, director,
    40  manager, or other officer or agent of a not-for-profit  corporation,  or
    41  against  a  not-for-profit  corporation,  foreign or domestic, to enjoin
    42  unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activities by a  not-for-pro-
    43  fit  corporation  in  violation  of  paragraph  (b)  of this section and
    44  recover actual damages for knowingly engaging in such  violations.  Such
    45  action  shall be brought no later than ten years after the commission of
    46  the act upon which such action is based. A court may also  award  attor-
    47  neys' fees to a prevailing plaintiff.
    48    §  3. Subparagraph 3-b of paragraph (a) of section 102 of the not-for-
    49  profit corporation law, as amended by chapter 23 of the laws of 2014, is
    50  amended to read as follows:
    51    (3-b) "Charitable purposes" of a corporation means one or more of  the
    52  following  purposes:  charitable,  educational,  religious,  scientific,
    53  literary, cultural or for the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  children  or
    54  animals.  The  term  "charitable  purposes"  shall  not include any acts
    55  committed in violation of section one hundred sixteen of this article.
        A. 6943--A                          3

     1    § 4. Paragraph (a) of section 112 of  the  not-for-profit  corporation
     2  law is amended by adding a new subparagraph 11 to read as follows:
     3    (11)  To  dissolve  a charitable corporation for violations of section
     4  one hundred sixteen of this article.
     5    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.