Bills affecting Religious minority in New York — 2026 session

Requires hate crime awareness curriculum or instruction for school districts.

Expands the criteria for a hate crime to include trespass committed at a house of worship.

Prohibits youthful offender status for persons who commit a hate crime.

Bars a person who is convicted of a hate crime from attending any SUNY or CUNY institution; provides for the expulsion of a student who is convicted of hate crimes; provides for reinstatement of such student if the conviction is subsequently overturned.

Enacts the "New York religious freedom act".

Requires an arrest where a police officer has reasonable cause to believe a hate crime has been committed.

Relates to the creation of the "No Hate NY" license plate and the "No Hate NY fund" to support hate crime awareness and prevention programs.

Relates to presumptive evidence that a person committed a hate crime by evaluating a certain set of facts and circumstances.

Increases the sentencing classification of misdemeanor hate crime offenses or of an attempt or conspiracy to commit a specified offense that is a misdemeanor to a class E felony.

Establishes the false reporting survivors act which establishes the crimes of aggravated falsely reporting an incident in the first, second, and third degrees when a person commits the crime of falsely reporting an incident in the first, second, or third degree and such person intended to harass, annoy, threaten, or alarm another person because of a belief or perception regarding a person's race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or ethnicity; authorizes officers to arrest persons believed to have committed falsely reporting an incident without first obtaining a warrant; includes such falsely reporting as a hate crime; authorizes the law enforcement misconduct investigative office to receive and investigate complaints alleging falsely reporting an incident; establishes databases of law enforcement officers and persons convicted of falsely reporting; requires notifying persons of the termination of certain criminal actions or proceedings; relates to the statute of limitations for filing an action relating to falsely reporting.

Establishes a rebuttable presumption of a hate crime when certain crimes are committed on, in or upon a house of worship.

Requires a principal, superintendent or a principal's or superintendent's designee to notify law enforcement if they believe a hate crime is occurring.

Includes solicitation or facilitation of certain crimes as a specified offense for the purposes of a hate crime.

Requires the district attorney to file information with the accusatory instrument when certain crimes are committed against a female and it is not charged as a hate crime.

Relates to the "Heather D. Heyer act" which increases penalties where a vehicle is used as a weapon in a hate crime and makes it illegal to travel upon a roadway in a vehicle within 1000 feet of a protest.