New York A 3317: Relates to the implementation of a food security, empowerment and economic development program

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 
A03317 Summary:

BILL NOA03317 

&nbsp

SAME ASNo Same As

&nbsp

SPONSORSmith

&nbsp

COSPNSRMikulin, Morinello, DeStefano, Tague, Brabenec, McDonough

&nbsp

MLTSPNSR

&nbsp

Amd §§1012, 1017, 1022, 1027 & 1028, Fam Ct Act

&nbsp

Protects a parent who is a victim of domestic violence from having children removed from their custody if they reported the abuse.

Go to top A03317 Actions:

BILL NOA03317 

&nbsp

01/27/2025referred to children and families

01/07/2026referred to children and families

Go to topA03317 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topA03317 Floor&nbspVotes:

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

Go to topA03317 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 3317

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN ASSEMBLY

 January 27, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by M. of A. SMITH, MIKULIN, MORINELLO, DeSTEFANO, TAGUE,
 BRABENEC, McDONOUGH -- read once and referred to the Committee on
 Children and Families

 AN ACT to amend the family court act, in relation to the basis for
 removal of children and the creation of "Melinda's Law"

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

 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "Melinda's
 2 Law".
 3 § 2. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds and declares
 4 that in cases of domestic violence, the abuse sometimes moves from the
 5 spouse to the children. Once the abusive spouse begins to over-discip-
 6 line the children, the abusive spouse will often use threats or the
 7 removal of the children by child protective services as a means to
 8 compel subjugation from the non-abusive spouse. In addition, the abusive
 9 spouse prevents the reporting of such incidents to child protective
 10 services by making the non-abusive spouse an accomplice in this abuse.
 11 Under this threat, children are subjected to escalating abuse that could
 12 have been prevented if the non-abusive spouse had a safe harbor to
 13 report such abuse at the early stages without fear of losing their chil-
 14 dren. By this act the legislature intends to take such tool away from
 15 the abusive spouse by providing the non-abusive spouse a way to report
 16 such incidents without fear of having their children removed from their
 17 custody. The sequence of events above are an apt description of "Melin-
 18 da". Melinda is a woman suffering from domestic violence. She had been
 19 abused by her husband over a twenty-year period. The abuse had seen
 20 verbal, psychological, and physical. She took the abuse in the belief
 21 that her children needed a father. Eventually the abuse was transferred
 22 to the children. It started with excessive spanking, locking a young
 23 teenager in the basement, and pushing a five-year-old to the ground.
 24 Melinda confronted her husband and put herself between her husband and

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD01477-01-5

 A. 3317 2

 1 her children resulting in a black-eye to Melinda. She told her husband
 2 that she would not let him hit the children and would call the police
 3 and have him arrested. Her husband responded that if she called the
 4 police, her children would be taken away from her by child protective
 5 services. The husband than graduated to hitting his teenage son with a
 6 wooden rod that left welts. The abuse in this cycle of domestic violence
 7 is escalated over time when the abusive spouse believes that the non-a-
 8 busive spouse or caretaker is afraid to report such abuse, under the
 9 fear of losing their children. By creating a safe harbor under Melinda's
 10 Law we have the opportunity to prevent the escalation of abuse to both
 11 the spouse victim and the children who are the victims of domestic
 12 violence.
 13 § 3. Section 1012 of the family court act is amended by adding two new
 14 subdivisions (o) and (p) to read as follows:
 15 (o) "Domestic violence" means:
 16 (i) any conduct which would constitute an offense in the penal law,
 17 and created a substantial risk of physical or emotional harm, regardless
 18 of whether such injury occurred; or
 19 (ii) any other abuse, including but not limited to verbal, emotional
 20 or psychological abuse