Bill Text: NY S00153 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Expands eligibility for those who receive awards under crime victims' compensation to include a domestic partner; defines domestic partner; further provides for out-of-pocket loss to include the cost of counseling for surviving family members of homicide victims.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-01-04 - REFERRED TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND CORRECTION [S00153 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S00153-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           153
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                       (Prefiled)
                                     January 4, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by Sen. SQUADRON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims,  Crime  and
          Correction
        AN  ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to eligibility of domes-
          tic partners for compensation from the crime victims' board
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 624 of the execu-
     2  tive  law,  as amended by chapter 104 of the laws of 2015, is amended to
     3  read as follows:
     4    (b) a surviving spouse, domestic partner, grandparent,  parent,  step-
     5  parent, guardian, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, child, step-
     6  child  or  grandchild of a victim of a crime who died as a direct result
     7  of such crime;
     8    § 2. Section 624 of the executive law  is  amended  by  adding  a  new
     9  subdivision 1-a to read as follows:
    10    1-a.  For  the  purposes  of  this section, "domestic partner" means a
    11  person who, with respect to another person:
    12    (a) is formally a party in a domestic partnership or similar relation-
    13  ship with the other person, entered into pursuant to  the  laws  of  the
    14  United  States or of any state, local or foreign jurisdiction, or regis-
    15  tered as the domestic partner of the  other  person  with  any  registry
    16  maintained  by  the employer of either party or any state, municipality,
    17  or foreign jurisdiction; or
    18    (b) is formally recognized as a beneficiary or  covered  person  under
    19  the other person's employment benefits or health insurance; or
    20    (c)  is  dependent  or mutually interdependent on the other person for
    21  support, as evidenced by the totality of the circumstances indicating  a
    22  mutual  intent  to  be  a domestic partner including but not limited to:
    23  common ownership or joint leasing of real or personal  property;  common
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02374-01-7
        S. 153                              2
     1  householding,  shared  income  or  shared  expenses; children in common;
     2  signs of intent to marry or become a domestic  partner  under  paragraph
     3  (a)  or (b) of this subdivision; or the length of the personal relation-
     4  ship of the persons.
     5    §  3.  Section  626  of  the  executive law is amended by adding a new
     6  subdivision 4 to read as follows:
     7    4. Out-of-pocket loss shall also include the cost  of  counseling  for
     8  surviving  family members of homicide victims who are otherwise eligible
     9  pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision  one  of  section  six  hundred
    10  twenty-four of this article.
    11    § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    12  it shall have become a law.