BILL NUMBER:  S153

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to eligibility of
domestic partners for compensation from the crime victims' board

 PURPOSE :

This bill would allow people maintaining significant and long-term,
yet not legally formalized, relationships with homicide victims to be
eligible for compensation from the Crime Victims Board for actual out
of pocket losses and counseling expenses such people would include,
for example, elderly siblings or relatives sharing living quarters in
a mutually interdependent relationship, adult partners in longterm
committed relationships not formalized by marriage and those who have
parent-child relationships but have not entered into a formal adoption
arrangement.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 would amend section 624 of the Executive Law to include
domestic partner as a person who would be eligible for compensation
from the Crime Victims Board when the victim died as a direct result
of such crime.

              

Section 2 would amend section 624 of the Executive Law to add a new
subdivision defining domestic partner. Domestic partner is defined as
someone who is either in a domestic partnership, named as the
beneficiary or covered person under the other person's employment or
insurance benefits, or is dependent or mutually interdependent on the
other person for support.

Section 3 amends section 626 of the executive law to add counseling
for surviving family members who are already eligible under section
626 as an acceptable out of pocket loss.

Section 4 provides the effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Currently, the Crime Victims Board has no authority to compensate
family members of homicide victims unless such persons are a relative
listed explicitly in Exec. 1. sec. 624 or unless they are principally
dependent on the victim for financial support. In the absence of such
financial dependence, a long-term living companion, or a person in a
parent child relationship not formalized by an adoption order, may not
recover under the current statute.

A recent trend in New York has been to broaden the definition of
family to include persons who maintain long-term substantial
relationships but not formalized by marriage licenses or orders of
adoption. In fact, in response to the World Trade Center attack on
September 11, 2001, the Governor extended the definition of family to
domestic partners of victims of the attack in order to make them
eligible for compensation. In addition, BRASCHI V. STAHL ASSOCIATES
CO., 74 N.Y.2d 201, (1989), the Court of Appeals stated that for
purposes of protection from eviction under the New York City rent
control law, the term "family" not be rigidly restricted to those
people who have formalized their relationship by obtaining, for
instance, a marriage certificate or an adoption order.. but instead
should find its foundation in the reality of family life.

ID., at 211. Such persons are readily distinguishable from "mere
roommates",. ID. at 212. New York City recently initiated a new policy
on paid bereavement leave for City employees who live with a partner
outside of marriage. The impact of a partner's death despite the lack
of legal formalization of a relationship is recognized by this
legislation. Although the Crime Victims Board statute already defines
"family" very broadly,

Exec., L, sec. 621 (4), definition is currently used only for narrow
purposes and not to determine who should receive compensation for out
of pocket loss and counseling expenses, Those persons within this
broader definition of family are no less traumatized by the
crime-caused death of a person with whom they maintain a committed
relationship than are those who have legally formalized their
relationship prior to the commission of the crime.

By combining the existing statutory definition of "family" with a
requirement that the claimant show that he or she had a long-term
interdependent relationship with the victim, the statute would more
clearly reflect societal changes and would more fairly compensate
those whose lives are forever changed by the homicide of a loved one.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2016: S584A/A3694 - REFERRED TO FINANCE/passed assembly
2015:  S215/A4024 - REFERRED TO FINANCE/passed assembly CRIME
2014:  S584/A3694 - REFERRED TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND
CORRECTION/Passed Assembly
2013: S215/A4024 - REFERRED CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND CORRECTION/Passed
Assembly
2012: S629/A3592 - REFERRED TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND
CORRECTION/Passed Assembly
2011: S629/A3592 REFERRED TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND
CORRECTION/Passed Assembly
2010: S1422/A4089 (Schneiderman)- REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO
RULES/Passed Assembly
Also passed Assembly in 2009, and advanced to third reading in
Assembly from 2006-2008

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

The Crime Victims Board has estimated that approximately $28,000 per
year from existing appropriations would be required to cover awards to
the additional eligible claimants under this bill.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall have become law.