New York A 6491: Enacts "Kimberly's Law"; repealer

Bill Text

Bill Search and Legislative Information | New York State Assembly 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

 Skip to main content 

 New York State Assembly

 Speaker Carl E. Heastie

 --> 
 --> 

 --> 

• 
 Assembly Members 

• 
 Legislative Info 

• 
 Public Hearings 

• 
 Speaker's Press 

• 
 Assembly Reports 

• 
 Committees & More 

• Bill Search Home
• Laws
• Legislative Calendar
• Public Hearing Schedule
• Assembly Calendars
• Assembly Committee Agenda 

 Javascript must be enabled to properly view this page. 

 Bill No.: 

• Summary 
• Actions 
• Committee&nbspVotes 
• Floor&nbspVotes 
• Memo 
• Text 
• LFIN 
• Chamber&nbspVideo/Transcript 
A06491 Summary:

BILL NOA06491 

&nbsp

SAME ASNo Same As

&nbsp

SPONSORVanel

&nbsp

COSPNSR

&nbsp

MLTSPNSR

&nbsp

Add §17-172, El L

&nbsp

Prohibits the creation and dissemination of synthetic media within sixty days of an election with intent to unduly influence the outcome of an election; makes such act a class E felony.

Go to top A06491 Actions:

BILL NOA06491 

&nbsp

03/05/2025referred to election law

01/07/2026referred to election law

Go to topA06491 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topA06491 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topA06491 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 6491

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN ASSEMBLY

 March 5, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by M. of A. VANEL -- read once and referred to the Committee
 on Election Law

 AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to prohibiting the
 creation and dissemination of synthetic media within sixty days of an
 election with intent to unduly influence the outcome of an election

 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
 bly, do enact as follows:

 1 Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new section 17-172
 2 to read as follows:
 3 § 17-172. Creating synthetic media with intent to unduly influence the
 4 outcome of an election. 1. A person who, with intent to injure a candi-
 5 date or unduly influence the outcome of an election, creates or causes
 6 to be created a fabricated photographic, videographic, or audio record
 7 and causes such fabricated photographic, videographic, or audio record
 8 to be disseminated or published within sixty days of an election shall
 9 be guilty of a class E felony.
 10 2. For purposes of this section:
 11 (a) "Fabricated photographic, videographic, or audio record" or
 12 "synthetic media" shall mean a still image, video or audio recording
 13 that:
 14 (i) exhibits a high level of authenticity or convincing appearance
 15 that is visually or audibly indistinguishable from reality;
 16 (ii) is either manipulated or entirely artificial, including but not
 17 limited to, manipulation through means of advanced synthetic media tech-
 18 nologies that utilize artificial intelligence, such as deepfakes, gener-
 19 ative pre-trained transformers, and stable diffusion; and
 20 (iii) depicts a scenario that did not actually occur or that has been
 21 altered in a significant way from how they actually occurred.
 22 (b) "Disseminate" and "publish" shall have the same meanings as
 23 defined in section 250.40 of the penal law.
 24 3. This section shall not apply to the following:

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD10146-01-5

 A. 6491 2

 1 (a) dissemination or publication of synthetic media that was created
 2 for the purpose of political or social commentary, parody, or artistic
 3 expression that is not disseminated or published with the intent to
 4 misrepresent its authenticity;
 5 (b) dissemination or publication of synthetic media that was created
 6 for the purpose of news reporting where the synthetic media is not
 7 disseminated or published with the intent to misrepresent its authentic-
 8 ity;
 9 (c) dissemination or publication of synthetic media depicting a person
 10 or persons where the person who created the synthetic media received
 11 consent from all persons depicted;
 12 (d) dissemination or publication of a fabricated record where the
 13 person reasonably believes that the dissemination or publication of the
 14 record is necessary to protect themselves from serious bodily injury or
 15 death; or
 16 (e) initial dissemination or publication of synthetic media by the
 17 platform or service, provided that the synthetic media was not created
 18 by an individual who is directly affiliated with such platform or
 19 service.
 20 § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
 21 have become a law.

Go to top 

• 

 Sitemap 

 Request Information 

 Directions and Maps