STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2159 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 15, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. EICHENSTEIN, SEAWRIGHT -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to increasing the classifica- tion of misdemeanor hate crime offenses to a felony The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 485.10 of the penal law, as added 2 by chapter 107 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows: 3 2. When a person is convicted of a hate crime pursuant to this article 4 and the specified offense is [a misdemeanor or] a class C, D or E felo- 5 ny, the hate crime shall be deemed to be one category higher than the 6 specified offense the defendant committed, or one category higher than 7 the offense level applicable to the defendant's conviction for an 8 attempt or conspiracy to commit a specified offense, whichever is appli- 9 cable. When a person is convicted of a hate crime pursuant to this arti- 10 cle and the specified offense is a misdemeanor or an attempt or conspir- 11 acy to commit a specified offense that is a misdemeanor, the hate crime 12 shall be deemed to be a class E felony. 13 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after 14 it shall have become a law. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02278-01-5