Local governments in New York state could face civil lawsuits for violating a citizens’ civil rights.

The state Assembly last week passed A.292B, sponsored by Assemblyman Phil Steck, D-Schenectady, to amend the state Civil Rights Law to allow the imposition of civil penalties and remedies in suits brought for vindication of civil rights or human rights. The legislation passed the Assembly 106-36, with both Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, and Assemblyman Joe Giglio, R-Gowanda, voting against the measure. Companion legislation has been introduced in the state Senate sponsored by Sen. Luis Sepulveda, D-Bronx, but has not made it onto the Senate’s calendar for floor debate.

Steck said the legislation would place the state on the same footing as the federal government under the Civil Rights Act of 1871 and give an enforcement mechanism to the state’s constitutional provisions of equal rights to women. State courts would be allowed to use federal law as a starting point in interpreting the legislation but can revisit any federal decisional law that the New York Courts deem inadequate to protect the rights secured under the State Constitution and under New York law.

“I’ve heard arguments again that, for example, you can get assistance from the Civil Liberties Union if your rights are violated,” Steck said. “That’s not good enough. If you live in some small town in Upstate New York and your rights are violated, you’re not going to come down to the city or even Albany to see if the New York Civil Liberties Union will take your case. You need support from your local attorney looking out for you. That’s what this bill does.”

Goodell argued that the bill is interesting in light of the state’s heavy-handed actions that have violated citizens’ civil rights during the COVID-19 pandemic, including some areas like assembling in churches that have been struck down by courts for violating both the state and federal constitutions. Business closures, Goodell argued, have been done without due process for business owners — all of which means the state could be opening itself up for lawsuits for violating state residents’ rights during the pandemic.

“It’s been extraordinarily frustrating when we have seen these broad-based executive orders that apply statewide that ignore the language in the statute that says if should be a minimum disruption and that we should minimize the negative impact,” Goodell said. “Those shutdowns directly affect people’s livelihoods and their businesses, and there was no due process. None. Do you want to know if you’re an essential business or not? You ask the governor’s staff, and no due process. So many people across the state questioned whether or not those executive orders violated fundamental constitutional provisions on due process, on taking, on limiting peaceful assemblies. The governor shut down the churches in my county when we had virtually no confirmed cases. All those are constitutional violations. So while I like the concept of being able to sue the governor for those, overall I don’t think this is a good bill and therefore I will be voting no.”

Assemblyman Charles Barron, D-Brooklyn, was listed as a co-sponsor of the bill along with Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright, D-New York City. He spoke in favor of the legislation’s additional enforcement of equal rights.

“Black people in America, from the beginning, we’ve been trying to get this country to respect us as human beings, much less civil rights,” Barron said. “The very least we can do is to have a bill that will give more strength and teeth and enforcement. If somebody else doesn’t want to sue the governor because of what’s happening in their place, that’s your business. The bottom line for us as a people in this state is the least we can do is support this legislation that gives us more teeth for enforcement of our civil rights in a country that doesn’t even respect our human rights.”