S 4620: Designates offenses against law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel as hate crimes.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4620 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 10, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. WEIK -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to designating offenses against law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel as hate crimes The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 2 and 4 of section 485.05 of the penal law, 2 as amended by chapter 8 of the laws of 2019, are amended to read as 3 follows: 4 1. A person commits a hate crime when [he or she] such person commits 5 a specified offense and either: 6 (a) intentionally selects the person against whom the offense is 7 committed or intended to be committed in whole or in substantial part 8 because of a belief or perception regarding the (i) race, color, 9 national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, reli- 10 gion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of a 11 person or (ii) because of actual or perceived employment as a law 12 enforcement officer, a firefighter or as emergency medical services 13 personnel, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct, or 14 (b) intentionally commits the act or acts constituting the offense in 15 whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding 16 the (i) race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity 17 or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual 18 orientation of a person or (ii) because of actual or perceived employ- 19 ment as a law enforcement officer, a firefighter or as emergency medical 20 services personnel, regardless of whether the belief or perception is 21 correct. 22 2. Proof of race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender 23 identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability or 24 sexual orientation or employment as a law enforcement officer, a fire- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD08219-01-5 
 S. 4620 2 1 fighter or as emergency medical services personnel of the defendant, the 2 victim or of both the defendant and the victim does not, by itself, 3 constitute legally sufficient evidence satisfying the people's burden 4 under paragraph (a) or (b) of subdivision one of this section. 5 4. For purposes of this section: 6 (a) the term "age" means sixty years old or more; 7 (b) the term "disability" means a physical or mental impairment that 8 substantially limits a major life activity; 9 (c) the term "gender identity or expression" means a person's actual 10 or perceived gender-related identity, appearance, behavior, expression, 11 or other gender-related characteristic regardless of the sex assigned to 12 that person at birth, including, but not limited to, the status of being 13 transgender; 14 (d) the term "law enforcement officer" means any active or retired 15 city or state law enforcement officer, peace officer, sheriff, deputy 16 sheriff, probation or parole officer, marshal, deputy, wildlife enforce- 17 ment agency, county or state correctional officer, fire marshal or 18 commissioned agent of the department of corrections and community super- 19 vision, as well as any federal law enforcement officer or employee, 20 whose permanent duties include making arrests, performing search and 21 seizures, execution of criminal arrest warrants, execution of civil 22 seizure warrants, any civil functions performed by sheriffs or deputy 23 sheriffs, enforcement of penal or traffic laws, or the care, custody, 24 control or supervision of incarcerated individuals; 25 (e) the term "firefighter" means (i) any firefighter regularly 26 employed by a fire department of any municipality of the state of New 27 York and (ii) any volunteer firefighter as defined in subdivision one of 28 section three of the volunteer firefighters' benefit law; and 29 (f) the term "emergency medical services personnel" means the person- 30 nel of a service or agency, whether paid or volunteer, engaged in 31 providing initial emergency medical assistance, including but not limit- 32 ed to first responders, emergency medical technicians and advanced emer- 33 gency medical technicians. 34 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.