Includes assault upon a school bus operator, monitor, or attendant as assault in the second degree.
Summary
This bill amends New York’s Penal Law section 120.05, which defines assault in the second degree, to add a new category covering assaults on school bus operators, monitors, and attendants. Under the proposal, a person commits second-degree assault if, with intent to cause physical injury, they cause physical injury to one of these school transportation workers. The bill is narrowly focused on protecting school bus personnel while they are performing their duties.
The measure would place school bus operators, monitors, and attendants within the same assault framework already used for other protected classes and circumstances under second-degree assault. It does not create a new crime; rather, it expands an existing felony offense to include these workers, which could increase criminal penalties for assaults against them. The bill would take effect 90 days after becoming law.
Impact
If enacted, the bill would amend the Penal Law to explicitly include assaults on school bus operators, monitors, and attendants as assault in the second degree, thereby exposing offenders to the penalties associated with that offense. The change would affect criminal prosecutions, charging decisions, and sentencing in cases involving school transportation personnel, and it would provide these workers with heightened statutory protection under New York law.
Sentiment
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee debate or votes in the provided materials, the bill appears to be framed as a protective public-safety measure with a straightforward purpose. The caption and drafting suggest a generally supportive policy intent focused on safeguarding school transportation workers. No formal opposition or recorded controversy is available in the supplied context.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided committee transcripts or voting history. Potential areas of debate, if any arise later, would likely concern whether school bus personnel should be singled out for enhanced criminal protection, how the new subdivision fits within the broader assault statute, and whether existing laws already provide sufficient coverage for these workers.
Establishes a new assault crime for an assault on a retired police officer who previously arrested the assailant; establishes that assaulting such a retired police officer with intent to seek retribution is assault in the first degree.
Establishes a new assault crime for an assault on a retired police officer who previously arrested the assailant; establishes that assaulting such a retired police officer with intent to seek retribution is assault in the first degree.
Adds assault of a highway worker, motor vehicle investigator and motor vehicle inspector to the crime of assault in the second degree; defines such terms.
Adds assault of a highway worker, motor vehicle investigator and motor vehicle inspector to the crime of assault in the second degree; defines such terms.
Adds employees of the office of children and family services to the list of public employees for which prevention of duties constitutes assault in the second degree.
Provides that a person is guilty of assault in the second degree when such person recklessly or with intent to cause physical injury to another person causes physical injury to another person in any place, conveyance, or vehicle used for public transportation or public transit; provides that a person is guilty of assault in the first degree when with intent to cause serious physical injury to another person such person causes such injury to such other person in any place, conveyance, or vehicle used for public transportation or public transit.