NY governor proposes new hate crime law after Charlottesville - The Hill

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) will introduce a new proposal to expand his state’s hate crime laws after violent protests by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Va., left one counterprotester dead and dozens more injured.

Cuomo said he would propose adding inciting riots and rioting that targets protected classes of people to the list of offenses that may be prosecuted under New York’s existing hate crimes law.

That law allows someone to be charged with a hate crime for offenses that specifically target victims based on their race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, age, disability or sexual orientation.

The new proposal, which Cuomo dubbed the Charlottesville Provisions, would add inciting a riot targeting those groups to the list of offenses that can qualify as a hate crime.

“The ugly events that took place in Charlottesville must never be repeated, and in New York we’re going to stand united against hate in all its forms,” Cuomo said in a statement. “This legislation will help protect New Yorkers and send a clear signal that violence and discrimination have no place in our society.”

Cuomo said he would also ask the legislature to expand a state law aimed at protecting students from discrimination. A state court of appeals ruled in 2012 that the law only applies to private-school students; Cuomo wants to expand it to apply to public-school students as well.

Cuomo on Monday signed a new measure to allow prosecutors to ask for stiffer penalties against those who make bomb threats against community centers, after a wave of threats mostly against Jewish centers in New York and across the nation.

The new proposals won’t get a hearing for several months: New York’s legislature is out of session and isn’t scheduled to return until January.

Cuomo, who will run for a third term in office in 2018, launched a petition earlier this week demanding President Trump condemn the white supremacists who led the rally in Charlottesville. During that rally, one protester with alleged connections to neo-Nazi groups drove his car into a group of counterprotesters, killing a young woman and injuring 19 others.

Attorney General Jeff SessionsJefferson (Jeff) Sessions Pelosi renews call for Trump to fire Bannon Lawmakers press DOJ to help victims of Ponzi scheme Trump records robocall for Luther Strange MORE said Wednesday the car attack was a possible hate crime.