Hate crimes bill passes Legislature

HB 1732 makes changes to hate crimes and creates a workgroup to make recommendations on best practices for prevention, reporting, and response. The bill passed the Legislature and now awaits the Governor’s signature to become law.

The bill does the following:

• Renames the crime of malicious harassment to that of a hate crime offense.
• Expressly includes and defines "gender expression or identity" as a protected category, rather than including it as part of the definition of “sexual orientation.”
• Adds the following circumstances to the list of acts that allow the trier of fact in a criminal prosecution for a hate crime to infer that a threat was intended:
  • Defacing religious property with words, symbols, or items that are derogatory to persons of the faith associated with the property;
  • Placing a vandalized or defaced religious item or scripture on the property of the victim;
  • Placing a noose on the property of a victim who is or whom the actor perceives to be of a racial or ethnic minority group; or
  • Damaging, destroying, or defacing religious garb or other faith-based attire belonging to the victim.
• Increases the maximum punitive damages available in a civil action brought by a victim of a hate crime from $10,000 to $100,000.
• Creates a multidisciplinary hate crime advisory working group within the Office of the Attorney General.