BILL NUMBER: S7352
SPONSOR: LANZA
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to non-support of a child
 
PURPOSE:
Requires a delinquent parent to demonstrate as an affirmative defense
that the inability to pay excuses his or her failure to provide child
support for their minor child.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISION:
Section one amends sections 260.05 & 260.06 of the penal law by deleting
the defendant's ability to pay from the definition of the offense found
in such sections and adds to both sections a new provision that allows a
defendant to show inability to pay as an affirmative defense.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Persons who are legally obligated to provide child support should not be
permitted to escape criminal prosecution where they have deliberately
taken action to avoid paying child support by engaging in wasteful
personal spending and concealment of funds. Currently, parents guilty of
the crime of non-support of a child may escape criminal liability simply
because the prosecutor is tasked with proving the unknowable, that is,
the parent's ability to pay. The ability to pay is an inherently subjec-
tive question which requires that the prosecutor submit evidence not
only of the parent's income and spending but proof which distinguishes
between legitimate expenses and wasteful spending. This amendment will
rightly place the burden of proving inability to pay on the parent, who
alone possesses the necessary information to answer that question.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: S.4089 -Referred to Codes
2023: S.4089 - Referred to Codes
2022: S.4631 - Referred to Codes
2021: S.4631 - Referred to Codes
2020: S.1759 - Referred to Codes
2019: S.1759 - Referred to Codes
2018: S.6301 - Referred to Codes/A.7052 - Referred to Codes
2017: S.6301 - Passed Senate/A.7052-Referred to Codes
2016: S.2819 - Passed Senate/A.3162-Referred to Codes
2015: S.2819 - Passed Senate/A.3162-Referred to Codes
2014: S.3847 - Passed Senate/A.7968-Referred to Codes
2012: S.2945 - Passed Senate
2011: S.2945 - Passed Senate
2010: S.7004 - Referred to Codes /A.10169 - Referred to Codes
 
FISCAL IMPLICATION:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law.

Statutes affected:
S7352: 260.06 penal law