NEW YORK (JTA) — Responding to rising anti-Semitism in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced several proposals to combat hate, including one that would create a first-in-the-nation domestic terrorism law.
The law would classify mass violence motivated by hate as a felony punishable by up to life in prison without parole. It’s part of a legislative package dubbed “No Hate in Our State.”
Cuomo’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2021 would allocate an additional $25 million in security grants for institutions vulnerable to hate crimes and $2 million to the State Police Hate Crimes Task Force.
According to the Governor’s Office, the proposal also would require New York City public schools to implement a new curriculum that “teaches civic values and the State’s rich history of diversity and religious freedom,” require every student to visit a Holocaust museum and task the Battery Park City Authority with developing a plan to expand the Museum of Jewish Heritage on the Holocaust.
At the Jan. 5 “No Hate. No Fear. Solidarity March” in New York City, “Cuomo vowed to introduce a law that would define anti-Semitism as domestic terrorism, as well as increase the ranks of the State Police force and the state Hate Crimes Task Force” and announced $45 million in new funding to protect religious-based institutions, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.
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