Bill Text: NY A06943 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
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 4-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to corporations, authorities and commissions [A06943 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A06943-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6943 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY May 9, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. MAMDANI -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions 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 government of Israel, or citizen thereof, 12 that is illegal under any of the international treaties signed at Geneva 13 on the twelfth day of August, nineteen forty-nine, as amended, or any 14 protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party, 15 including: 16 (i) the unlawful transfer of Israeli civilians into occupied territo- 17 ry; 18 (ii) acts of violence committed by Israeli citizens against protected 19 persons living in occupied territory, including but not limited to homi- 20 cide, assault, and other acts of physical violence; use of firearms, 21 explosives, or other deadly force; the killing or harming of animals, 22 livestock, trees, or crops; the destruction, damage, or vandalism of EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD10667-04-3A. 6943 2 1 Palestinian property; or blocking access to Palestinian lands by fencing 2 off land, erecting structures, or other means; 3 (iii) the forced transfer or eviction of protected persons within 4 occupied territory, or the deportation of protected persons from occu- 5 pied territory; 6 (iv) the unilateral acquisition and annexation of land in occupied 7 territory; and/or 8 (v) the appropriation, expropriation, seizure, destruction, demoli- 9 tion, dismantlement, or confiscation, in whole or in part, of private 10 Palestinian land or residential, business, social, or public structures 11 or infrastructure, inhabited or uninhabited, including but not limited 12 to homes, apartment buildings, retail shops, food markets, animal shel- 13 ters, walls, warehouses, water pipes, water storage facilities, sewage 14 systems, electrical lines, roads, medical facilities, and network facil- 15 ities. 16 (2) "Occupied territory" means the Israeli-occupied West Bank, includ- 17 ing East Jerusalem. 18 (3) "Protected persons" includes civilians in occupied territory in 19 accordance with international humanitarian law. 20 (b) Unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity prohibited. 21 Unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity by a not-for-profit 22 corporation shall be prohibited as against public policy and inconsist- 23 ent with any charitable purpose. 24 (c) Recovery of civil penalty by attorney general. The attorney gener- 25 al may bring an action in the name and on behalf of the state against 26 any trustee, director, manager, or other officer or agent of a not-for- 27 profit corporation, or against a not-for-profit corporation, foreign or 28 domestic, to recover a sum of not less than one million dollars for 29 knowingly engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activ- 30 ities in violation of paragraph (b) of this section. Such action shall 31 be brought no later than ten years after the commission of the act upon 32 which such action is based. 33 (d) Private right of action. An individual damaged by a violation of 34 this section may bring a civil action against any trustee, director, 35 manager, or other officer or agent of a not-for-profit corporation, or 36 against a not-for-profit corporation, foreign or domestic, to enjoin 37 unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activities by a not-for-pro- 38 fit corporation in violation of paragraph (b) of this section and 39 recover actual damages for knowingly engaging in such violations. Such 40 action shall be brought no later than ten years after the commission of 41 the act upon which such action is based. A court may also award attor- 42 neys' fees to a prevailing plaintiff. 43 § 3. Subparagraph 3-b of paragraph (a) of section 102 of the not-for- 44 profit corporation law, as amended by chapter 23 of the laws of 2014, is 45 amended to read as follows: 46 (3-b) "Charitable purposes" of a corporation means one or more of the 47 following purposes: charitable, educational, religious, scientific, 48 literary, cultural or for the prevention of cruelty to children or 49 animals. The term "charitable purposes" shall not include any acts 50 committed in violation of section one hundred sixteen of this article. 51 § 4. Paragraph (a) of section 112 of the not-for-profit corporation 52 law is amended by adding a new subparagraph 11 to read as follows: 53 (11) To dissolve a charitable corporation for violations of section 54 one hundred sixteen of this article. 55 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
