NY State Senate Bill 2025-S5514

Senate Bill S5514

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Includes consideration of evidence of recent acts of aggravated cruelty to animals as a factor to be considered when determining whether grounds for a temporary extreme risk protection order exist

download bill text pdf

Current 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

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

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

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Feb 24, 2025	referred to judiciary

2025-S5514 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A6556
Current Committee:: Senate Judiciary
Law Section:: Civil Practice Law and Rules
Laws Affected:: Amd §6342, CPLR

2025-S5514 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Includes consideration of evidence of recent acts of aggravated cruelty to animals as a factor to be considered when determining whether grounds for a temporary extreme risk protection order exist.

2025-S5514 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5514

SPONSOR: HINCHEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to includ-
ing consideration of evidence of recent acts of aggravated cruelty to
animals as a factor to be considered when determining whether grounds
for a temporary extreme risk protection order exist

 
PURPOSE:

To add recent acts of aggravated cruelty to animals to the list of
determining factors for temporary extreme risk protection orders.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one amends Civil Practice Law section 6342 to add "recent acts
of aggravated cruelty to animals as defined in Agriculture and Markets
Law section 353-A" to the list of considerations used by a court to
determine whether to issue a temporary extreme risk protection order.

Section two is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Currently, Civil Practice Law lists criteria for courts to consider when
determining whether to issue a temporary extreme risk protection order
(TERPO.) These include but are not limited to threats of physical force,
reckless use or brandishing of firearms, recent or ongoing substance or
alcohol abuse, or other considerations. While the court may consider
other unlisted factors at its discretion, four states have explicitly
added animal cruelty to their statutes as this bill would do.

Both academic and law enforcement sources recognize a link between
cruelty to animals and violence against people. A 2021 article in the
FBI's Law Enforcement Bulletin characterizes recent research Into animal
abuse as showing "a well-documented link that it is a predictive or
co-occurring crime with violence against humans...and is associated with
other types of violent offenses," noting that increased awareness of
this connection "strengthens the identification and reduction of such
crimes."

The National Sheriffs' Association similarly notes the connection
between animal and human violence, including that 60% of families under
investigation for child abuse and 88% of those specifically investigated
for physical child abuse also reported instances of animal cruelty.

New York law recognizes this link in Family Court Act section 842,
allowing companion animals to be included in orders of protection.
Expanding the TERPO criteria to explicitly include cruelty to animals is
an important step in protecting New Yorkers by recognizing the strong
connection to violence against people.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2025-S5514 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5514
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 24, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. HINCHEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
 
 AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to includ-
   ing consideration of evidence of recent acts of aggravated cruelty  to
   animals  as a factor to be considered when determining whether grounds
   for a temporary extreme risk protection order exist
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.    Subdivision 2 of section 6342 of the civil practice law
 and rules, as added by chapter 19 of the laws of  2019,  is  amended  to
 read as follows:
   2.  In  determining  whether  grounds  for  a  temporary  extreme risk
 protection order exist, the court shall consider  any  relevant  factors
 including, but not limited to, the following acts of the respondent:
   (a)  a  threat  or  act  of violence or use of physical force directed
 toward self, the petitioner, or another person;
   (b) a violation or alleged violation of an order of protection;
   (c) any pending charge or conviction for an offense involving the  use
 of a weapon;
   (d)  the  reckless  use, display or brandishing of a firearm, rifle or
 shotgun;
   (e) any history of a violation of an extreme risk protection order;
   (f) evidence of recent or ongoing abuse of  controlled  substances  or
 alcohol; [or]
   (g)  evidence  of  recent  acquisition of a firearm, rifle, shotgun or
 other deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, or  any  ammunition  there-
 for[.]; OR
   (H)  EVIDENCE  OF  RECENT  ACTS  OF  AGGRAVATED  CRUELTY TO ANIMALS AS
 DEFINED IN SECTION THREE HUNDRED FIFTY-THREE-A OF  THE  AGRICULTURE  AND
 MARKETS LAW.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10188-01-5
 S. 5514                             2

 
   In  considering  the  factors  under this subdivision, the court shall
 consider the time that has elapsed since the occurrence of such  act  or
 acts and the age of the person at the time of the occurrence of such act
 or acts.
   For  the  purposes  of this subdivision, "recent" means within the six
 months prior to the date the petition was filed.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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.