A new bill introduced by state Sen. Michelle Hinchey and Assemblymember Emily Gallagher would criminalize corporate executives who knowingly cause widespread harm, the lawmakers announced Tuesday.
The bill is aimed at corporate recklessness that causes climate and environmental disasters like the 1978 Greenpoint oil spill in Gallagher’s district. It would update the state’s criminal code to make causing or knowingly risking a catastrophe a crime. Other states — including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Illinois — have similar laws on the books, which have resulted in prosecutions.
“We’re living at a time of increasing corporate impunity,” said Aaron Regunberg , director of Public Citizen’s Climate Accountability Project, which backs the legislation. “Holding corporate leaders in particular accountable for their conduct that creates a risk of catastrophe — that seems like an important endeavor in this moment in time.”
More context: The bill would apply to corporate recklessness in any business — not just the fossil fuel industry.
