NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A754
SPONSOR: Rosenthal
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to modifying the offense of
"forcible touching" to "unwanted touching" and by removing certain
elements of the actor's intent
 
PURPOSE:
This bill would close a loophole in the state's forcible touching law by
removing the element of intent.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends section 130.52 of the penal law.
Section two sets forth the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
To prove forcible touching, current law requires the victim to prove
that the defendant touched them with intent to gratify their sexual
desire or to degrade or abuse the victim. So long as the touch was
unwanted, the intent should matter little. Regardless of intent, if a
person is touched inappropriately against their will it should be unlaw-
ful. Defendants often attempt to avoid prosecution by claiming that
their unwanted touching was intended for reasons other than their own
sexual desires or to degrade the person.
In order to better protect victims of sexual assault, this bill would
also expand the definition of forcible touching to include more than
just squeezing, grabbing or pinching.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: A.70 - Referred to Codes; 5.4426 - Referred to Codes
2021-22: A.208 - Referred to Codes; S.842 - Advanced to Third Reading
2019-20: A.104 - Referred to Codes; S.7090 - Referred to Codes
2017-18: A.8751-A - Referred to Codes
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill shall take effect on the one hundred and eightieth day after
it shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
754
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL, SEAWRIGHT, SIMON, ROZIC, WEPRIN --
read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to modifying the offense of
"forcible touching" to "unwanted touching" and by removing certain
elements of the actor's intent
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 130.52 of the penal law, as amended by chapter 264
2 of the laws of 2003, the opening paragraph and subdivision 1 as amended
3 and subdivision 2 as added by chapter 250 of the laws of 2015, is
4 amended to read as follows:
5 § 130.52 [Forcible] Unwanted touching.
6 A person is guilty of [forcible] unwanted touching when such person
7 intentionally, and for no legitimate purpose:
8 1. [forcibly] touches the sexual or other intimate parts of another
9 person [for the purpose of degrading or abusing such person, or for the
10 purpose of gratifying the actor's sexual desire] without the latter's
11 consent; or
12 2. subjects another person to sexual contact [for the purpose of grat-
13 ifying the actor's sexual desire and with intent to degrade or abuse
14 such other person] without the latter's consent while such other person
15 is a passenger on a bus, train, or subway car operated by any transit
16 agency, authority or company, public or private, whose operation is
17 authorized by New York state or any of its political subdivisions.
18 For the purposes of this section, [forcible] unwanted touching
19 includes but is not limited to squeezing, grabbing, rubbing or pinching.
20 [Forcible] Unwanted touching is a class A misdemeanor.
21 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
22 it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00996-01-5