Weekly Legislative Update - May 16, 2025

Floor News

Tenant Fixture Installation

The Assembly passed a bill (A.1865-A), which prohibits landlords from restricting the installation of appliances or fixtures by a residential tenant, as long as the appliances or fixtures comply with applicable building codes and the residential tenant has sought and obtained written consent from the landlord for the installation (vote: 93-52).

Customer Utility Bill Complaint Handling Procedures and Penalties

The Assembly passed a bill (A.1441-A), which modifies customer bill complaint handling procedures involving the Public Service Commission (PSC) as well as utilities and municipalities providing gas, electric, and steam service. Imposes the following penalties

against all utilities and municipalities that do not report back to their customers in a “timely” manner: $100 per business per day beyond 15 days for utilities or $25 per business per day beyond 30 days for municipalities (vote: 114-33).

Repeal of the “Line Warming” Ban

The Assembly passed a bill (A.1241-A), which repeals Section 17-140 of the Election Law entitled "Furnishing money or entertainment to induce attendance at polls” that prohibits any person, directly or indirectly, by themselves or through another party, from giving or providing meat, drink, tobacco, refreshment, or provision at polling places (vote: 94-47).

The section of the Election Law being repealed was found unconstitutional and unenforceable by a federal court in 2024.

Illegible Parking Ticket Dismissal

The Assembly passed a bill (A.1994), which deletes language mandating that parking tickets be dismissed if requisite information is omitted, misdescribed, or illegible only upon

application of the violator, thereby providing for all such tickets to be so dismissed (vote: 109-38).

Black Car Operators' Injury Compensation Fund

The Assembly passed a bill (A.7928), which extends the effectiveness of the New York Black

Car Operators' Injury Compensation Fund, Inc., for an additional three years. The New

York Black Car Operators' Injury Compensation Fund was created in 1999 as a safety net for

the industry's workers (vote: 142-3).

Additional Criteria for Utilities’ Annual Emergency Response Plans

The Assembly passed a bill (A.6285), which requires gas-electric utilities to list additional

criteria on their annual emergency response plans that they submit to the Public Service

Commission (PSC). Explicitly clarifies that such plans should include details on staffing,

equipment, and a performance schedule with the goal of achieving “reasonably prompt”

restoration of service based upon a time-based restoration schedule to be established by the

PSC. Directs the PSC to establish this schedule by utilizing benchmarks underpinning service restorations that include the percentage of customers restored within each 24-hour interval following an emergency event, such as a storm or cyberattack (vote: 106-34).

MTA Notification of Bedbug Infestations

The Assembly passed a bill (A.1906), which directs the Metropolitan Transportation

Authority (MTA) to establish a bedbug infestation notification system providing notice to

subway, train, and bus travelers within 24 hours’ discovery of an infestation. Allows

notifications to be transmitted via the MTA’s website, e-mail, or text message (vote: 104-36).

Smart Guns

The Assembly passed a bill (A.1191), the “Safer Weapons, Safer Homes Act,” which directs

DCJS to complete an investigation to certify (or decline to certify) the technological viability

of personalized handguns. Defines personalized handgun to mean a pistol or revolver that

incorporates within its design a permanent programmable feature that cannot be deactivated and renders it resistant to being fired except when activated by the lawful owner or other authorized user (vote: 97-50).

Committee News

Economic Development

The Economic Development Committee reported a bill (A.3343), which permits a

municipality to assess a fine for a false alarm on an alarm system company only when the false alarm is specifically attributed to a deficiency in the alarm system or an error of the alarm system company. This bill was reported to Codes.

Insurance

Despite unanimous Republican opposition, the Insurance Committee reported the following

bills:

A.1067: Prohibits insurers from excluding liability coverage to rental property owners for losses or damages caused by exposure to lead-based paint. This bill was reported to Codes.

A.1450: Makes it an unfair claim settlement practice for an insurer to demand personal, financial, and tax information from insureds while investigating or settling theft claims, unless special articulable circumstances have been discovered that directly relate to the particular individual facts of a theft. This bill was reported to Codes.

Housing

Despite unanimous Republican opposition, the Housing Committee reported the following

bills:

A.1535: Enacts the “Tenant Organizing Act” to establish that tenants' groups,

committees, or other tenants' organizations have the right to invite outside guests or

visitors, including elected officials, service providers, and housing lawyers, to their regular

meetings without being required to pay a fee, at reasonable hours, and without

obstructing access to the premises or facilities. This bill was reported to the Floor.

A.1646: Increases, from 60 days to 90 days, the time a tenant has to file a complaint or

register a response when an application for a major capital improvement rent increase has

been filed. This bill was reported to Codes.

