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: A8334AREVISED 9/16/24
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 int ent on silencing speech with whom they
disagree.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Click here to enter text.
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; defin es the
terms "willfully disturbs" and "lawful assembly and establishes that
disregard of a moderator's call to order or a determinati on that a
person is in violation of the rules of an assembly or meeting shall be
proof that a disruption is willful; clarifies that t his section does
not prohibit an individual from articulating a particular viewpoint at a
lawful assembly or meeting, nor does it pro hibit non-disruptive
protests of a lawful assembly or meeting; makes disruption or disturb-
ance of a lawful assembly an unclassified m isdemeanor punishable by a
fine of $250-$500.
Section 3 provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees the
right to free assembly and speech. Recently, thou gh, on college campus-
es and other public spaces, we are seeing the suppression of ideas and
viewpoints in the form of interrupting an d drowning out speeches and
assemblies. Every person has the right to speak on all subjects; howev-
er, 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 intimidation or unwarranted inter-
ference by holding accou ntable 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
________________________________________________________________________
8334--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
December 13, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BERGER, HEVESI, BICHOTTE HERMELYN, EICHENSTEIN,
LAVINE, BRAUNSTEIN, DINOWITZ, PHEFFER AMATO, WILLIAMS, BURKE, GUNTHER,
EACHUS, CUNNINGHAM, STIRPE, JONES, COLTON, PAULIN, SANTABARBARA, PRET-
LOW, STERN, ROZIC, SHIMSKY, ANGELINO, BENEDETTO, BUTTENSCHON, THIELE,
RIVERA, FALL, BLUMENCRANZ, FLOOD -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Codes -- recommitted to the Committee on Codes in accord-
ance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
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.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13729-05-4
A. 8334--A 2
1 (b) "Lawful assembly" shall mean a group of two or more individuals
2 who legally reserve a space or area with an institution or other space
3 lawfully available to those conducting such assembly or meeting, and who
4 use such space or area to peacefully assemble for any purpose not
5 expressly prohibited by law.
6 3. Disregard of a moderator's call to order or a determination that a
7 person is in violation of the rules of an assembly or meeting shall be
8 proof that a disruption is willful.
9 4. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit:
10 (i) persons from articulating a particular viewpoint at an assembly or
11 meeting that is not unlawful in its character; or
12 (ii) non-disruptive protests of a lawful assembly or meeting;
13 Disruption or disturbance of a lawful assembly is an unclassified
14 misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than two hundred fifty
15 dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.
16 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
