Bill Text: NY S05821 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes a gang prevention coordination council.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO FINANCE [S05821 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S05821-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5821 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 19, 2021 ___________ Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to establishing a gang prevention coordination council The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 413 to 2 read as follows: 3 § 413. Gang prevention coordination council. 1. Definitions. For the 4 purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following 5 meanings: 6 a. "Council" means the gang prevention coordination council estab- 7 lished pursuant to this section. 8 b. "Gang" means an ongoing group, club, organization, or association 9 of five or more persons which satisfies each of the following criteria, 10 with no one criterion being sufficient to be considered a gang: 11 (1) One of the gang's primary purpose is the commission of one or more 12 penal code offenses; 13 (2) The members of the gang engage or have engaged within the past ten 14 years in a continuing series of penal code offenses described in, and 15 which includes three or more individual instances of such offenses; and 16 (3) The gang is identifiable by at least two of the following common- 17 alities: name of the association, sign, symbol, article of clothing, 18 style of dress, tattoo, code word, or other marking or identifying 19 factor. 20 c. "Gang activity" means actions, patterns of actions, and behavior 21 related to a gang. 22 2. Membership. a. The council shall consist of: 23 (1) The commissioner of education, or his or her designee; 24 (2) The commissioner of health, or his or her designee; 25 (3) The commissioner of mental health, or his or her designee; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD09686-01-1S. 5821 2 1 (4) The commissioner of homes and community renewal, or his or her 2 designee; 3 (5) The commissioner of children and family services, or his or her 4 designee; 5 (6) The superintendent of New York state police, or his or her desig- 6 nee; 7 (7) The chief judge of the court of appeals, or his or her designee; 8 (8) One family court judge, appointed by the chief judge of the court 9 of appeals; 10 (9) One criminal court judge, appointed by the chief judge of the 11 court of appeals; 12 (10) One representative from a public defender agency, appointed by 13 the governor; 14 (11) One district attorney, appointed by the governor; 15 (12) The president of the New York city housing authority, or his or 16 her designee; and 17 (13) The attorney general, or his or her designee. 18 b. The governor shall designate the chairperson of the council in 19 consultation with the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of 20 the assembly, the majority leader of the senate, and the minority leader 21 of the senate. 22 3. Powers and duties. The council shall: 23 a. have the power to hold public hearings; 24 b. hold at least one hearing each year in the counties of New York, 25 Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Albany, and Erie; 26 c. submit to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, and the major- 27 ity leader of the senate, and publish on its website, an annual report 28 on the needs and strengths of local governments in each county of the 29 state relating to juvenile delinquency, gang activity, and gang violence 30 prevention and intervention, provided such report shall be published no 31 later than the first of April in each year; 32 d. award grants to local government agencies and not-for-profit corpo- 33 rations pursuant to subdivision four of this section; 34 e. publish guidelines for local governments to implement evidence- 35 based practices to prevent gang activity and prevent youth from joining 36 gangs, including but not limited to: 37 (1) early childhood development services; 38 (2) family stabilization programs; 39 (3) youth and adolescent development services, including job training 40 and apprenticeship programs; 41 (4) health and mental health services for at risk youth; 42 (5) substance abuse and prevention services; 43 (6) programs to help youth cease engaging in criminal street gang 44 activity, such as tattoo removal services, outreach programs, and peace- 45 making activities; 46 (7) pre-release, post-release, and reentry services for incarcerated 47 youth; and 48 (8) other such practices, methods, and services the council may find 49 appropriate. 50 f. hire staff as the chairperson of the council may deem appropriate 51 and subject to appropriation; and 52 g. inspect data relating to criminal gang activity and youth gang 53 members from the office of children and family services, the state 54 police, local police departments, the state education department, local 55 school districts, and local child service agencies, or any other rele- 56 vant state or local agency.S. 5821 3 1 4. Gang prevention coordination grants. a. A county, city, town, 2 village, school board, local police department, other local government 3 agency, or not-for-profit corporation may submit to the council an 4 application for the implementation of evidence-based practices in a 5 particular municipality to prevent gang activity and prevent youth from 6 joining gangs, pursuant to guidelines published by the council, by the 7 first of January each year. 8 b. The council shall award grants to applicants, subject to appropri- 9 ation, pursuant to an award schedule endorsed by a majority vote of the 10 council by the first of March each year, provided: 11 (1) no grant shall be awarded for more than a three-year period; 12 (2) no individual grant shall be in excess of ten million dollars; and 13 (3) the council shall distribute grants in an equitable manner based 14 on merit and the needs and strengths of each municipality. 15 5. Implementation. The comptroller shall have the power to audit 16 grants awarded by the council, and shall submit to the governor, the 17 speaker of the assembly, and the majority leader of the senate, and 18 shall post on the comptroller's website, a report on the effectiveness 19 of the grants in reducing the level of gang activity and preventing 20 youth from joining gangs. 21 6. Audits. The commissioner of children and family services shall 22 promulgate rules and regulations for the implementation of this section 23 within ninety days of the effective date of this section. 24 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
