Prohibits people from engaging in protest outside a place of religious worship

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Steve Rhoads says this is needed

Adopted as part of the Bill of Rights in 1791, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the Congress from the estab- lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. In the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, incidents of antisemitism have dramatically increased, including numer- ous instances of protests at houses of worship where worshipers have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, threats of violence and interference with religious services across the country, inhibiting their right to worship. This, however, is not isolated to a single reli- gion or house of worship. The First Amendment does not distinguish or rank the importance of the individual rights enumerated within it. When those individual rights are in conflict, therefore, it is necessary to ensure the free exercise of each of those rights. This legislation strikes the appropriate balance of protecting the rights of people to assemble and speak freely while not infringing the right to assemble in the free exercise of one's religious faith by creating a buffer zone of twenty-five feet surrounding a place of reli- gious worship including building entrances, parking lot entrances, driveways or driveway entrances. The legislation adds two sections to the New York State Penal Law, Section 240.80, establishing the crime of criminal interference with religious worship in the second degree whereby through force or threat of force, injures, intimidates or interferes with a person seeking to exercise their religious freedom at a house of worship; intentionally damages the property of a place of religious worship; engages in protest within twenty-five feet of a house of worship or prevents the entrance or exit from a place of religious worship. This is a Class A misdemea- nor. The second is Section 240.81, which establishes the crime of criminal interference with religious worship in the second degree where such person commits the crime of criminal interference with religious worship in the second degree under Penal Law Section 240.80 and has previously been convicted of that crime. This would be a Class E felony.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.