In the executive budget presented earlier this year, Governor Hochul proposed to expand the list of charges eligible to be prosecuted as hate crimes. Among the new offenses included in the proposal are the making of graffiti, arson, gang assault, criminal possession of a weapon.. This proposal was based on a bill (S.7737/A.8261) introduced in the Legislature in 2023. Although the number of hate crimes has been steadily rising the last few years, in the aftermath of the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, the number of incidents increased exponentially. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), there were 2,031 recorded incidents of antisemitism between October 7 and December 7, an increase of 337% over the same period in 2022. Other hate crimes have seen increases as well. The governor’s proposal would be one more tool in the arsenal of law enforcement to deal with this terrible scourge. Regrettably this proposal was removed from the legislative one-house budgets. But this can still be rectified by restoring the expansion of hate crime definitions in the enacted budget. I respectfully urge you to do so. Thank You

In the executive budget presented earlier this year, Governor Hochul proposed to expand the list of charges eligible to be prosecuted as hate crimes. Among the new offenses included in the proposal are the making of graffiti, arson, gang assault, criminal possession of a weapon.. This proposal was based on a bill (S.7737/A.8261) introduced in the Legislature in 2023. Although the number of hate crimes has been steadily rising the last few years, in the aftermath of the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, the number of incidents increased exponentially. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), there were 2,031 recorded incidents of antisemitism between October 7 and December 7, an increase of 337% over the same period in 2022. Other hate crimes have seen increases as well. The governor’s proposal would be one more tool in the arsenal of law enforcement to deal with this terrible scourge. Regrettably this proposal was removed from the legislative one-house budgets. But this can still be rectified by restoring the expansion of hate crime definitions in the enacted budget. I respectfully urge you to do so. Thank You

In the executive budget presented earlier this year, Governor Hochul proposed to expand the list of charges eligible to be prosecuted as hate crimes. Among the new offenses included in the proposal are the making of graffiti, arson, gang assault, criminal possession of a weapon.. This proposal was based on a bill (S.7737/A.8261) introduced in the Legislature in 2023. Although the number of hate crimes has been steadily rising the last few years, in the aftermath of the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, the number of incidents increased exponentially. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), there were 2,031 recorded incidents of antisemitism between October 7 and December 7, an increase of 337% over the same period in 2022. Other hate crimes have seen increases as well. The governor’s proposal would be one more tool in the arsenal of law enforcement to deal with this terrible scourge. Regrettably this proposal was removed from the legislative one-house budgets. But this can still be rectified by restoring the expansion of hate crime definitions in the enacted budget. I respectfully urge you to do so. Thank You

In the executive budget presented earlier this year, Governor Hochul proposed to expand the list of charges eligible to be prosecuted as hate crimes. Among the new offenses included in the proposal are the making of graffiti, arson, gang assault, criminal possession of a weapon.. This proposal was based on a bill (S.7737/A.8261) introduced in the Legislature in 2023. Although the number of hate crimes has been steadily rising the last few years, in the aftermath of the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, the number of incidents increased exponentially. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), there were 2,031 recorded incidents of antisemitism between October 7 and December 7, an increase of 337% over the same period in 2022. Other hate crimes have seen increases as well. The governor’s proposal would be one more tool in the arsenal of law enforcement to deal with this terrible scourge. Regrettably this proposal was removed from the legislative one-house budgets. But this can still be rectified by restoring the expansion of hate crime definitions in the enacted budget. I respectfully urge you to do so. Thank You