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S 5014 NY
Passed Legislature

Enacts the "Big Five African Trophies Act" relating to banning the importation, transportation and possession of certain African wildlife species and products

NY · session 2025-2026 · Senate · bill

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Introduced Feb 18, 2025

Latest action (May 5, 2026) REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION

Summary

This bill bans the importation, transportation, sale, trade, and possession of parts or products from six African wildlife species in New York: African Elephants, Leopards, Lions, Black Rhinoceroses, White Rhinoceroses, and Giraffes. The ban applies to raw or manufactured parts of the skin or body of these animals. The bill provides narrow exceptions for items already located in New York before the law takes effect with proper certification, items in museum collections, and items inherited by legal heirs or beneficiaries with certification. Violations are subject to criminal penalties up to two years imprisonment, and violating items are subject to seizure and forfeiture. The law takes effect one year after being enacted.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Official abstract

Enacts the "Big Five African Trophies Act" relating to banning the importation, transportation and possession of certain African wildlife species and products.

Sponsor (1)

10 coauthors / cosponsors

Action history (16)

  1. Feb 18, 2025 REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION · upper
  2. Feb 25, 2025 1ST REPORT CAL.400 · upper
  3. Feb 26, 2025 2ND REPORT CAL. · upper
  4. Mar 3, 2025 ADVANCED TO THIRD READING · upper
  5. Apr 8, 2025 PASSED SENATE · upper
  6. Apr 8, 2025 DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY · upper
  7. Apr 8, 2025 REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION · lower
  8. Jan 7, 2026 DIED IN ASSEMBLY · lower
  9. Jan 7, 2026 RETURNED TO SENATE · lower
  10. Jan 7, 2026 REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION · upper
  11. Feb 24, 2026 1ST REPORT CAL.380 · upper
  12. Feb 25, 2026 2ND REPORT CAL. · upper
  13. Feb 26, 2026 ADVANCED TO THIRD READING · upper
  14. May 5, 2026 PASSED SENATE · upper
  15. May 5, 2026 DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY · upper
  16. May 5, 2026 REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION · lower

Text versions (2)

The published texts of this bill as it moves through the legislature. Each links to the official document on the state legislature site. Data from OpenStates.

  • S5014 · HTML
  • S5014 · PDF

Full text

Full text imported from assembly.state.ny.us

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New York State Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie

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Bill No.: Summary Actions Committee&nbspVotes Floor&nbspVotes Memo Text LFIN Chamber&nbspVideo/Transcript S05014 Summary: BILL NO S05014 &nbsp SAME AS SAME AS A01616

&nbsp SPONSOR SEPULVEDA &nbsp COSPNSR ADDABBO, BRISPORT, CLEARE, COMRIE, GIANARIS, HARCKHAM, MARTINEZ, MAY, SERRANO, WEBB &nbsp MLTSPNSR &nbsp Add §11-0535-d, amd §71-0919, En Con L &nbsp Enacts the "Big Five African Trophies Act" relating to banning the importation, transportation and possession of certain African wildlife species and products.

Go to top S05014 Text:

STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________

5014

2025-2026 Regular Sessions

IN SENATE

February 18, 2025 ___________

Introduced by Sens. SEPULVEDA, BRISPORT, COMRIE, HARCKHAM, MARTINEZ, MAY, SERRANO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation

AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to enacting the "Big Five African Trophies Act" relating to foreign game

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows:

1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Big Five 2 African Trophies Act". 3 § 2. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new 4 section 11-0535-d to read as follows: 5 § 11-0535-d. Big five African trophies act. 6 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no individual, firm, 7 corporation, association, or partnership shall import, export, trans- 8 port, process, sell, offer for sale, purchase, trade, barter, distribute 9 or possess any part or product of the skin or body, whether raw or manu- 10 factured, of the following animal species: African Elephant (Loxodonta 11 africana); African Leopard (Panthera pardus); African Lion (Panthera 12 leo); Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis); White Rhinoceros (Ceratother- 13 ium simum); and African Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis). 14 2. Unless such activity is prohibited by federal law, paragraph e of 15 subdivision six of section 11-0103 of this article, or sections 11-0512, 16 11-0535-a, and 11-0536 of this title, the following exceptions and 17 defenses apply to the prohibitions of subdivision one of this section: 18 a. the part or product was located or possessed within the state of 19 New York prior to the effective date of this section and the legal owner 20 has obtained a certificate of possession from the secretary of state; 21 b. the part or product is to be made part of a temporary or permanent 22 collection of a museum chartered by the board of regents pursuant to the 23 education law or to a museum authorized by a special charter from the 24 legislature of this state, provided that the article is not thereafter

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD04164-01-5

S. 5014 2

1 sold, offered for sale, traded, bartered or distributed to any private 2 party; or 3 c. the part or product is distributed directly to a legal beneficiary 4 of a trust or to a legal heir provided the article was located or 5 possessed by the decedent prior to the effective date of this section; 6 provided further that after transfer to the beneficiary or heir that the 7 article is not thereafter sold, offered for sale, traded, bartered or 8 distributed to any private party; provided further that the beneficiary 9 or heir obtain a certificate of possession from the secretary of state 10 within one hundred eighty days of obtaining the article. 11 3. Any officer or agent authorized by the commissioner, or any police 12 officer of the state of New York, or any police officer of any munici- 13 pality within the state of New York, shall have authority to execute any 14 warrant to search for and seize any parts or products in violation of 15 this section, as defined in subdivision one of this section, or any 16 property or item used in connection with a violation of this section; 17 such parts or products shall be held pending proceedings in any court of 18 proper jurisdiction. Upon conviction, or upon the entry of a judgment 19 restraining the import, export, transport, process, sale, offer for 20 sale, purchase, trade, barter, distribution or possession of any such 21 part or product on the ground that such parts or products are in 22 violation of this section, such parts or products shall be forfeited 23 and, upon forfeiture, either offered to a recognized institution for 24 scientific or educational purposes, or destroyed. 25 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 71-0919 of the environmental conserva- 26 tion law is amended by adding a new paragraph h to read as follows: 27 h. In the cases provided for in section 11-0535-d of this chapter: 28 (1) Any big five African species, property and/or item used in 29 connection with a violation of this section shall be held pending crimi- 30 nal proceedings in any court of proper jurisdiction. 31 (2) A defendant convicted of this offense shall be sentenced pursuant 32 to paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section 55.10 of the penal law; 33 provided, however, that any term of imprisonment imposed for violation 34 of this section shall be a definite sentence, which may not exceed two 35 years. 36 (3) Upon conviction, or upon the entry of a judgment restraining a 37 defendant from importing, possessing, selling, offering for sale, or 38 transporting any big five African species on the grounds that such 39 activity is or would be in violation of section 11-0535-d of this chap- 40 ter, any seized property under this paragraph shall be forfeited and, 41 upon forfeiture, destroyed. 42 § 4. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a 43 law.

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