Establishes the crime of corporate catastrophe; defines catastrophe as widespread injury or damage by explosion, fire, flood, avalanche, collapse of building, release of poison gas, radioactive material or other harmful or destructive force or substance, or by any other means of causing potentially widespread injury or damage; establishes crimes for causing, risking, or failing to prevent a catastrophe.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10210
SPONSOR: Gallagher TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing the crime of
corporate catastrophe and related offenses
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To make It a crime to cause a catastrophe when acting as a member,
manager, director, or officer of a corporation in furtherance of one's
corporate duties or interests.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends Title P of Part 2 of the Penal Law to add a new Arti-
cle 280, titled "Catastrophe," Section 280.00 adds relevant definitions.
Section 280.05 defines the crime of aggravated catastrophe. Section
280.10 defines the crime of catastrophe. Section 280.15 defines the
crime of risking catastrophe. Section 280,20 defines the crime of fail-
ure to prevent a catastrophe. Section 280.25 describes additional penal-
ties for corporations whose officers are convicted of causing a catas-
trophe in the furtherance of their corporate duties or interests.
Section two is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The New York Penal Law is based in significant part on the Model Penal
Code, promulgated by the American Law Institute as a model for state
criminal laws since 1962. New York revised its Penal Law to adopt many
provisions of the Model Penal Code in 1967. Thirty-four states have
based their criminal statutes on elements of the Model Penal Code since
it was first published.
One crime in the Model Penal Code that was not adopted by New York is
the crime of causing a catastrophe, an incident causing widespread Inju-
ry or damage. Although civil and criminal liability for catastrophes
could be pursued under other theories, adopting the crime of catastrophe
from the Model Penal Code would provide a more specific and tailored
mechanism for holding individuals accountable who knowingly or reckless-
ly cause widespread injury or harm.
One area in which our state has struggled to hold individuals account-
able is environmental harm, Although fossil fuel companies spilled an
estimated 30 million gallons of oil Into Newtown Creek in Brooklyn-three
times the size of the Exxon Valdez oil spill-no individual was held
liable. Typical remedies in the context of corporate disasters are
civil, and punitive damages can be absorbed by large corporations as a
"cost of doing business." In the case of the Greenpoint Oil Spill,
ExxonMobil reached a settlement with the state for damages in 2010 that
eventually totaled $68 million. But ExxonMobil's net profits in 2010
were over $30 billion, Adopting the crime of catastrophe and wielding it
to hold polluters responsible would affirm that pollution is not just a
tragedy; it is a crime.
At the same time to ensure that the law actually deters negligent or
harmful behavior by corporate decision-makers, and is not used to prose-
cute lower-level employees who are not responsible for the policies or
decisions that actually cause harm, the crime is limited to instances
where catastrophes are caused by members, managers, officers, and direc-
tors of corporations acting in furtherance of their corporate duties or
interests.
Our state must take white-collar crime seriously. New York should adopt,
and adapt, the crime of causing a catastrophe from the Model Penal Code
in order to provide a more tailored remedy to holding corporate deci-
sion-makers accountable for actions that cause widespread public harm.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill is effective Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10210
IN ASSEMBLY
February 12, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GALLAGHER -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing the crime of
corporate catastrophe and related offenses
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding a new article 280 to
2 read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 280
4 CORPORATE CATASTROPHE
5 Section 280.00 Definition.
6 280.05 Aggravated corporate catastrophe.
7 280.10 Corporate catastrophe.
8 280.15 Risking corporate catastrophe.
9 280.20 Failure to prevent a corporate catastrophe.
10 280.25 Additional penalty.
11 § 280.00 Definition.
12 For the purposes of this article, "catastrophe" means widespread inju-
13 ry or damage by explosion, fire, flood, avalanche, collapse of building,
14 release of poison gas, radioactive material or other harmful or destruc-
15 tive force or substance, or by any other means of causing potentially
16 widespread injury or damage.
17 § 280.05 Aggravated corporate catastrophe.
18 A person is guilty of aggravated corporate catastrophe when such
19 person, being a member, manager, director, or officer of a corporation
20 acting in the performance or furtherance of their corporate duties or
21 interests, intentionally or knowingly causes a catastrophe.
22 Aggravated corporate catastrophe is a class B felony.
23 § 280.10 Corporate catastrophe.
24 A person, being a member, manager, director, or officer of a corpo-
25 ration acting in the performance or furtherance of their corporate
26 duties or interests, is guilty of corporate catastrophe when such person
27 recklessly causes a catastrophe.
28 Corporate catastrophe is a class C felony.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10458-04-5
A. 10210 2
1 § 280.15 Risking corporate catastrophe.
2 A person, being a member, manager, director, or officer of a corpo-
3 ration acting in the performance or furtherance of their corporate
4 duties or interests, is guilty of risking corporate catastrophe when
5 such person recklessly creates a risk of a catastrophe.
6 Risking corporate catastrophe is a class D felony.
7 § 280.20 Failure to prevent a corporate catastrophe.
8 A person, being a member, manager, director, or officer of a corpo-
9 ration acting in the performance or furtherance of their corporate
10 duties or interests, is guilty of failure to prevent a catastrophe when
11 such person:
12 1. has an official, contractual, or other legal duty to take reason-
13 able measures to prevent or mitigate a catastrophe and knowingly or
14 recklessly fails to do so; or
15 2. performs or assents to an act causing or threatening a catastrophe.
16 Failure to prevent a corporate catastrophe is a class D felony.
17 § 280.25 Additional penalty.
18 Every entity, whether foreign or domestic, a member, manager, direc-
19 tor, or officer of which is guilty of a crime described in this article,
20 or an anticipatory or inchoate version thereof, shall forfeit every
21 right and franchise to do business in this state for a period not less
22 than twenty years. The attorney general shall be authorized to maintain
23 an action in any court of appropriate jurisdiction to enforce the
24 provisions of this section.
25 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
