Prohibits people from engaging in protests outside a place of religious worship; establishes that protests must be a minimum of twenty-five feet away from a place of religious worship.
S10359 amends the Penal Law to create new offenses for interfering with religious worship and to extend existing interference provisions. The bill adds a new crime, criminal interference with religious worship in the second degree, covering conduct such as using force, threats, or physical obstruction to injure, intimidate, or interfere with a person exercising religious freedom at a place of worship; damaging property of a place of worship; protesting within 25 feet of a place of worship, including its parking lot, entrance, driveway, or driveway entrance; or blocking entry to or exit from a place of worship. A repeat offense becomes criminal interference with religious worship in the first degree, a class E felony, while the base offense is a class A misdemeanor.
The bill also revises existing Penal Law sections on criminal interference with health care services to remove references to religious worship that had previously been included in those provisions. It keeps the health care-related offenses focused on reproductive health services and related facilities, while separately creating the new worship-specific offenses. The measure would take effect immediately upon enactment.
If enacted, the bill would add new criminal penalties and enforcement tools aimed at conduct around houses of worship, including a 25-foot protest buffer zone and penalties for obstruction, intimidation, property damage, and repeated violations. It would also narrow the scope of the existing health care interference statutes by removing religious worship language, thereby separating protections for reproductive health facilities from protections for places of worship. Affected parties would include protesters, worshippers, religious institutions, and law enforcement and prosecutors responsible for enforcing the new misdemeanor and felony provisions.
Based on the bill text and available context, the measure appears to be framed as a public-safety and religious-freedom protection bill, with an emphasis on preventing harassment and obstruction at houses of worship. No committee transcript or vote record is available here, so there is no documented floor or committee debate to gauge broader legislative sentiment. The caption and structure suggest support from sponsors for stronger protections around religious services, but the absence of recorded discussion leaves the overall political reception unclear.
The main point of contention is the 25-foot protest restriction, which directly limits expressive activity near houses of worship and could raise concerns about free speech, public forum access, and the scope of protest rights. Another possible issue is the breadth of the conduct covered, including protest activity near parking lots, entrances, and driveways, which may be viewed as expansive by opponents and necessary by supporters seeking to prevent disruption. Supporters are likely to emphasize protection of worshippers and religious exercise, while critics would likely focus on constitutional concerns and whether existing disorderly conduct or harassment laws already address the problem.