Prohibits municipal corporations from refusing resettlement of asylum seekers from other municipal corporations in the state, provided that the resettling municipal corporation covers the costs of such resettlement, and no property of the municipal corporation receiving such asylum seekers is used without such municipal corporation's consent.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7992
SPONSOR: Rajkumar TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general municipal law, in relation to prohibiting
municipal corporations from refusing resettlement of asylum seekers from
other municipal corporations in the state
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill provides that no municipal corporation can inhibit the
resettlement of asylum seekers in the custody of another municipal
corporation.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 adds a new section 99-z to the general municipal law prohibit-
ing any municipal corporation from impeding the resettlement of asylum
seekers by another municipal corporation, provided that a resettling
municipal corporation covers all costs and no property owned by the
municipal corporation is used.
Section 2 is the effective date.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
Click here to enter text.
JUSTIFICATION:
From April 2022 to August 2023, New York City has welcomed approximately
100,000 asylum seekers, who have a legal right to remain in the country.
Under a consent decree in the case of Callahan v. Carey, New York City
is legally obligated to provide these people shelter. As of August 2023,
New York City is providing shelter to over 50,000 asylum seekers, at a
cost projected to be $12 billion by June 2025.
To reduce costs and logistical challenges, New York City has relocated
some asylum seekers in its custody to other counties in our Great State.
The City has relocated less than 1% of asylum seekers, and continues to
bear the full costs of shelter, but some counties have taken executive
action to prohibit resettlement based on specious arguments of public
safety.
Such prohibitions are patently unconstitutional and in clear violation
of State and Federal law. New York City filed a suit naming 30 counties
to overturn these prohibitions, resulting in a judgment that the City
must file suit against each county individually.
This bill explicitly clarifies that no municipal corporation can prohib-
it the resettlement of asylum seekers by another municipal corporation,
precluding a tortuous legal process.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7992
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
September 1, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RAJKUMAR -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Local Governments
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to prohibiting
municipal corporations from refusing resettlement of asylum seekers
from other municipal corporations in the state
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The general municipal law is amended by adding a new
2 section 99-z to read as follows:
3 § 99-z. Resettlement of asylum seekers. 1. No municipal corporation in
4 the state shall refuse, prohibit, or otherwise prevent a resettling
5 municipal corporation from resettling asylum seekers into such municipal
6 corporation, provided, however, that:
7 (a) Such resettling municipal corporation shall cover all costs of
8 such resettlement including, but not limited to, continuing costs of
9 shelter for such asylum seekers; and
10 (b) No property owned by the municipal corporation into which asylum
11 seekers are being resettled shall be used for such resettlement without
12 the consent of such municipal corporation.
13 2. For the purposes of this section the following terms shall have the
14 following meanings:
15 (a) "Asylum seeker" means an individual who changes their country of
16 usual residence to seek temporary or permanent residence in another
17 country, and who has applied for asylum under 8 U.S. Code § 1158 or is
18 eligible to apply; or who is a refugee as defined by section 101(a)(42)
19 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
20 (b) "Resettling municipal corporation" means a municipal corporation
21 in the state that is assisting asylum seekers with resettlement into
22 another municipal corporation in the state.
23 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13095-02-3
