New York Assembly Bill A06230

New York 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/27/25
• Refer: 2/27/25
• Refer: 1/7/26

Caption

Makes the commission of rape, a criminal sexual act, aggravated sexual abuse or course of sexual conduct against a child less than 12 years of age or against a child less than 14 years of age by a person 21 years old or more a class A-I felony; eliminates references to such offenses in less severe crimes; includes such offenses within murder in the second degree for purposes of sentencing to life imprisonment without parole for murder committed in the course of committing such sex offenses against a child; designates such sex offenses against a child as sexually violent offenses for the purposes of sex offender registration; requires every sex offender convicted of such an offense to be subject to lifetime electronic monitoring by the division of criminal justice services upon release from prison.

Summary

A06230 would create new, more severe child-sex-offense categories in the Penal Law for rape of a child, criminal sexual act against a child, aggravated sexual abuse of a child, and aggravated course of sexual conduct against a child. It sets these offenses as class A-I felonies when the victim is under 12, and also when the actor is 21 or older and the victim is under 14. The bill also raises the minimum age thresholds in existing rape and sexual offense provisions, removing older references to victims under 11 and replacing them with broader child-specific offenses. The bill further amends the second-degree murder statute so that a homicide committed during one of these child-sex offenses can qualify for murder in the second degree, and it updates the sentencing law so these offenses carry a 20-year minimum period of imprisonment for class A-I felony sentencing purposes. It also adds the new offenses to the list of qualifying sex offenses under the correction law, which affects sex offender registration and related post-release supervision requirements. The act applies prospectively to offenses committed on or after its effective date.

Impact

This bill would significantly expand and reorganize New York’s criminal and correction laws governing sexual offenses against children. It adds new offenses to the Penal Law, elevates certain conduct to class A-I felony status, removes or narrows references to less severe child-victim age thresholds in existing provisions, and amends the sex offender registration statute to include the new offenses. It also affects sentencing by establishing a 20-year minimum period for these offenses and by tying them to felony murder provisions when a death occurs during the commission of the offense. The bill would directly affect prosecutors, courts, correction officials, convicted offenders, and child victims.

Sentiment

The bill’s framing and caption indicate a strong punitive and child-protection focus, suggesting support for tougher penalties for sexual crimes against young children. The available context does not include committee debate or recorded votes, so there is no direct evidence of opposition or amendment activity in the materials provided. Based on the text alone, the measure appears designed to address especially serious child sexual abuse conduct with substantially enhanced penalties and registration consequences.

Contention

The main policy issue is the severity of the penalties and the age-based line-drawing. The bill distinguishes between victims under 12 and victims under 14 when the actor is 21 or older, which may raise questions about proportionality, charging discretion, and how existing offenses are replaced or narrowed. Another point of potential contention is the expansion of felony-murder treatment and the broad inclusion of these offenses in sex offender registration and lifetime monitoring frameworks, which would impose long-term consequences on convicted individuals. No specific stakeholder objections are provided in the record, but these are the most likely areas of debate.