A.1886: Requires landlords of rent‑stabilized and rent‑controlled apartment buildings

who are applying for major capital improvement rent increases to allow access to an

engineer or architect hired by the tenants or tenants' association to inspect the

improvements done by the landlord. This bill was reported to Codes.

Environmental Conservation

Despite unanimous Republican support, the Environmental Conservation Committee blocked the following bills:

A.4692 (Molitor): Exempts inland lakes, other than the Great Lakes, which are navigable waterways and have an area of 150 acres or more, from designation as freshwater

wetlands.

A.5476 (DiPietro): Prohibits the intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of sunlight.

The Environmental Conservation Committee reported a bill (A.4282), which establishes the

Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, requiring companies with over $1 billion in

annual revenue that do business in the State to publicly report their greenhouse gas emissions, including direct emissions, emissions from purchased energy, and all other indirect emissions, such as those from their supply chain. Empowers the Attorney General to bring a civil action for violations and provides for civil penalties of up to $100,000 per day for willful failure to comply with this Act, capped at $500,000 per reporting year.

This bill was reported to Codes.

Codes

Despite unanimous Republican opposition, the Codes Committee reported the following bills:

A.6455: Amends the Criminal Procedure Law as it relates to issuing temporary orders of protection in family and non-family offense cases. Requires the issuing court to hold an

evidentiary hearing upon application of a defendant, where a prosecutor must show, by an

articulated reasonable basis, that such temporary order is likely to achieve its purpose in

the absence of such a condition of protecting a designated witness or complainant from

intimidation or injury. This bill was reported to the Floor.

A.6862: Requires consumer reporting agencies to inform a consumer when a consumer

report on such consumer has been requested.This bill was reported to the Floor.

Despite unanimous Republican support, the Codes Committee blocked the following bills:

A.1584 (Mikulin):Increases penalties for Criminal Use of a Firearm in the First Degree

when committing a drug-related felony offense.

A.1703 (Mikulin): Amends the Criminal Procedure Law and the Civil Practice Law and

Rules concerning the admission of evidence of similar sex offenses in criminal and civil

proceedings involving the commission of a sex offense.

A.2013 (Maher):Requires a sentence of life without parole upon conviction of Murder in

the First Degree and Murder in the Second Degree of a child less than 13 years old.

A.2065 (Smith): Establishes the class E felony crime of Unlawful Operation of Model or

Unmanned Aircraft over a Critical Infrastructure.

A.2547 (DiPietro): Repeals the 2013 SAFE Act.

A.2557 (Hawley): Creates the class A misdemeanor crime of Stolen Valor.

A.3825 (Gray): Requires that purchasers of ammunition be issued an ammunition

purchase permit number good for one year in lieu of being required to submit to an

ammunition background check for every purchase.

A.3951 (Norber): Creates the class A misdemeanor crime of Vandalism of Pro-Israel Print.

A.4140 (Reilly): Requires the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center to

accept evidence items or samples for DNA analysis from any firearm, rifle, shotgun,

ammunition, or magazine-loading device when the sole charge is Criminal Possession of a

Weapon or Criminal Possession of a Firearm.

A.4636 (Sempolinski): Expands the class A misdemeanor crime of Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree to include disclosing or disseminating the residence address, private telephone number, or any other information identifying a police officer for no legitimate purpose when the individual knows or reasonably should know that such conduct is likely to cause reasonable fear of material harm to such officer, a member of such officer’s family, or a third party with whom such officer is acquainted.

A.4754 (Brabenec): Repeals sweeping criminal justice reforms enacted since 2019 relating to cash bail reform, criminal discovery reform, reducing misdemeanor sentences, and law enforcement’s use of physical force.

A.4775 (Beephan): Establishes the class B felony crime of Criminal Sale of a Controlled

Substance Upon the Grounds of a Drug or Alcohol Treatment Center.

A.5092 (K. Brown): Directs DCJS to post a report on its website regarding desk

appearance tickets (DATs) for the previous year, consisting of both statewide and county

data that includes the number of DATs issued, the number of principals who failed to

appear in court, and the ratio of DATs issued to principals who did not appear in court

after being issued a DAT.

A.5146 (DeStefano): Establishes the offenses of Menacing a Police Officer or a Peace

Officer in the First and Second Degree.

A.5187 (DeStefano): Classifies specified offenses committed against first responders, such as law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency services personnel, as hate crimes.

A.5336 (Brook-Krasny): Creates the class A misdemeanor crime of Unlawful

Dissemination of a Security Body Scan.

A.5498 (Brook-Krasny): Creates the class E felony crime of Criminal Use of Public

Records when, intending to use such record in the commission of a crime, a person

intentionally obtains any record through the process provided under the Public Officers

Law (FOIL).

A.5579 (Sempolinski): Stipulates that a person who commits a “Domestic Violence Crime” in the presence of a child age 15 or younger shall be guilty of an additional class E felony, where the prison sentence shall be served consecutively to the sentence imposed for the underlying offense.

