NY State Senate Bill 2009-S2559

Senate Bill S2559

2009-2010 Legislative Session

Increases the amount of restitution or reparation allowed to be required by the court in the case of a conviction for a felony

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Codes Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 06, 2010	referred to codes
Feb 24, 2009	referred to codes

2009-S2559 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Codes
Law Section:: Penal Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §60.27, Pen L

2009-S2559 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Increases the amount of restitution or reparation allowed to be required by the court in the case of a conviction for a felony from $15,000 to $100,000.

2009-S2559 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S2559

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the penal law, in relation to the amount of
restitution payable to victims of felonies


 PURPOSE :

To increase the amount of restitution or reparation a court may award
the victim of a felony.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill increases the amount of restitution or
reparation available to the victim of a felony from $15,000 to
$100,000.

Section 2 of the bill establishes the effective date of this act.

 EXISTING LAW :

Currently, a court may not award, for restitution or reparation, more
than $15,000 to the victim of a felony. There is, however, an
exception to this provision if the restitution consists of an order

directing the return of money or reimbursement for medical expenses.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Victims of serious crimes often have a difficult time financially,
physically, or mentally moving on with their lives. In many cases,
courts can offer restitution. This generally helps crime victims to
put their lives back together.

Unfortunately, the restitution limit of $15,000 that is found in
section 60.27(5)(a) of the Penal Law is too low to make a difference
to some crime victims. Recently, a Syracuse-area judge was unable to
award an arson victim more than $15,000 in restitution when the loss
to the victim was far greater than $15,000. That case involved five
separate instances of arson, and the estimated loss for one of those
fires was $350,000.  For the other four fires, the estimated loss went
from a low of$45,000 to a high of $200,000. This act raises that limit
to a more appropriate level.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

S.6838/A.10507 of 2005-2006
S.2420/A.4776 of 2007-2008

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding
the date on which it shall have become a law.

2009-S2559 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  2559

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            February 24, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  DeFRANCISCO -- 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 the amount of  restitution
  payable to victims of felonies

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 5  of  section  60.27  of  the
penal  law, as amended by chapter 499 of the laws of 2005, is amended to
read as follows:
  (a) Except upon consent of the defendant or as provided  in  paragraph
(b)  of  this subdivision, or as a condition of probation or conditional
discharge as provided in paragraph (g) of  subdivision  two  of  section
65.10  of this chapter, the amount of restitution or reparation required
by the court shall not exceed [fifteen] ONE HUNDRED thousand dollars  in
the  case  of  a conviction for a felony, or ten thousand dollars in the
case of a conviction for any offense other than a felony.  Notwithstand-
ing  the  provisions  of  this  subdivision,  if  an officer of a school
district is convicted of violating any section of  article  one  hundred
fifty-five  of this chapter where the victim of such crime is such offi-
cer's school district, the court may require an amount of restitution up
to the full amount of the fruits of the offense or reparation up to  the
full  amount  of  the  actual out-of-pocket loss suffered by the victim,
provided further that in such case the provisions of  paragraph  (b)  of
this subdivision shall not apply.
  S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
ing the date on which it shall have become a law.


 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD09648-01-9

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