NY State Senate Bill 2021-S2582

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

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to codes
Jan 21, 2021	referred to codes

2021-S2582 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Codes
Law Section:: Criminal Procedure Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §180.20, CP L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2019-2020: S4418
2023-2024: S2528
2025-2026: S3452

2021-S2582 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Allows for the removal of a criminal action against a veteran to a veterans treatment court in the same or an adjacent county.

2021-S2582 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S2582

SPONSOR: HELMING
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to the removal
of a criminal action to a veterans treatment court

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of the bill is to allow for the removal of a criminal action
against a veteran to a veterans' court in the same or adjacent county.
The measure only applies to counties outside New York City and removal
may only be done with the consent of the court, the defendant and prose-
cutor.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Establishes the legislative findings.

Sections 2: Amend the Criminal Procedure Law to authorize for the
removal of a criminal action against a veteran to a veteran's court in

the same or adjacent county. Such court must be designated as a veter-
ans' treatment court by the Chief Administrator of the Courts.

Section 3: States that the Chief Administrator of the Courts shall
establish an appropriate amount of veterans treatment courts to fulfill
the purposes of this legislation

Section 4: Sets an immediate effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Studies have shown that at least twenty percent of the

1.6 million troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2001-2008
have faced serious mental health injuries such as post-traumatic stress-
disorder, traumatic brain injury or major depression (Invisible Wounds
of war, Summary and Recommendations for Addressing Psychological and
Cognitive Injuries, Rand Corporation, Center for Military Health Policy
Research, 2008). These veterans often do not have access to the support
services that may be available to them.  Their disorders lead to higher
rates of divorce, drug and alcohol abuse and incarceration. After recog-
nizing a growing problem with low level criminal conduct committed by
servicemen returning from military service, Erie County started the
nation's first veterans' court in 2008. That experience has established
that veterans are ideal candidates for diversion because they are often
able to be connected to benefits and treatment earned through military
service.  The court has been the model for veterans courts instituted in
other counties in New York and throughout the nation.

The veterans court is a hybrid drug and mental health court that serves
veterans who are struggling with addiction, mental illness or other
problems. When a qualified veteran is identified, usually at or before
arraignment, the qualifying defendant is diverted from the traditional
criminal prosecution into the more specialized treatment path of the
veterans' court. Offenders are assessed by the Veterans Administration
in their local area, enrolled in a program that addresses their mental
health or substance abuse issues and then meet with a team including the
judge, veteran mentors and other service providers. Judges see the
veterans once a week or every two weeks as they progress toward mental
fitness or sobriety until their treatment program is completed. The
process usually extends from 14 to 18 months, and recidivism rates for
veterans who complete the program are consistently low.

Although there are 31 veterans courts in New York State, veterans who
are arrested in jurisdictions that do not have a veterans' court are not
able to use the special services such courts provide. This measure is
designed to help alleviate that problem by allowing these services to be
made available to veterans in nearby communities that technically fall
outside a court's regular, jurisdiction.

(http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/problem_ solving/vet/courts.shtml)
(https://nyshealthfoundation.org/wp-content/ uploads/2017/12/veterans-t
reatment-courts-newyork-state-roadmap-l.pdf)

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2019-2020: S.4418 referred to Codes

2016: S.5677 committed to Rules

2015: S.5677 passed Senate

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None. There is potential for savings over long term use of these courts.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.

2021-S2582 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2582
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 21, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. HELMING -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
 
 AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to  the  removal
   of a criminal action to a veterans treatment court
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature  finds  and  declares
 that New York, along with the rest of the country, owes an enduring debt
 to the brave men and women who have served in our nation's armed forces.
 Their  service  in  defense  of our country and its ideals must never be
 forgotten. We also must not fail to recognize that when veterans  return
 from  foreign  conflicts their transition to civilian life is not always
 an easy one and can be marked  by  depression,  other  forms  of  mental
 illness  and  substance  abuse.  Studies  have  shown  that the trauma a
 soldier suffers while deployed is a major  contributing  factor  to  low
 level, but often persistent, criminal activity.
   New  York  stands in the vanguard for treating veterans whose criminal
 conduct is linked to their military service. In 2008, the nation's first
 veterans treatment court was started  in  the  Buffalo  city  court.  By
 recognizing the root causes of many veterans' contacts with the criminal
 justice  system  and  applying  proven  resources, including counseling,
 treatment for drug or alcohol addiction, hands-on assistance with  hous-
 ing  needs and job training and placement, we have led the way in reduc-
 ing recidivism among returning veterans. Starting with that single court
 in Buffalo, the veterans treatment court has become the model  for  many
 other  states.  While  New York now has twenty veterans treatment courts
 and at least two additional courts in the planning stage, not all of New
 York's veterans live in a jurisdiction that currently has such a  court.
 We can do better.
   In  order  to broaden the availability of veterans treatment courts to
 qualified veterans, this act would authorize the transfer of a  criminal

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

                                                            LBD04648-01-1

 S. 2582                             2
 
 case  against  a  qualified veteran whose charges are pending in a local
 criminal court that is not a veterans treatment court to  another  local
 criminal  court  within  the  same  county  that is a veterans treatment
 court.  Following  the successful "drug hub court" model, the case could
 only be transferred on the application of the defendant,  and  with  the
 consent  of  the  court and district attorney. Recognizing that resource
 constraints and the need for extensive planning and  coordination  among
 the  judiciary  and  local,  state and federal agencies have limited the
 availability of veterans treatment courts in  certain  jurisdictions  in
 the  state,  this measure also would permit a qualified veteran to apply
 to have his or her criminal case transferred  to  a  veterans  treatment
 court  located  in  an  adjoining  county. This will ensure the broadest
 possible reach of every existing veterans treatment court,  and  send  a
 signal  that  New York and its courts are committed to acknowledging and
 serving the special needs of the greatest number of qualified  veterans.
 In  practical  terms,  the  act  would  immediately more than double the
 number of counties where veterans charged with criminal  offenses  would
 have access to the proven benefits of a veterans treatment court.
   § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 180.20 of the criminal procedure law, as
 amended  by  chapter  67  of  the  laws  of  2000, is amended to read as
 follows:
   3. Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the  contrary,  in
 any  county  outside  a city having a population of one million or more,
 upon or after arraignment of a defendant on a felony  complaint  pending
 in  a local criminal court having preliminary jurisdiction thereof, such
 court may, upon motion of the defendant and  with  the  consent  of  the
 district  attorney,  order  that the action be removed from the court in
 which the matter is pending to another local criminal court in the  same
 county which has been designated a drug court by the chief administrator
 of  the  courts,  OR TO ANOTHER COURT IN THE SAME COUNTY OR AN ADJOINING
 COUNTY THAT HAS BEEN DESIGNATED A VETERANS TREATMENT COURT BY THE  CHIEF
 ADMINISTRATOR  OF  THE COURTS, and such drug court OR VETERANS TREATMENT
 COURT may then dispose of such felony complaint pursuant to  this  arti-
 cle;  provided,  however,  that  an  order  of removal issued under this
 subdivision shall not take effect until five days  after  the  date  the
 order  is issued unless, prior to such effective date, the drug court OR
 VETERANS TREATMENT COURT notifies the court that issued the order that:
   (a) it will not accept the action, in which event the order shall  not
 take effect, or
   (b)  it will accept the action on a date prior to such effective date,
 in which event the order shall take effect upon such prior date.
   Upon providing notification pursuant to paragraph (a) or (b)  of  this
 subdivision,  the  drug court OR VETERANS TREATMENT COURT shall promptly
 give notice to the defendant, his or her counsel and the district attor-
 ney.
   § 3. To the extent practicable, the chief administrator of the  courts
 shall  establish  such  number  of  veterans  treatment courts as may be
 necessary to fulfill the purposes of this act.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S2582

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Codes Committee

2021-S2582 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S2582 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S2582 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S2582 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S2582

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Pamela Helming

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Codes Committee

2021-S2582 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S2582 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S2582 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S2582 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments