Bill Text: NY S07573 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Expands eligibility for victims and survivors of crime to access victim compensation funds by removing the mandatory law enforcement reporting requirement and providing alternative forms of evidence that would show that a qualifying crime was committed.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 24-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-26 - PRINT NUMBER 7573A [S07573 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S07573-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7573--A 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN SENATE December 8, 2021 ___________ Introduced by Sens. MYRIE, BAILEY, BIAGGI, BRISPORT, BROUK, CLEARE, COONEY, GIANARIS, GOUNARDES, HARCKHAM, HOYLMAN, JACKSON, KAMINSKY, KAVANAGH, KENNEDY, RAMOS, REICHLIN-MELNICK, RIVERA, SALAZAR, SEPULVE- DA, STAVISKY, THOMAS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules -- recommitted to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to expanding eligibility for victims and survivors of crime to access victim compensation funds by removing the mandatory law enforcement reporting requirement and providing alternative forms of evidence that would show that a quali- fying crime was committed The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 621 of the execu- 2 tive law, as amended by chapter 710 of the laws of 1996, is amended to 3 read as follows: 4 (a) an act committed in New York state which would, if committed by a 5 mentally competent criminally responsible adult, who has no legal 6 exemption or defense, constitute a crime as defined in and proscribed by 7 law, regardless of whether any suspect was arrested, charged, appre- 8 hended or prosecuted for the commission of the act or whether the claim- 9 ant has interacted with a criminal justice agency investigating such 10 act; or 11 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 625 of the executive law, as amended by 12 section 10 of part A-1 of chapter 56 of the laws of 2010, is amended to 13 read as follows: 14 2. A claim must be filed by the claimant not later than [one year] 15 three years after the occurrence or discovery of the crime upon which 16 such claim is based, [one year] three years after a court finds a EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD13945-02-2S. 7573--A 2 1 lawsuit to be frivolous, or not later than [one year] three years after 2 the death of the victim, provided, however, that upon good cause shown, 3 the office may extend the time for filing. The office shall extend the 4 time for filing where the claimant received no notice pursuant to 5 section six hundred twenty-five-a of this article and had no knowledge 6 of eligibility pursuant to section six hundred twenty-four of this arti- 7 cle. 8 § 3. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 627 of the executive 9 law, as added by section 18 of part A-1 of chapter 56 of the laws of 10 2010, is amended to read as follows: 11 (c) the investigation and determination of claims regardless of wheth- 12 er the alleged criminal has been arrested, charged, apprehended or pros- 13 ecuted for or convicted of any crime based upon the same incident, or 14 has been acquitted, or found not guilty of the crime in question owing 15 to criminal irresponsibility or other legal exemption; 16 § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 631 of the executive law, as separately 17 amended by chapters 189 and 295 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read 18 as follows: 19 1. No award shall be made unless the office finds that: (a) a crime 20 was committed[,]; (b) such crime directly resulted in personal physical 21 injury to or the exacerbation of a preexisting disability, or condition, 22 or death of, the victim[,]; and (c) either: (i) criminal justice agency 23 records show that such crime was [promptly] reported to the proper 24 authorities[; and in no case may an award be made where the criminal25justice agency records show that such report was made more than one week26after the occurrence of such crime unless the office, for good cause27shown, finds the delay to have been justified. Notwithstanding the fore-28going provisions of this subdivision, in cases involving an alleged sex29offense as contained in article one hundred thirty of the penal law or30incest as defined in section 255.25, 255.26 or 255.27 of the penal law31or labor trafficking as defined in section 135.35 of the penal law or32sex trafficking as defined in sections 230.34 and 230.34-a of the penal33law or an offense chargeable as a family offense as described in section34eight hundred twelve of the family court act or section 530.11 of the35criminal procedure law, the criminal justice agency report need only be36made] within a reasonable time considering all the circumstances, 37 including the victim's physical, emotional and mental condition and 38 family situation[.]; or (ii) satisfactory evidence is provided to show 39 that such crime occurred. Such evidence may include, but is not limited 40 to, one or more of the following: 41 (A) a written statement provided by a victim services provider who has 42 provided services to the victim of the crime, or other eligible claim- 43 ants as identified in section six hundred twenty-four of this article, 44 in response to the impact of the qualifying crime; 45 (B) a statement provided by a witness to the qualifying crime; 46 (C) a statement from the victim attesting to the victim's personal 47 physical injury or the exacerbation of a preexisting disability, or 48 condition provided that the office shall not require the disclosure of 49 confidential information relating to such physical injury; 50 (D) a temporary or permanent restraining order or protective order 51 issued by a court to protect or separate the victim, or other eligible 52 claimants as identified in section six hundred twenty-four of this arti- 53 cle, from the person who is responsible for the qualifying crime; 54 (E) a statement from a licensed medical provider, physician's assist- 55 ant, nurse practitioner or other person licensed to provide medical or 56 mental health care documenting that the victim experienced physicalS. 7573--A 3 1 injury or the exacerbation of a preexisting disability, or condition as 2 a result of the qualifying crime; or 3 (F) a video, audio, or photographic recording of the commission of the 4 qualifying crime. 5 For the purposes of this subdivision, "criminal justice agency" shall 6 include, but not be limited to, a police department, a district attor- 7 ney's office, and any other governmental agency having responsibility 8 for the enforcement of the criminal laws of the state provided, however, 9 that in cases involving such sex offense or family offense a criminal 10 justice agency shall also mean a family court, a governmental agency 11 responsible for child and/or adult protective services pursuant to title 12 six of article six of the social services law and/or title one of arti- 13 cle nine-B of the social services law, and any medical facility estab- 14 lished under the laws of the state that provides a forensic physical 15 examination for victims of rape and sexual assault. 16 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
