Senate Bill S7215

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Establishes the New York state community commission on reparations remedies

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Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance 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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2021-S7215 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:
A9435
Current Committee:
Senate Finance
Law Section:
Civil Rights
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:
2017-2018: A7274
2019-2020: A3080

2021-S7215 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to acknowledging the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the city of New York and the state of New York; establishes the New York state community commission on reparations remedies to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, the impact of these forces on living African-Americans and to make recommendations on appropriate remedies; provides for the repeal of such provisions.

2021-S7215 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S7215 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7215
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               June 7, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. BRISPORT -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality  and
   inhumanity  of  slavery  in  the city of New York and the state of New
   York; to establish the New York state community commission on  repara-
   tions remedies, to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de
   jure  and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-
   Americans, and the impact of these forces on living  African-Americans
   and  to  make determinations regarding compensation; and providing for
   the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  This act shall be known and may be cited as the "New York
 state community commission on reparations remedies".
   § 2. Legislative intent.  Contrary to what many people believe,  slav-
 ery  was  not  just  a southern institution. Prior to the American Revo-
 lution, there were more enslaved Africans in New York City than  in  any
 other city except Charleston, South Carolina. During this period, slaves
 accounted for 20% of the population of New York and approximately 40% of
 colonial  New York's households owned slaves. These slaves were an inte-
 gral part of the population which settled and developed what we now know
 as the state of New York.
   The first slaves arrived in New Amsterdam, a Dutch  settlement  estab-
 lished  at  the  southern  tip  of  Manhattan Island, around 1627. These
 enslaved Africans did not belong to  individuals,  but  worked  for  the
 Dutch  West  India Company. The Dutch East India Company had established
 Fort Amsterdam, a fortification located  on  the  southern  tip  of  the
 island  of  Manhattan,  for  the  purpose of defending the company's fur
 trade operations in the North River, now known as the Hudson  River.  In
 1624,  New Amsterdam became a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic
 and it was designated the capital of the province in 1625.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

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