S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    303
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Correction
 
 AN ACT establishing the New York state commission to end mass incarcera-
   tion and to prevent violence
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Legislative intent. The United States has the largest pris-
 on population in the world as well as the highest per-capita  incarcera-
 tion  rate.  In  the  United  States,  the crime rate is not much higher
 compared to that in Western Europe. However, the incarceration  rate  is
 three  or  four times higher even though the crime rate is lower than at
 any time since the mid-1960s, and the  United  States  has  incarcerated
 seven  times  as  many people since that time while making up about five
 percent of the world's population, and has nearly twenty-one percent  of
 the  world's  prisoners. African Americans are incarcerated at more than
 five times the rate of whites. The imprisonment rate of  African  Ameri-
 cans  for  drug  charges  is  almost six times that of whites even while
 African Americans and whites use drugs at similar rates, and if  African
 Americans  and  Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates as whites,
 prison and jail populations would be reduced by almost forty percent. It
 shall be the policy of the state of New York to end  mass  incarceration
 and to deter violent crime for the purpose of justice and public safety.
   §  2.  A temporary state commission, to be known as the New York state
 commission to end mass incarceration and to prevent violence, is  hereby
 created to investigate, evaluate and make recommendations concerning how
 to  reduce  the New York prison population and the incidences of violent
 crime in New York state.
   § 3. (a) The commission shall consist  of  seventeen  members,  to  be
 appointed  as follows: nine members to be appointed by the governor, one
 of whom shall be the chair; three members to be appointed by the  tempo-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD01178-01-5
 A. 303                              2
 
 rary president of the senate; one member appointed by the senate minori-
 ty  leader;  three members appointed by the speaker of the assembly; and
 one member appointed by the assembly minority leader.
   (b)  The  members  of the commission shall receive no compensation for
 their services, but shall be allowed their actual and necessary expenses
 incurred in the performance of their duties under this act. The  commis-
 sion  may  employ  and  at pleasure remove such personnel as it may deem
 necessary for the performance of its functions  and  fix  their  compen-
 sation within the amounts made available by appropriation therefor.
   § 4. Specifically the commission shall investigate:
   (a) how to reduce the New York prison population based on fairness and
 justice by exploring various topics, including, but not limited to:
   (1) operations of the criminal justice system;
   (2) the impact of the war on drugs;
   (3)  racial  inequities  throughout  the  state  of  New York criminal
 justice system;
   (4) the impact of economic and social inequalities;
   (5) reduced mandatory sentences and sentencing reform generally;
   (6) more sentencing flexibility for judges;
   (7) reducing  the  post-release  impact  of  imprisonment  by  banning
 employers  from  asking about prison histories and providing more access
 to employment, education, housing,  social  services  and  other  public
 benefits;
   (8) drug and alcohol addictions, and mental illness treatment in pris-
 on;
   (9) drug and alcohol addictions, and mental illness treatment alterna-
 tives to prison;
   (10) the impact of privately-owned prisons;
   (11)  humane treatment of prisoners and safe and healthy prison condi-
 tions;
   (12) spread of HIV and AIDS in prisons;
   (13) policies that have increased costs to prisoners such  as  use  of
 phones  or  purchasing supplies, which discriminate against lower income
 incarcerated individuals; and
   (14) bail reform; and
   (b) how to reduce the incidences of violent crime in New York state by
 examining various topics, including, but not limited to:
   (1) providing body cams for police;
   (2) supporting community policing;
   (3) improving police training;
   (4) increasing educational and  job  training  opportunities  for  the
 at-risk population;
   (5) reducing high school dropout rates;
   (6) additional employment opportunities;
   (7) social work-related support systems;
   (8) preventative violent crime measures;
   (9) increasing individual and community awareness programs;
   (10)  stricter  gun  laws  aimed  at  keeping guns from criminals, the
 mentally impaired,  and  children,  and  to  prevent  accidents  through
 enhanced training and regulations;
   (11) increasing use of data and information technology;
   (12) additional investments in police, schools, and re-entry programs;
   (13) the relationship between drugs and alcohol with violent crime;
   (14) gang violence;
   (15) how to combat racial profiling; and
   (16) reducing blighted housing.
 A. 303                              3
 
   §  5.  (a)  For the accomplishment of its purposes, the commission may
 meet and hold public and/or  private  hearings  within  or  without  the
 state, and shall have all the powers of a legislative committee pursuant
 to  the  legislative  law. The commission is authorized and empowered to
 undertake  any studies, inquiries, surveys or analyses it may deem rele-
 vant through its own personnel or in cooperation with  or  by  agreement
 with any other public or private agency.
   (b)  To  the  maximum  extent feasible, the commission may request and
 shall be entitled to receive and shall utilize and be provided with such
 facilities, resources and data from any court in the state and from  any
 subdivision,  department,  board,  bureau, commission, office, agency or
 other instrumentality of the state or of any political subdivision ther-
 eof as it deems necessary or desirable for the proper execution  of  its
 powers and duties and to effectuate the purposes set forth in this act.
   (c)  The  commission  is hereby authorized and empowered to enter into
 any agreements and to do and perform any acts  that  may  be  necessary,
 desirable  or  proper  to  carry out the purposes and objectives of this
 act.
   § 6. The commission shall make recommendations and  a  report  of  its
 findings.  The  commission shall submit such recommendations and report,
 including any recommendations for legislative  action  as  it  may  deem
 necessary  and  appropriate, to the governor, the temporary president of
 the senate and the speaker of the assembly, and made  public  online  on
 the  governor's website no later than December first, two thousand twen-
 ty-six.
   § 7. This act shall take effect immediately.