ITHACA, N.Y. (WBNG) — The recent lawsuit accusing seven Cornell fraternity members of drugging and gang-raping a woman in 2024 has brought attention to New York state’s laws regarding consent and the push to make changes.
Sandi Johnson serves as the Senior Legislative Policy Council at the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, or RAINN. The anti-sexual violence organization runs the nation’s sexual assault hotline. She believes the state’s legal definitions often create roadblocks for victims looking to get justice.
“Consent is defined as a lack of consent only if the victim is unconscious, only if the victim was overcome by force, only if the victim did not clearly express consent,” Johnson said. “Consent is based on kind of a victim-blaming framework, where the only way that you are assessing consent is from the viewpoint of the victim’s attempts to stop the sexual assault.”
New York Penal Law Section 130.05 does not include voluntary intoxication as a cause for lack of consent, leaving the case up to Jane Doe’s mental state at the time of the alleged assault.
Attorney Anthony Kuhn with Tully Rinckey PLLC believes this may make things difficult for the prosecution.
“The question is always going to be there whether she was of the right state of mind to actually consent. Was she mentally incapacitated or physically incapacitated?” Kuhn said. “If the answer to either of those questions is yes, then there is a chance that those individuals would be prosecuted.”
Advocates and lawmakers such as Assemblywoman Anna Kelles (D-125th District) and State Senator Lea Webb (D-52nd District) have reignited efforts to redefine many of these terms.
State law states the term “physically helpless” means a person is unconscious or, for any other reason, is physically unable to communicate unwillingness to an act.
“That definition is very narrow,” Kelles said. “It leaves out situations where people are so intoxicated that they can’t even remember afterwards the decisions that they’ve made.”
That’s why Senate Bill S866 aims to change this definition by removing the word “unwillingness” and adding “affirmative consent.”
“It’s redefining the term in our laws as pertains to mental incapacitation,” Webb said. “And dealing with intoxication.”
Senate Bill S54A would prohibit the use of intoxication of the victim as a defense in sex crimes where the victim is under the extreme influence of any substance which renders them incapable of appraising or controlling such victim’s conduct and incapable of clearly expressing lack of consent.
“It doesn’t matter whether or not somebody is in a place where they can’t consent because they voluntarily consume the alcohol or involuntarily consume the alcohol,” Johnson said, “What’s important is they did not consent.”
Senate bill S866 was passed by the Senate in a 59-0 vote on Feb. 5, 2026.
Senate bill S54A was passed by the Senate in a 58-0 vote on April 28, 2026.
Both bills have yet to make it to the Assembly floor.
