Bill Text: NY A02176 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Exempts certain interested parties or people from civil arrest while going to, remaining at, or returning from the place of such court proceeding.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 79-0)
Status: (Passed) 2020-12-15 - signed chap.322 [A02176 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A02176-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2176--A Cal. No. 484 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 22, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SOLAGES, CRESPO, PICHARDO, LENTOL, PEOPLES-STOKES, BICHOTTE, NIOU, BARRON, DAVILA, DE LA ROSA, DICKENS, EPSTEIN, FERNANDEZ, HEVESI, HYNDMAN, JAFFEE, JEAN-PIERRE, MOSLEY, O'DONNELL, PRETLOW, RAMOS, ROZIC, SEAWRIGHT, WEPRIN, WILLIAMS, WRIGHT, LAVINE, KIM, GOTTFRIED, D'URSO, PERRY, JOYNER, ORTIZ, FAHY, SIMON, BUCHWALD, LIFTON, ARROYO, GLICK, L. ROSENTHAL, TAYLOR, CAHILL, COOK, RIVERA, OTIS, PAULIN, SIMOTAS, CRUZ, CARROLL, LUPARDO, DenDEKKER, STIRPE, RICHARDSON, JACOBSON, BUTTENSCHON, QUART, ZEBROWSKI, COLTON, GALEF, FALL, DINOWITZ, SAYEGH, BRONSON, RAYNOR, BLAKE, REYES, VANEL, WALKER, NOLAN, TITUS, AUBRY -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes -- reported from committee, advanced to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place on the order of third reading AN ACT to amend the civil rights law and the judiciary law, in relation to protecting certain interested parties or people from civil arrest while going to, remaining at, or returning from the place of such court proceeding The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "protect 2 our courts act". 3 § 2. The civil rights law is amended by adding a new section 28 to 4 read as follows: 5 § 28. Civil arrest; certain locations. 1. A person duly and in good 6 faith attending a court proceeding in which such person is a party or 7 potential witness, or a family or household member is a party or poten- 8 tial witness, is privileged from civil arrest while going to, remaining 9 at, and returning from, the place of such court proceeding, unless such 10 civil arrest is supported by a judicial warrant or judicial order 11 authorizing such civil arrest. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05356-09-9A. 2176--A 2 1 2. It is a contempt of the court and false imprisonment for any person 2 to willfully violate subdivision one of this section, or an order of the 3 court issued pursuant to section four-a of the judiciary law, by execut- 4 ing an arrest prohibited by subdivision one of this section or section 5 four-a of the judiciary law, or willfully assisting an arrest prohibited 6 by subdivision one of this section or section four-a of the judiciary 7 law; provided, however, that nothing in this subdivision shall affect 8 any right or defense of any person, police officer, peace officer or 9 public officer pursuant to article thirty-five of the penal law, or any 10 unified court system personnel acting lawfully pursuant to their duty to 11 maintain safety and order in the courts. 12 3. Regardless of whether a proceeding for contempt of the court pursu- 13 ant to subdivision two of this section has been initiated: 14 (a) a person described in subdivision one of this section may bring a 15 civil action for appropriate equitable and declaratory relief if such 16 person has reasonable cause to believe a violation of subdivision one of 17 this section, as described in subdivision two of this section, or a 18 violation of section four-a of the judiciary law, has occurred or may 19 occur; and 20 (b) the attorney general may bring a civil action in the name of the 21 people of the state of New York to obtain appropriate equitable and 22 declaratory relief if the attorney general has reasonable cause to 23 believe that a violation of subdivision one of this section, as 24 described in subdivision two of this section, or a violation of section 25 four-a of the judiciary law, has occurred or may occur. 26 4. In any successful action pursuant to subdivision three of this 27 section, a plaintiff or petitioner may recover costs and reasonable 28 attorney's fees. 29 5. Nothing in this section shall be construed to narrow, or in any way 30 lessen, any common law or other right or privilege of a person privi- 31 leged from arrest pursuant to this article or otherwise. 32 6. As used in this section: 33 (a) "civil arrest" shall mean an arrest that is not: 34 (i) for the sole or primary purpose of preparing the person subject to 35 such arrest for criminal prosecution, for an alleged violation of the 36 criminal law of: 37 (A) this state, or another state, for which a sentence of a term of 38 imprisonment is authorized by law; or 39 (B) the United States, for which a sentence of a term of imprisonment 40 is authorized by law, and for which federal law requires an initial 41 appearance before a federal judge, federal magistrate or other judicial 42 officer, pursuant to the federal rules of criminal procedure that govern 43 initial appearances; or 44 (ii) for contempt of the court in which the court proceeding is taking 45 place or will be taking place; 46 (b) "court proceeding" shall mean any appearance in a court of this 47 state before a judge or