Senate Bill S155

Signed By Governor
2023-2024 Legislative Session

Requires the use of gender-neutral terms in law

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status Via A1142 - Signed by Governor

  • 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

Do you support this bill?

Please enter your contact information

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
Votes

co-Sponsors

2023-S155 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:
A1142
Law Section:
General Construction Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §22, Gen Con L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:
S8440, A9428

2023-S155 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires the use of gender-neutral terms in law.

2023-S155 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S155 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    155
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 4, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sens. KRUEGER, HOYLMAN, JACKSON -- read twice and ordered
   printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on  Judici-
   ary
 
 AN  ACT  to amend the general construction law, in relation to requiring
   the use of gender-neutral terms in law

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Section  22  of the general construction law, as added by
 chapter 730 of the laws of 1981, is amended to read as follows:
   § 22. Gender. Whenever words  of  the  masculine  or  feminine  gender
 appear  in any law, rule or regulation, unless the sense of the sentence
 indicates otherwise, they shall be deemed to  refer  to  [both  male  or
 female]  persons  OF ANY GENDER. This construction shall apply to gender
 indicative suffixes or prefixes as well as to gender  indicative  words.
 Whenever  the  reference is to a corporation, board, body, group, organ-
 ization or other entity comprising more than one person or to an  assem-
 blage  of  persons  or  to  an  inanimate  object the reference shall be
 construed to be neuter in gender.  HEREAFTER, IN ANY  LAW,  RULE,  REGU-
 LATION,  ORDINANCE  OR  RESOLUTION, GENDERED TERMS SHALL NOT BE USED AND
 GENDER-NEUTRAL TERMS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO  "THEY",  "THEM"  AND
 "THEIRS", SHALL BE USED IN SUBSTITUTION THEREFOR AND WITH THE SAME FORCE
 AND  EFFECT; PROVIDED, HOWEVER, IF SUCH LAW, RULE, REGULATION, ORDINANCE
 OR RESOLUTION IS IN REFERENCE TO A SPECIFIC PERSON, THE LANGUAGE  REFER-
 RING  TO  SUCH  PERSON  SHALL  BE GENDERED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE GENDER
 IDENTITY OF SUCH PERSON.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01090-01-3

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.