Int. No. 1847-A

By Council Members Treyger, Rivera, Torres, Koslowitz, Brannan, Ayala, Richards, Kallos, Louis, Chin and Vallone

A Local Law to amend the New York city charter, in relation to individualized responses to violent hate crimes

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Section 20-g of the New York city charter, as amended by local law number 47 for the year 2019, is amended to read as follows:

§ 20-g. Office for the prevention of hate crimes. a. The mayor shall establish an office for the prevention of hate crimes. Such office may be established within any office of the mayor or as a separate office or within any other office of the mayor or within any department the head of which is appointed by the mayor. Such office shall be headed by a coordinator who shall be appointed by the mayor or the head of such department. For the purposes of this section only, “coordinator” shall mean the coordinator of the office for the prevention of hate crimes.

b. Powers and duties. The coordinator shall have the power and the duty to:

1. Advise and assist the mayor in planning and implementing [for] the coordination and cooperation among agencies under the jurisdiction of the mayor that are involved in the following: [prevention] preventing hate crimes, raising awareness of hate crimes, [investigation and prosecution] investigating and prosecuting hate crimes, and addressing the impact of hate crimes on communities [of hate crimes.];

2. Create and implement a coordinated system for the city’s response to hate crimes. Such system shall, in conjunction with the New York city commission on human rights’ bias response teams, the police department[,] and any relevant agency or office, coordinate responses to hate crime allegations. Such system shall make provision for an individualized response to all alleged violent hate crimes;

3. Review the budget requests of all agencies for programs related to hate crimes[,] and recommend to the mayor budget priorities among such[.] requests;

4. Prepare and submit to the mayor and the council and post on the city’s website by [January 30] March 1 of each year an annual report of the activities of the office for the prevention of hate crimes, [regarding] the prevalence of hate crimes during the previous calendar year and the availability of services to address the impact of these crimes. Such report shall include but need not be limited to the following information: (i) identification of areas or populations within the city that are particularly vulnerable to hate crimes, (ii) identification and assessment of the efficacy of counseling and resources for victims of hate crimes, [making] and recommendations for improvements of the same, (iii) collation of city, state and federal statistics on hate crime complaints and prosecutions within the city, including incidents by offense, bias motivation[,] and demographic characteristics such as age and gender of offenders, (iv) the populations [to which] the division of educational outreach [addressed] engaged with, (v) the types of programs created or provided by the division of educational outreach and the names of the providers of such programs[,] and (vi) any other outreach, education[,] and prevention efforts made by the division of educational outreach[.];

5. Study the effectiveness of, and make recommendations with respect to, the expansion of safety plans for neighborhoods and institutions that are particularly vulnerable to hate crimes[,] and the resources available for victims. This paragraph [shall] does not require the disclosure of material that would reveal non-routine investigative techniques or confidential information or [where] when disclosure could compromise the safety of the public or police officers or could otherwise compromise law enforcement investigations or operations[.];

6. Serve as liaison for the city with providers of victim services, community groups[,] and other relevant nongovernmental entities and assist in the coordination among such entities on reporting and responding to allegations of hate crimes[,] to ensure that [city residents] affected persons have access to relevant services after hate crime events[.];

7. Provide relevant information to the affected community, including the local community board, within 72 hours of a determination that a violent hate crime has occurred. Such information shall include how the administration is responding to the alleged violent hate crime and the resources currently available to affected persons. This paragraph does not require the disclosure of confidential information or any material that could compromise the safety of the public or police officers or could otherwise compromise law enforcement investigations or operations;

8. Within 24 hours of a determination that a violent hate crime has occurred, notify the mayor, speaker of the council, public advocate and council member of the relevant district that such hate crime occurred, the date and time the incident was reported, and the date and time the incident was referred to the hate crimes task force of the New York City police department; and

[7.] 9. Perform other duties as the mayor may assign.

c. The coordinator shall establish a division of educational outreach. The division shall have the power and the duty to:

1. Ensure[, by such means as necessary, including coordination with relevant city agencies and interfaith organizations, community groups, and human rights and civil rights groups,] the provision of effective outreach and education on the impact and effects of hate crimes, including measures necessary to achieve greater tolerance and understanding, and including the use of law enforcement [where] when appropriate. Such outreach and education shall include coordination between relevant city agencies and interfaith organizations, community groups and human rights and civil rights groups;

2. Create a K-12 curriculum addressing issues related to hate crimes[,] in consultation with the department of education[.]; and

3. Perform other duties as the mayor may assign.

§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately.

AM

LS #13028

2.19.20 9:07pm