NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A3492
SPONSOR: Epstein
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to authorizing
certain public officials and members of the clergy to visit sex offender
civil confinement facilities
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
This bill amends section 10.10 of the mental hygiene law to permit state
legislators and other state officials to visit facilities where sex
offenders are civilly confined.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Currently legislators, the governor, judges and clergy, among others,
are permitted to enter New York prisons and jails at any time. The same
right of entry does not apply to secure mental units where convicted sex
offenders are placed by the state under civil confinement. This bill
would allow lawmakers to enter those facilities to evaluate the imple-
mentation and effect of the civil confinement law and to speak to staff
and inmates about the conditions of confinement and any problems that
might arise in those facilities.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF BILL:
2021-2022: A3114/S2056- referred to mental health/ REFERRED TO MENTAL
HEALTH
2020: A11031/S04567 - referred to mental health/ REFERRED TO MENTAL
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3492
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 3, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. EPSTEIN, K. BROWN -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Mental Health
AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to authorizing
certain public officials and members of the clergy to visit sex offen-
der civil confinement facilities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 10.10 of the mental hygiene law is amended by
2 adding a new subdivision (j) to read as follows:
3 (j) The following persons shall be authorized to visit at pleasure all
4 secure treatment facilities established under this article: governor and
5 lieutenant-governor, commissioner of general services, secretary of
6 state, comptroller and attorney-general, members of the legislature and
7 their accompanying staff, judges of the court of appeals, supreme court
8 and county judges, district attorneys and every clergyman or minister,
9 as such terms are defined in section two of the religious corporations
10 law, having charge of a congregation in the county wherein any such
11 facility is situated.
12 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06639-01-3