New York A 296: Enacts the "New York state phoenix act"

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A00296 Summary:

BILL NOA00296 

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SAME ASSAME AS S03909

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SPONSORCruz

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COSPNSRBurdick, Simon, Glick, Raga, Zaccaro, Zinerman, Levenberg

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MLTSPNSR

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Amd §30.10, CP L; amd §§214-b & 840, Exec L

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Enacts the "New York State Phoenix Act"; extends the statute of limitations for felony family offenses to ten years and misdemeanor family offenses to five years.

Go to top A00296 Actions:

BILL NOA00296 

&nbsp

01/08/2025referred to codes

01/07/2026referred to codes

Go to topA00296 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topA00296 Floor&nbspVotes:

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

Go to topA00296 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 296

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN ASSEMBLY

 (Prefiled)

 January 8, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by M. of A. CRUZ, BURDICK, SIMON, GLICK, RAGA, ZACCARO,
 ZINERMAN, LEVENBERG -- read once and referred to the Committee on
 Codes

 AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law and the executive law, in
 relation to enacting the "New York State Phoenix Act"

 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 the "New York
 2 State Phoenix Act".
 3 § 2. Legislative findings. The legislature finds and declares all of
 4 the following:
 5 1. Domestic violence is a pattern of coercive behavior and tactics
 6 used by someone against their intimate partner in an attempt to gain or
 7 maintain power and control and types of abuse can include physical,
 8 sexual, emotional, psychological, technological and economic abuse or
 9 threats of actions.
 10 2. On average, one in three women and one in four men in the United
 11 States experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate
 12 partner in their lifetime.
 13 3. Between six percent and fourteen percent of male offenders of
 14 domestic violence and between 23 percent and 37 percent of female offen-
 15 ders of domestic violence report they had been physically or sexually
 16 abused before the age of 18.
 17 4. When domestic violence occurs in New York state, the time victims
 18 have to report the incident to law enforcement to initiate criminal
 19 proceedings varies depending on the type of crime committed.
 20 5. Research demonstrates that survivors of domestic violence who were
 21 hesitant to call law enforcement frequently cite fear of reprisal,
 22 eviction, arrest, embarrassment, immigration status and fear of losing
 23 custody of their children as reasons for their hesitation.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD00160-01-5

 A. 296 2

 1 6. Due to systemic racism, which affects social structures, laws and
 2 policies, Black men and Black women experience domestic violence at
 3 higher rates than other communities. Due to distrust in government agen-
 4 cies or law enforcement due to years of discrimination and abuse, Black
 5 victims experiencing domestic violence are less likely to call law
 6 enforcement due to fears of their partner being brutalized or killed by
 7 the police. On average, Black men are 2.5 times more likely to be killed
 8 by police than white men, and Black women are 1.4 times more likely to
 9 be killed by police than white women.
 10 7. Black women who report crime to law enforcement are more likely to
 11 be criminalized, prosecuted and incarcerated while trying to navigate
 12 and survive the conditions of violence in their lives. Compared to other
 13 groups, Black women are 80% more likely to be convicted of killing their
 14 abusive partner when defending themselves from abuse.
 15 8. Law enforcement officers often have initial contact with victims of
 16 domestic violence and such response should be viewed as a serious call
 17 for service and an opportunity to provide life-saving engagement with
 18 victims and connection to community-based supportive services.
 19 9. It is the intent of the legislature to allow for victims of domes-
 20 tic violence to seek justice by extending the statute of limitations for
 21 reporting family offenses to law enforcement.
 22 10. It is the intent of the legislature to ensure law enforcement
 23 p