New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Photo: Scott Heins/Getty Images

Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled details Wednesday on his plan to create a new criminal charge of domestic terrorism, which is intended to be used by prosecutors when someone attempts to kill several people based on their race, religion or other identifiable factors.

"Let's acknowledge displays of hate-filled mass violence for what they are," Cuomo said. "They are domestic terrorism. That's what they are."

Cuomo first proposed the idea last year after the perpetrator of a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, told police he was targeting Mexicans in the attack.

That was in August, when the state Legislature wasn't in session.

Cuomo will now have the chance to pitch the idea to state lawmakers, who have said they're open to discussing the idea as part of this year's legislative session.

The idea was fueled in recent weeks by an attack in Rockland County, where a man broke into a rabbi's home in Monsey and stabbed five people. One of those victims is still in a coma, and the family has said he's not expected to wake up.

Cuomo formally presented the proposal Wednesday at his State of the State address in Albany, which he began by decrying political divisions.

"Every day our people are besieged by crises, upheaval and unrest," Cuomo said. "These are the ugly signs of our times. The forecast suggests it will get worse before it gets better. The year ahead will not calm the waters but rather increase the turbulence."

Cuomo's calling it the New York Hate Crime Anti-Terrorism Act. It would create an unprecedented criminal charge in New York of a domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate. The crime would be a class A1 felony and carry a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors would have to meet a specific burden to convict individuals on the new charge. It would have to be shown that the alleged perpetrator intended to cause the death of at least five people and successfully killed at least one person.

Prosecutors would also have to show the attack was motivated by the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of the victims.

It wouldn't matter if those characteristics actually matched the victim, or were just perceived as much by the perpetrator. The charge would be valid if the perpetrator perceived someone to be of a certain religion, for example, even if they weren't.

That's different from what Cuomo proposed in August to criminalize domestic terrorism in New York.

Cuomo's previous proposal would have assigned the charge to any incident, motivated by hate, that results in the murder of at least one person and the attempted murder of at least two people. The new proposal appears to provide a narrower path for the charge.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, said after Cuomo's address Wednesday that he would bring the idea to members of his conference, who haven't yet had a chance to seriously consider the measure.

"There has to be a lot of criteria that has to be in it," Heastie said. "This is something he proposed last year, but we'll talk it over with the conference."

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