BILL NUMBER: S5917

SPONSOR: SANDERS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the penal law, in relation to harassing certain employ-
ees of a transit agency or authority

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill will increase the safety of MTA employees by creating the new
crime of aggravated harassment in the second degree.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill would add a new subdivision 3-a to Section 240
30 of the Penal Law to provide that a person is guilty of aggravated
harassment in the second degree when they subject various transit
employees, such as bus drivers, to physical contact, including spitting
on them. It would be a class A misdemeanor.

Section two of the bill would provide that the act takes effect 90 days
              

after it becomes law.

 
EXISTING LAW:

The criminal conduct addressed by this bill is subject to lesser penal-
ties under the existing Penal Law.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Increasing the penalty for subjecting transit employees to physical
contact is intended to reduce these deplorable attacks including spit-
ting on bus drivers and other transit employees by imposing a more seri-
ous punishment. It would add a new Subdivision (3-a) to

Section 240 30 of the Penal Law to provide that the act of harassment,
including spitting, committed against certain transit employees shall
constitute the crime of aggravated harassment in the second degree, a
class A misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment up to one year.

Currently, spitting on a transit employee is prosecuted under Penal Law
240.26, harassment in the second degree, which is a violation, punisha-
ble by imprisonment up to only 15 days. And, since a violation is not a
crime, those convictions are sealed, so that the police do not know if
an offender has previously been convicted of spitting on transit employ-
ees. The specified transit employees in this bill are the same as those
listed in Penal Law 120.05 (assault in the second degree), which like-
wise imposes a greater penalty for assaulting certain transit employees.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2016: A9653 - Referred to Codes

2017-2018: A6443 - Referred to Codes

2019-2020: A3378 - Referred to Codes

A2021-2022: A4469 - Referred to Codes
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Section two of this bill states that this act shall take effect 90 days
after the date on which it shall have become law.