New York Senate Bill S01753

New York 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/13/25
• Refer: 1/13/25
• Refer: 1/7/26

Caption

Establishes Bella's Law which calls for an investigation into possible domestic violence or abuse for persons who have been accused of animal abuse.

Summary

S01753, titled "Bella's Law," would create a new section of the Agriculture and Markets Law requiring the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) to investigate people who are accused of, or under investigation for, specified animal abuse crimes. The bill is based on legislative findings that animal cruelty is strongly correlated with domestic violence and child abuse, and it directs OCFS to determine whether the subject of an animal cruelty case has any associated family or domestic violence concerns. The bill also requires law enforcement, where practicable and lawful, to notify OCFS about animal abuse investigations and accusations, and to coordinate and share results with the referring or prosecuting agency. It defines a broad set of covered animal abuse crimes, including animal fighting, cruelty, abandonment, poisoning, sexual misconduct with an animal, and harming service animals or animals assisting people with disabilities. It also requires a domestic incident report in cases involving abuse or threatened abuse against a family member’s companion animal, even if no crime is ultimately found.

Impact

If enacted, the bill would add a new mandatory cross-agency response to animal cruelty allegations, expanding OCFS involvement into cases that traditionally may be handled primarily by law enforcement or prosecutors. It would affect the Agriculture and Markets Law by adding section 353-aa and would also interact with domestic violence reporting practices, including use of domestic incident reports under the Family Protection and Domestic Violence Intervention Act framework. The measure would primarily affect law enforcement agencies, OCFS, prosecutors, and individuals accused or investigated for animal abuse crimes.

Sentiment

The available context suggests the bill is framed positively as a public safety and family protection measure, with its sponsor emphasizing the link between animal cruelty and broader violence in the home. The bill’s caption and findings indicate a preventive approach aimed at identifying domestic violence risks earlier through animal cruelty cases. No committee transcript or vote record is provided, so there is no documented opposition or recorded floor sentiment in the supplied materials.

Contention

The main points of potential contention are the breadth of the reporting and investigation mandate and the privacy, safety, and workload implications for law enforcement and OCFS. The bill limits reporting where it would jeopardize an investigation or personal safety, where the accused clearly has no family members or need for OCFS services, or where the matter was already reported, suggesting concern about overreach and operational burden. Another possible issue is that the law requires a domestic incident report even when no crime is ultimately found in some companion-animal abuse situations, which could raise concerns about due process, recordkeeping, and the scope of domestic violence screening.