justice or judicial magistrate of this state 48 ordered or scheduled by such judge or justice or judicial magistrate, or 49 the filing of papers designed to initiate such an appearance before a 50 judge or justice or judicial magistrate of this state; 51 (c) "family or household member" shall have the same meaning as in 52 subdivision two of section four hundred fifty-nine-a of the social 53 services law; and 54 (d) "judicial warrant or judicial order authorizing such civil arrest" 55 means an arrest warrant or other judicial order, issued by a magistrate 56 sitting in the judicial branch of a local or state government or of theA. 2176--A 3 1 federal government, authorizing a civil arrest and issued by the court 2 in which proceedings following such arrest will be heard and determined. 3 7. No action or proceeding may be commenced pursuant to this section 4 against the unified court system or any unified court system personnel 5 acting lawfully pursuant to their duty to maintain safety and order in 6 the courts. 7 § 3. The judiciary law is amended by adding a new section 4-a to read 8 as follows: 9 § 4-a. Certain powers of the courts regarding civil arrests. In order 10 to maintain access to the court and open judicial proceedings for all 11 persons in their individual capacity and to prevent interference with 12 the needs of judicial administration, a court has the power to issue 13 appropriate judicial orders to protect the privilege from civil arrest, 14 in accordance with article three of the civil rights law. 15 § 4. Subdivision 2 of section 212 of the judiciary law is amended by 16 adding a new paragraph (aa) to read as follows: 17 (aa) (i) In order to maintain access to the court and open judicial 18 proceedings for all persons in their individual capacity and to prevent 19 interference with the needs of judicial administration, consistent with 20 section twenty-eight of the civil rights law and section four-a of this 21 chapter, shall promulgate rules to ensure the following: 22 (A) any representative of a law enforcement agency who, while acting 23 in an official capacity, enters a New York state courthouse intending to 24 observe an individual or take an individual into custody shall identify 25 himself or herself to uniformed court personnel and state his or her 26 specific law enforcement purpose and the proposed enforcement action to 27 be taken; any such representative who has a warrant or order concerning 28 such intended arrest shall provide a copy of such warrant or order to 29 such court personnel; 30 (B) any such warrant or order concerning such intended enforcement 31 action shall be promptly reviewed by a judge or court attorney; 32 (C) information about any such proposed enforcement action shall be 33 transmitted to and reviewed by appropriate court system personnel, 34 including the judge presiding over any case involving the subject of 35 that enforcement action; 36 (D) except in extraordinary circumstances, no arrest may be made by a 37 representative of a law enforcement agency in a courtroom absent leave 38 of the court; 39 (E) no civil arrest shall be executed inside a New York state court- 40 house except pursuant to a judicial warrant or judicial order authoriz- 41 ing the arrest; 42 (F) an unusual occurrence report shall be filed by court system 43 personnel for every enforcement action taken inside the courthouse, 44 including the observation of court proceedings by a representative of a 45 law enforcement agency acting in such person's official capacity; and 46 (G) copies of all judicial warrants and judicial orders authorizing an 47 arrest and provided to court personnel pursuant to this paragraph and 48 the rules promulgated thereunder shall be maintained by the chief admin- 49 istrator in a central record repository, appropriately indexed or filed 50 alphabetically by name. 51 (ii) The chief administrator shall publish on the unified court system 52 website and provide to the governor, the speaker of the assembly and the 53 temporary president of the senate an annual report compiling statistics, 54 aggregated by county, setting forth the date each such judicial warrant 55 or judicial order was signed, the judge and court which issued such 56 judicial warrant or judicial order and the location of such court asA. 2176--A 4 1 shown by such document, the date such judicial warrant or judicial order 2 was presented to counsel for the unified court system, a description of 3 the type of judicial warrant or judicial order and, to the extent known 4 to court personnel, whether or not an arrest occurred with respect to 5 such warrant and the date and specific location of such arrest. 6 § 5. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi- 7 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of 8 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, 9 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in 10 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section 11 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg- 12 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of 13 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such 14 invalid provisions had not been included herein. 15 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.