New York S 8476: Increases criminal penalties for aggravated harassment of an elected official and criminal trespass of an elected official's residence

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 
S08476 Summary:

BILL NOS08476 

&nbsp

SAME ASNo Same As

&nbsp

SPONSORWEIK

&nbsp

COSPNSRPALUMBO, RHOADS

&nbsp

MLTSPNSR

&nbsp

Amd §§240.33 & 140.17, Pen L

&nbsp

Increases criminal penalties for aggravated harassment of an elected official and criminal trespass of an elected official's residence; provides that aggravated harassment of an elected official shall be a class E felony and criminal trespass of an elected official's residence shall be included in criminal trespass in the first degree and shall be a class D felony.

Go to top S08476 Actions:

BILL NOS08476 

&nbsp

08/13/2025REFERRED TO RULES

01/07/2026REFERRED TO CODES

Go to topS08476 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topS08476 Floor&nbspVotes:

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

Go to topS08476 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 8476

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN SENATE

 August 13, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by Sen. WEIK -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
 printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules

 AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to increasing criminal penal-
 ties for aggravated harassment of an elected official and criminal
 trespass of an elected official's residence

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

 1 Section 1. Section 240.33 of the penal law, as added by section 5 of
 2 part F of chapter 55 of the laws of 2024, is amended to read as follows:
 3 § 240.33 Aggravated harassment of a judge or elected official.
 4 A person is guilty of aggravated harassment of a judge or elected
 5 official when:
 6 1. With intent to harass another person, the actor either:
 7 (a) communicates, anonymously or otherwise, by telephone, by computer
 8 or any other electronic means, or by mail, or by transmitting or deliv-
 9 ering any other form of communication, a threat to cause physical harm
 10 to, or unlawful harm to the property of, a person the actor knows or
 11 reasonably should know is a judge or elected official, or a member of
 12 such judge's or elected official's immediate family, and the actor knows
 13 or reasonably should know that such communication will cause such judge
 14 or elected official to reasonably fear harm to such judge's or elected
 15 official's physical safety or property, or to the physical safety or
 16 property of a member of such judge's or elected official's immediate
 17 family; or
 18 (b) causes a communication to be initiated anonymously or otherwise,
 19 by telephone, by computer or any other electronic means, or by mail, or
 20 by transmitting or delivering any other form of communication, a threat
 21 to cause physical harm to, or unlawful harm to the property of, a person
 22 the actor knows or reasonably should know is a judge or elected
 23 official, or a member of such judge's or elected official's immediate
 24 family, and the actor knows or reasonably should know that such communi-

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD13515-01-5

 S. 8476 2

 1 cation will cause such judge or elected official to reasonably fear harm
 2 to such person's physical safety or property, or to the physical safety
 3 or property of a member of such judge's or elected official's immediate
 4 family; or
 5 2. With intent to harass or threaten a person the actor knows or
 6 reasonably should know is a judge or elected official or a member of
 7 such judge's or elected official's immediate family, the actor makes a
 8 telephone call, whether or not a conversation ensues, with no purpose of
 9 legitimate communication; or
 10 3. With the intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm a person the
 11 actor knows or reasonably should know is a judge or elected official or
 12 a member of such judge's or elected official's immediate family, the
 13 actor strikes, shoves, kicks, or otherwise subjects another person to
 14 physical contact, or attempts or threatens to do the same because of a
 15 belief or perception regarding such person's race, color, national
 16 origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, reli-
 17 gious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation, regardless of
 18 whether the