NY State Senate Bill 2021-S7329

Senate Bill S7329

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Prohibits the governor from granting himself or herself or any person involved with furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a reprieve, commutation or pardon

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Judiciary 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

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 01, 2022	opinion referred to judiciary
Jan 28, 2022	to attorney-general for opinion
Jan 05, 2022	referred to judiciary
Nov 17, 2021	opinion referred to judiciary
Oct 27, 2021	to attorney-general for opinion
Aug 16, 2021	referred to rules

co-Sponsors

2021-S7329 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A8234
Current Committee:: Senate Judiciary
Law Section:: Constitution, Concurrent Resolutions to Amend
Laws Affected:: Amd Art 4 §4, Constn
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S5946, A4315

2021-S7329 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Prohibits the governor from granting himself or herself or any person involved with furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a reprieve, commutation or pardon.

2021-S7329 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S7329

SPONSOR: REICHLIN-MELNICK
 
TITLE OF BILL:

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY proposing an amendment
to section 4 of article 4 of the constitution, in relation to prohibit-
ing the governor from granting himself or herself or any person involved
with furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a reprieve, commu-
tation or pardon

 
PURPOSE:

To prohibit the governor from granting himself or herself or any person
involved with furthering the illegal conduct of the governor a reprieve,
commutation or pardon.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of the resolution amends § 4 article 4 of the state consti-
tution to prohibit a sitting governor from granting themselves or any

person who was involved in furthering the illegal conduct of the gover-
nor a reprieve, commutation, or pardon.

Section two refers the resolution to the next legislative session, in
conformity with the requirements of the constitution.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Pursuant to the state constitution the Governor has the power to grant
reprieves, commutations, and pardons after conviction for all offenses
except treason and cases of impeachment. The courts of NYS have held the
Governor's power to grant pardons, reprieves, and commutations is unlim-
ited and cannot be limited by statute or court decision. Thus, a sitting
Governor has the authority to pardon people who may have furthered the
Governor's own unlawful activity.

Additionally, while the public officers law provides that any office
holder convicted of a felony automatically vacates their office, a
Governor can be convicted of various misdemeanors and remain in office.
Thus, a sitting Governor convicted of misdemeanor offenses such as sexu-
al misconduct, forcible touching, or certain types of sexual abuse will
remain in office and could even pardon themselves.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Resolved (If the Assembly concur), That the foregoing amendment be
referred to the first regular legislative session convening after the
next succeeding general election of members of the assembly, and, in
conformity with section 1 of article 19 of the constitution, be
published for 3 months previous to the time of such election.

2021-S7329 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7329
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              August 16, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. REICHLIN-MELNICK -- read twice and ordered printed,
   and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
             CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY
 
 proposing an amendment to section 4 of article 4 of the constitution, in
   relation to prohibiting the governor from granting himself or  herself
   or  any  person  involved  with  furthering the illegal conduct of the
   governor a reprieve, commutation or pardon
 
   Section 1. Resolved (if the Assembly concur), That section 4 of  arti-
 cle 4 of the constitution be amended to read as follows:
   §  4.  The  governor  shall  have the power to grant reprieves, commu-
 tations and pardons after conviction, for all  offenses  except  treason
 and   cases   of   impeachment,  upon  such  conditions  and  with  such
 restrictions and limitations, as he or she may think proper, subject  to
 such  regulations  as  may  be provided by law relative to the manner of
 applying for pardons. THE GOVERNOR SHALL NOT HAVE THE POWER TO  GRANT  A
 REPRIEVE, COMMUTATION OR PARDON TO HIMSELF OR HERSELF, OR TO ANY PERSONS
 INVOLVED  WITH FURTHERING ANY ILLEGAL OR UNLAWFUL CONDUCT OF SUCH GOVER-
 NOR. Upon conviction for treason,  the  governor  shall  have  power  to
 suspend  the execution of the sentence, until the case shall be reported
 to the legislature at its  next  meeting,  when  the  legislature  shall
 either  pardon,  or  commute  the  sentence, direct the execution of the
 sentence, or grant a  further  reprieve.  The  governor  shall  annually
 communicate  to  the  legislature  each case of reprieve, commutation or
 pardon granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which  the
 convict  was  convicted,  the sentence and its date, and the date of the
 commutation, pardon or reprieve.
   § 2. Resolved (if the Assembly concur), That the  foregoing  amendment
 be  referred  to  the  first regular legislative session convening after
 the next succeeding general election of members of  the  assembly,  and,
 in  conformity   with  section 1 of  article 19 of  the constitution, be
 published for 3 months previous to the time of such election.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD89149-01-1

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Senate Bill S7329

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Sponsored By

Elijah Reichlin-Melnick