NY State Senate Bill 2025-S5293

Senate Bill S5293

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to public health emergency allowances against sentences for certain incarcerated individuals

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction 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
Feb 20, 2025	referred to crime victims, crime and correction

2025-S5293 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Crime Victims, Crime And Correction
Law Section:: Correction Law
Laws Affected:: Add §803-c, Cor L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2021-2022: S3805
2023-2024: S4341

2025-S5293 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to public health emergency allowances against sentences for certain incarcerated individuals; allows up to twelve months of public health emergency allowances to be given to incarcerated individuals during a public health crisis.

2025-S5293 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5293

SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the correction law, in relation to public health emer-
gency allowances against sentences for certain incarcerated individuals

 
PURPOSE::

To decrease the likelihood of transmission of a communicable or infec-
tious disease during a public health crisis in state correctional facil-
itates by creating a mechanism of release for certain incarcerated indi-
viduals.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::

Section 1 amends the corrections law by adding a new section 803-c.

Section 2 provides an effective date.

JUSTIFICATION::

COVID-19 hits hardest in dense population centers or clusters where
people gather in close proximity. It is advised to maintain social
distance of at least 6 feet to mitigate the possibility of contracting
the virus, but it is nearly impossible to do so in correctional facili-
ties. The state's correctional facilities, by design and nature, lack
space for movement, and thus, COVID-19 is spreading within New York's
incarcerated population at a higher rate than the general population.
Mechanisms must be in place to lower the population in these facilities
in the case of a public health emergency, like COVID-19. This bill
creates a "public health allowance" credited against an inmate's term
served during a public health emergency of up to one year, allowing
individuals close to the end of a sentence of incarceration to secure
release in an effort to decrease the likelihood of transmission of a
communicable or infectious disease.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::

S.4341 of 2023-2024; Referred to Crime Victims, Crime and Correction;

S.3805 of 2021-22: New Bill, Referred to Crime Victims, Crime and
Correction

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS::

Will save the state money by lowering the prison population and lowering
medical costs for incarcerated people.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE::

Immediately.

2025-S5293 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5293
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 20, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed  to  be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and
   Correction
 
 AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to public  health  emer-
   gency  allowances  against sentences for certain incarcerated individ-
   uals

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The correction law is amended by adding a new section 803-c
 to read as follows:
   §  803-C. PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY ALLOWANCES AGAINST INDETERMINATE AND
 DETERMINATE SENTENCES. 1. EVERY PERSON CONFINED IN AN INSTITUTION OF THE
 DEPARTMENT OR A FACILITY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HYGIENE SERVING  AN
 INDETERMINATE  OR  DETERMINATE SENTENCE OF IMPRISONMENT, EXCEPT A PERSON
 SERVING A SENTENCE WITH A  MAXIMUM  TERM  OF  LIFE  IMPRISONMENT,  SHALL
 RECEIVE  A  PUBLIC  HEALTH  EMERGENCY TIME ALLOWANCE AGAINST THE TERM OR
 MAXIMUM TERM OF SUCH PERSON'S SENTENCE IMPOSED BY THE COURT. SUCH ALLOW-
 ANCES SHALL BE GRANTED FOR TIME SERVED DURING A PUBLIC HEALTH  EMERGENCY
 IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS SECTION IF:
   (A)  THE  GOVERNOR  DECLARES A STATE OF DISASTER EMERGENCY PURSUANT TO
 SECTION TWENTY-EIGHT OF THE EXECUTIVE LAW IN  RESPONSE  TO  SUCH  PUBLIC
 HEALTH EMERGENCY;
   (B)  THE  PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY ARISES AS A RESULT OF A COMMUNICABLE
 OR INFECTIOUS DISEASE; AND
   (C) THE PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY RESULTS IN THE MODIFICATION OF CORREC-
 TIONAL FACILITY OPERATIONS.
   2. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY SUBDIVISION THREE  OF  THIS  SECTION,  PUBLIC
 HEALTH  EMERGENCY ALLOWANCES AWARDED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS
 SECTION SHALL PROVIDE FURTHER REMISSION FROM BOTH THE MAXIMUM AND  MINI-
 MUM  TERM  OF  AN  INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL'S SENTENCE AT THE RATE OF SIX
 MONTHS FOR EACH MONTH, OR PORTION THEREOF,  SERVED  DURING  A  STATE  OF
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD09893-01-5

 S. 5293                             2
 
 DISASTER  EMERGENCY DECLARED BY THE GOVERNOR PURSUANT TO SECTION TWENTY-
 EIGHT OF THE EXECUTIVE LAW IN RESPONSE TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.
   3.  PUBLIC  HEALTH  EMERGENCY ALLOWANCES SHALL NOT BE AVAILABLE TO ANY
 PERSON SERVING AN INDETERMINATE OR DETERMINATE SENTENCE AUTHORIZED FOR A
 SEX OFFENSE UNDER ARTICLE ONE HUNDRED THIRTY OF THE PENAL LAW.
   4. AN INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL SHALL NOT BE  AWARDED  A  PUBLIC  HEALTH
 EMERGENCY  ALLOWANCE  IN  EXCESS  OF  TWELVE MONTHS OF REMISSION FOR ANY
 SINGLE PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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