Adultery a crime? Probably not much longer in New York state, legislators agree

In the halls of the New York state Capitol, with a budget deadline bearing down, it seems that all that anyone wants to talk about is adultery.

An antiquated and seldom-enforced state law categorizes adultery as a crime, and past efforts to repeal it have gone nowhere. But that seems poised to change.

The Assembly overwhelmingly voted in favor of a bill to repeal the adultery law last month, and a Senate committee last week moved a matching bill to the floor for a full vote that could come as soon as this week.

The developments have attracted global attention, with the Assembly bill’s sponsor, Charles Lavine, a Democrat from Long Island, fielding interview requests from Europe to South America.

“Any criminal law that penalizes intimate behavior between consenting adults does not deserve to be on the books,” said Lavine, who added that he has been “happily married” for 54 years.

Although adultery is still illegal in a handful of states (in Oklahoma, Michigan and Wisconsin, it is considered a felony offense), the vast majority of states repealed their adultery laws long ago or never outlawed it in the first place.

According to New York’s penal code, adultery is classified as a Class B misdemeanor, and it is punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.

This isn’t the first time New York has been slow to update laws regulating marriage and sex. In 2010, New York was the last state to adopt no-fault divorce — allowing couples to dissolve marriages without requiring proof of adultery, cruelty, imprisonment or abandonment — nearly 40 years after California was the first to take such action.