Enacts the "dialogue and decorum act" which establishes the crime of disruption or disturbance of a lawful assembly; makes such crime an unclassified misdemeanor.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A196
SPONSOR: Berger TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing the crime of
disruption or disturbance of a lawful assembly
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The bill guarantees that the right to freedom of speech and assembly
will not be denied by those intent on silencing speech with whom they
disagree.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 titles this bill the "Dialogue and Decorum Act." Section 2
does the following: adds section 240.22 to the penal code which outlaws
the willful disturbance of a lawful assembly; defines the terms "will-
fully disturbs" and "lawful assembly and establishes that disregard of a
moderator's call to order or a determination that a person is in
violation of the rules of an assembly or meeting shall be proof that a
disruption is willful; clarifies that this section does not prohibit an
individual from articulating a particular viewpoint at a lawful assembly
or meeting, nor does it prohibit non-disruptive protests of a lawful
assembly or meeting; makes disruption or disturbance of a lawful assem-
bly an unclassified misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $250-$500.
Section 3 provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The First Amendment of the New York Constitution guarantees the right to
free assembly and speech. Recently, though, on college campuses and
other public spaces, we are seeing the suppression of ideas and view-
points from some who resort to unjustifiably loud and disruptive tactics
to drown out lawful speeches and assemblies. Every person has the right
to speak on all subjects; however, no one has a right to deny this same
right to others. This bill, modeled after California Penal Code § 403,
aims to uphold the First Amendment, bring decorum back to New York, and
ensure that people can exercise their rights "without fear of intim-
idation or unwarranted interference by holding accountable those who
would use their speech to suppress the speech of others.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: A.8334 - Referred to Codes
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None to the State.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
196
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BERGER, HEVESI, BICHOTTE HERMELYN, EICHENSTEIN,
BRAUNSTEIN, DINOWITZ, PHEFFER AMATO, WILLIAMS, EACHUS, CUNNINGHAM,
STIRPE, JONES, COLTON, PAULIN, SANTABARBARA, STERN, ROZIC, SHIMSKY,
ANGELINO, BENEDETTO, BUTTENSCHON, RIVERA, FALL, BLUMENCRANZ -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing the crime of
disruption or disturbance of a lawful assembly
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "dialogue
2 and decorum act".
3 § 2. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 240.22 to read
4 as follows:
5 § 240.22 Disruption or disturbance of a lawful assembly.
6 1. A person is guilty of disruption or disturbance of a lawful assem-
7 bly when such person, without authority of law, willfully disturbs or
8 breaks up any assembly or meeting that is not unlawful in its character.
9 2. For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the
10 following meanings:
11 (a) "Willfully disturbs" shall mean:
12 (i) the conduct substantially impairs the ability to conduct a lawful
13 meeting or assembly; and
14 (ii) the conduct is in violation of the implicit customs or usage of
15 the specific kind of meeting or assembly, or the explicit rules govern-
16 ing the meeting or assembly, where the disrupting party knew or reason-
17 ably should have known such conduct was in violation.
18 (b) "Lawful assembly" shall mean a group of two or more individuals
19 who legally reserve a space or area with an institution or other space
20 lawfully available to those conducting such assembly or meeting, and who
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00823-01-5
A. 196 2
1 use such space or area to peacefully assemble for any purpose not
2 expressly prohibited by law.
3 3. Disregard of a moderator's call to order or a determination that a
4 person is in violation of the rules of an assembly or meeting shall be
5 proof that a disruption is willful.
6 4. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit:
7 (i) persons from articulating a particular viewpoint at an assembly or
8 meeting that is not unlawful in its character; or
9 (ii) non-disruptive protests of a lawful assembly or meeting;
10 Disruption or disturbance of a lawful assembly is an unclassified
11 misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than two hundred fifty
12 dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.
13 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
