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Home/Bills/S 501New York · 2025–2026 Legislative Session
Senate BillIntroduced

S 501: Requires the office of special investigation to conclude investigations into alleged criminal offenses committed by police officers resulting in a death and issue a report within sixty days.

New York · Senate · 2025–2026 Legislative Session · last verified January 10, 2026

What S 501 does, verified January 10, 2026

The bill aims to amend the Executive Law to provide more transparency and accountability in investigations conducted by the Office of Special Investigation. The Attorney General will have investigative authority and criminal jurisdiction over incidents, but may decline to investigate if the incident does not meet the requirements. If the Attorney General declines to investigate, they must provide written notice to the district attorney within 60 days. The Office of Special Investigation will issue a public report on its website within 60 days of initiating an investigation, including the results of the investigation. The report will also explain why the investigation was declined and provide recommendations for systemic or other reforms. The bill will take effect 60 days after it becomes a law.

Bill journey
1IntroducedCurrent
2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: REFERRED TO FINANCE (2026-01-07)Alert me
Recent actions2 total · showing 2
Jan. 07, 2026REFERRED TO FINANCE
Jan. 08, 2025REFERRED TO FINANCE
Latest bill textIntroduced version, January 8, 2025 · 458 words
  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 501 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. PALUMBO -- 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 the office of special investigation The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 6 of section 70-b of the executive law, 2 as added by chapter 95 of the laws of 2020, are amended to read as 3 follows: 4 2. The attorney general has investigative authority and criminal 5 jurisdiction under this section at the time of the death of the person 6 and the attorney general retains investigative authority and criminal 7 jurisdiction over the incident unless the attorney general determines 8 that such incident does not meet the requirements of this section. If 9 the attorney general determines the incident does not meet the require- 10 ments for the attorney general to have investigative authority and crim- 11 inal jurisdiction pursuant to this section, the attorney general shall, 12 [as soon as practicable] within sixty days, provide written notice of 13 such determination to the district attorney for the county in which the 14 incident occurred. 15 6. (a) For any incident under this section, the office of special 16 investigation shall issue a public report and post the report on its 17 website whenever the office of special investigation initiates an inves- 18 tigation and (i) the office of special investigation declines to present 19 evidence to a grand jury or (ii) the office of special investigation 20 does present evidence to a grand jury but the grand jury declines to 21 return indictment on any charges. The report will include, to the extent 22 possible and lawful, the results of the investigation of the incident. 23 Such report shall be issued within sixty days of the initiation of the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02115-01-5 

 S. 501 2 1 investigation; provided that such period may, for good cause shown, be 2 extended for thirty day intervals. 3 (b) The report shall also include: (i) with respect to subparagraph 4 (i) of paragraph (a) of this subdivision, an explanation as to why the 5 office of special investigation declined to present evidence to a grand 6 jury; and (ii) any recommendations for systemic or other reforms arising 7 from the investigation. 8 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall 9 have become a law. 

Text of S 501 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions
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