S 4346: Establishes a gang prevention coordination council to evaluate the needs and strengths of local governments in each county of the state relating to juvenile delinquency, gang activity, and gang violence and prevention, award grants to local government agencies and not-for-profit corporations; publish guidelines for local governments to implement evidence-based practices to prevent gang activity and prevent youth from joining gangs; makes related provisions.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4346 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 4, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to establishing a gang prevention coordination council The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 413 to 2 read as follows: 3 § 413. Gang prevention coordination council. 1. Definitions. For the 4 purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following 5 meanings: 6 a. "Council" means the gang prevention coordination council estab- 7 lished pursuant to this section. 8 b. "Gang" means an ongoing group, club, organization, or association 9 of five or more persons which satisfies each of the following criteria, 10 with no one criterion being sufficient to be considered a gang: 11 (1) One of the gang's primary purpose is the commission of one or more 12 penal code offenses; 13 (2) The members of the gang engage or have engaged within the past ten 14 years in a continuing series of penal code offenses described in, and 15 which includes three or more individual instances of such offenses; and 16 (3) The gang is identifiable by at least two of the following common- 17 alities: name of the association, sign, symbol, article of clothing, 18 style of dress, tattoo, code word, or other marking or identifying 19 factor. 20 c. "Gang activity" means actions, patterns of actions, and behavior 21 related to a gang. 22 2. Membership. a. The council shall consist of: 23 (1) The commissioner of education, or such commissioner's designee; 24 (2) The commissioner of health, or such commissioner's designee; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD05625-01-5 
 S. 4346 2 1 (3) The commissioner of mental health, or such commissioner's desig- 2 nee; 3 (4) The commissioner of homes and community renewal, or such commis- 4 sioner's designee; 5 (5) The commissioner of children and family services, or such commis- 6 sioner's designee; 7 (6) The superintendent of New York state police, or such superinten- 8 dent's designee; 9 (7) The chief judge of the court of appeals, or such chief judge's 10 designee; 11 (8) One family court judge, appointed by the chief judge of the court 12 of appeals; 13 (9) One criminal court judge, appointed by the chief judge of the 14 court of appeals; 15 (10) One representative from a public defender agency, appointed by 16 the governor; 17 (11) One district attorney, appointed by the governor; 18 (12) The president of the New York city housing authority, or such 19 president's designee; and 20 (13) The attorney general, or such attorney general's designee. 21 b. The governor shall designate the chair of the council in consulta- 22 tion with the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of the assem- 23 bly, the majority leader of the senate, and the minority leader of the 24 senate. 25 3. Powers and duties. The council shall: 26 a. have the power to hold public hearings; 27 b. hold at least one hearing each year in the counties of New York, 28 Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Albany, and Erie; 29 c. submit to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, and the major- 30 ity leader of the senate, and publish on its website, an annual report 31 on the needs and strengths of local governments in each county of the 32 state relating to juvenile delinquency, gang activity, and gang violence 33 prevention and intervention, provided such report shall be published no 34 later than the first of April in each year; 35 d. award grants to local government agencies and not-for-profit corpo- 36 rations pursuant to subdivision four of this section; 37 e. publish guidelines for local governments to implement evidence- 38 based practices to prevent gang activity and prevent youth from joining 39 gangs, including but not limited to: 40 (1) early childhood development services; 41 (2) family stabilization programs; 42 (3) youth and adolescent development services, including job training 43 and apprenticeship programs; 44 (4) health and mental health services for at risk youth; 45 (5) substance abuse and prevention services; 46 (6) programs to help youth cease engaging in criminal street gang 47 activity, such as tattoo removal services, outreach programs, and peace- 48 making activities; 49 (7) pre-release, post-release, and reentry services for incarcerated 50 youth; and 51 (8) other such practices, methods, and services the council may find 52 appropriate. 53 f. hire staff as the chair of the council may deem appropriate and 54 subject to appropriation; and 55 g. inspect data relating to criminal gang activity and youth gang 56 members from the office of children and family services, the state 
 S. 4346 3 1 police, local police departments, the state education department, local 2 school districts, and local child service agencies, or any other rele- 3 vant state or local agency. 4 4. Gang prevention coordination grants. a. A county, city, town, 5 village, school board, local police department, other local government 6 agency, or not-for-profit corporation may submit to the council an 7 application for the implementation of evidence-based practices in a 8 particular municipality to prevent gang activity and prevent youth from 9 joining gangs, pursuant to guidelines published by the council, by the 10 first of January each year. 11 b. The council shall award grants to applicants, subject to appropri- 12 ation, pursuant to an award schedule endorsed by a majority vote of the 13 council by the first of March each year, provided: 14 (1) no grant shall be awarded for more than a three-year period; 15 (2) no individual grant shall be in excess of ten million dollars; and 16 (3) the council shall distribute grants in an equitable manner based 17 on merit and the needs and strengths of each municipality. 18 5. Implementation. The comptroller shall have the power to audit 19 grants awarded by the council, and shall submit to the governor, the 20 speaker of the assembly, and the majority leader of the senate, and 21 shall post on the comptroller's website, a report on the effectiveness 22 of the grants in reducing the level of gang activity and preventing 23 youth from joining gangs. 24 6. Audits. The commissioner of children and family services shall 25 promulgate rules and regulations for the implementation of this section 26 within ninety days of the effective date of this section. 27 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.