City Bar Supported Legislation Clears Hurdle with Passage in the Senate

With only 3 scheduled days remaining in the 2010 Legislative Session, a number of bills supported by the City Bar were passed by the Senate yesterday, clearing a major hurdle towards final enactment into law. First, a legislative package aimed at modernizing New York’s divorce laws was passed, including no-fault divorce legislation (S.3890-A) which would allow individuals to seek a divorce based on irreconcilable differences. No-fault divorce legislation has long been supported by the City Bar and would bring New York in line with the rest of the nation’s divorce laws. The bill passed by a very close margin of 32-29. Passage in the Assembly remains uncertain, however, as legislators in that house continue to debate their own versions of divorce reform.

Other bills passed by the Senate were:

• S.4429 which would enable victims of sex trafficking who are convicted of prostitution-related offenses as a result of being trafficked to move to vacate those prior conviction(s). Supported by the Committee on Sex and Law, this bill was passed by the Assembly in March and now awaits delivery to the Governor for his signature.
• S.5620-A is supported by the Committee on AIDS and the Committee on Drugs and the Law and would amend New York’s penal law to de-criminalize possession of a hypodermic syringe or needle that is lawfully possessed under New York’s public health laws but contains a residual amount of a controlled substance. This bill passed the Senate by a margin of 43-18. The bill is expected to pass the Assembly, as it did last year.
• S.7588 passed by a unanimous vote of 61-0. This legislation was first proposed by the Committee on Criminal Justice Operations and expands the geographical jurisdiction for crimes attendant to identity theft or unlawful possession of personal information. The bill awaits sponsorship and passage in the Assembly.