.png)
Floor News
Emergency Appropriation Extenders
• The Assembly and Senate unanimously passed two bills this week (A.6550 [vote: 144-0]; and A.6585 [vote: 143-0]) in order to provide emergency appropriations for the support of the government through April 20th and April 24th, respectively.
Medication Abortions on College Campuses
• The Assembly passed a bill (A.1395-C) that requires all public college student health centers to provide access to abortions by medication either through an on-campus prescriber or referral to a prescriber (vote: 100-49).
Committee News
Ways & Means
• Despite unanimous Republican support, the Ways & Means Committee blocked a bill (A.1690, Barclay), the “Inflation Relief & Consumer Assistance Plan,” which would immediately suspend state sales tax charges for two years on items such as gasoline, personal care products, housekeeping and cleaning supplies, and some food purchases.
Children and Families
• Despite unanimous Republican support, the Children and Families Committee blocked a bill (A.1276, E. Brown) that enacts “Bella’s Law,” directing the Office of Children and Family Services to log and investigate any person accused or investigated for an animal abuse crime for any associated family or domestic violence.
Correction
• Despite unanimous Republican support, the Correction Committee blocked a bill (A.2423, JM Giglio) that would require the State Board of Parole to consist of at least one member who was a member of law enforcement and at least one member who is a crime victim or crime victim's representative.
Codes
• Despite unanimous Republican support, the Codes Committee blocked the following bills that would strengthen protections for domestic violence victims:
~ A.2485 (JM Giglio) – Creates a new category called “Domestic Violence Crime”, which provides enhanced punishment for a person who intentionally commits, or intends to commit, a specified offense against a member of the same family or household. Authorizes the court to require the defendant to complete a program, training session, or counseling session directed at domestic violence crime prevention and education.
~ A.2634 (JM Giglio) – Specifies that committing a “Domestic Violence Crime” in the presence of a child 15 years old or younger constitutes an additional class E felony for which the prison sentence is to be served consecutively to the sentence imposed for the underlying domestic violence offense.
• Despite unanimous Republican opposition, the Codes Committee reported a bill (A.507) that would abolish the State’s citizens arrest law by repealing provisions of law which permit the arrest of an adult or a juvenile by a person who is not a police officer or peace officer.
This bill was reported to the Floor.
Education
• Despite unanimous Republican support, the Education Committee blocked the following bills:
~ A.2231 (Walsh) – Enacts “Jacobe’s Law,” requiring school employees to contact the parents or guardians of students involved in incidents of bullying and harassment.
~ A.4703 (Gandolfo) – Directs the Office of Mental Health to develop or identify materials relating to suicide prevention for school‑aged children and requires the Commissioner of Education to make these materials available on the State Education Department website. Allows school districts to include suicide prevention instruction in health education.
~ A.2928 (Jensen) – Directs the State Education Department and the Board of Regents to require financial literacy instruction for 11th grade students in all public and private schools.
~ A.4161 (Lemondes) – Requires public elementary, middle and high schools to provide instruction in agriculture beginning in the 2024-25 school year.
Election Law
• Despite unanimous Republican support, the Election Law Committee blocked a bill (A.2292, Norris) that expands voter registration to include any registration by any agency or entity that accepts an application or collects a fee in exchange for a government or educational service.
Environmental Conservation
• Despite unanimous Republican opposition, the Environmental Conservation Committee reported a bill (A.2084-A) that prohibits the taking of wildlife with lead ammunition on any State-owned land that is open for hunting and on any land area contributing surface water to the New York City water supply. The bill defines lead ammunition as any ammunition containing one or more percent of lead by weight.
This bill was reported to Codes.
Health
• The Health Committee reported a bill (A.6032) that prohibits the approval or expansion of any new hospice operating on a for-profit basis or by a for-profit entity (whether in whole or in part).
This bill was reported to the Floor.
Labor
• Despite unanimous Republican support, the Labor Committee blocked the following bills:
~ A.2471 (Angelino) – Requires the Commissioners of the Department of Labor and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities to prepare a comprehensive study and report on the wages earned by aides for individuals with developmental disabilities. Further requires the Governor and the Legislature to use that report and its recommendations to set an appropriate base wage for those aides.
~ A.2520 (Angelino) – Prohibits an employer from terminating an employee who is also a volunteer firefighter or emergency medical services provider when that employee misses or is late to work because of an emergency to which the employee was dispatched.
Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development
• The Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development Committee reported a bill (A.5127) that directs the Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to determine if the authority exists to rename Donald J. Trump State Park, located in Putnam and Westchester counties. If the determination is affirmative, then the Commissioner shall rename the Park.
This bill was referred to Ways and Means.
Week In Focus
• On Tuesday, Assemblymen Smullen and Ra were joined by Members of the Assembly Republican Conference along with Putnam County Executive Byrne to hold a press conference on “Tax Day” bringing attention to New York State’s atrocious tax climate and shortcomings. To view the press conference click here:
• On Thursday, the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) voted to advance its final map of the Assembly districts. For more information, and to access the maps, bill draft, and memo submitted for legislative consideration click here:
Thank you for reading! Continue to stay involved!