A.5584 (Bailey): Eliminates background checks for ammunition purchases in New York

State and prevents the State from passing on costs or fees related to background checks for

purchasing firearms to dealers or their respective customers.

A.5599 (Sempolinski): Allows judges, justices, and support magistrates of any town or

village justice court or any court of the unified court system and who are duly licensed to

possess a pistol or revolver to carry concealed in “sensitive locations” as defined in Penal

Law.

A.5781 (Chludzinski): Allows a family member of a deceased crime victim to personally

attend a Parole Board interview in cases where the final disposition includes a Homicide

offense. Requires the Parole Board to review victim impact statements, with the Board’s

failure to review such statements making the hearing invalid.

A.5783 (Chludzinski): Enacts “Paula’s Law,” mandating life without parole for any person 18 or older who sexually assaults and murders a child under 18 years (currently under 14) of age.

A.5839 (Giglio): Creates the class B felony crime of Aggravated Obstructing Emergency

Medical Services when a person intentionally and unreasonably obstructs the efforts of

any services, technician, personnel, system, or unit specified under Public Health Law in

the performance of their duties by either obstructing vehicular traffic or engaging in

conduct that poses a risk of serious physical injury to others.

A.5876 (Chang): Enacts “Barreto’s Law” to create the class E felony crime of Vehicular

Manslaughter in the Third Degree when a person causes the death of another person and

either: (1) engages in reckless driving in violation of the Vehicle and Traffic Law (VTL), or

(2) commits the VTL crime of Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle in the

Third Degree.

A.6169 (Lemondes): Makes it a class C felony for a person, company, agency, etc., to

transport an undocumented immigrant from a location outside or within NYS to a

location within NYS, with the intention of dropping them off at any municipality or

federal property.

A.6358 (Tannousis): Restores judicial discretion relating to bail reform. Provides that when the defendant is charged with a felony, the court shall request that a risk and needs

assessment be conducted on the defendant to determine whether such defendant should be

released on the defendant’s own recognizance, released under non-monetary conditions,

or, where authorized, released on bail or committed to the custody of the sheriff.

A.6622 (Giglio): Adds Promoting Prostitution in the Fourth Degree and Patronizing a

Person for Prostitution in the Third Degree where such person patronized is less than 17

years of age to the list of qualifying offenses that authorize a judge to set bail pre-trial.

A.6684 (Tannousis): Permits certain family members of a deceased victim (spouse, parent(s), or both) to make statements on behalf of the deceased victim in court during the

sentencing of a defendant, upon consultation with counsel for the defendant and the

people.

A.6926 (Molitor): Amends the class B misdemeanor crime of Harassment in the First

Degree to include a person who knowingly throws, tosses, spits, wipes, expels, or transfers

human or animal bodily fluids or matter onto another person. Amends the class E felony

crime of Aggravated Harassment in the First Degree to include a person who (1) subjects a

police officer, peace officer, prosecutor, firefighter, first responder, and other listed

professionals to physical contact in order to intentionally prevent them from performing

their lawful duties; or (2) throws, tosses, spits, wipes, expels, or transfers human or animal

bodily fluids or matter onto these professionals without their consent.

A.6957 (Molitor): Requires judges to consider whether the defendant poses a risk or threat of physical danger to any person or the community when making bail determinations.Significantly expands the list of qualifying offenses eligible for bail/remand. Defines the term “good cause” to assist judges when deciding whether to revoke a principal’s release status and specifies circumstances where judges must remand a principal to the sheriff’s custody without bail, including situations when a principal is charged with a crime after two successive arrests and releases.

A.7003 (Walsh): Eliminates the criminal statute of limitations for those acts of Sex Trafficking designated as class B violent felony offenses and for the class B violent felony crime of Sex Trafficking of a Child. Extends the criminal statute of limitations for acts ofsex trafficking designated as non-violent felony offenses.

A.7027 (Bailey): Creates the class E felony crime of Aggravated Forcible Touching by an Incarcerated Individual when an incarcerated individual intentionally and for no legitimate purpose forcibly touches the sexual or other intimate parts of a person whom they know or reasonably should know to be an employee of a facility, the Board of Parole,the Office of Mental Health, a probation department, bureau or unit, or a police officer.

A.7565 (Molitor): Makes any felony or misdemeanor a qualifying offense, where the principal charged is a non-citizen, to allow courts to set bail or remand. Stipulates that when a principal, whose future court appearance at a criminal court is or may be required,comes under the court’s control and has an outstanding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer, the court shall commit such principal to the sheriff’s custody.Authorizes a police officer to arrest a person when the officer has reasonable cause to believe the individual is a non-citizen and the subject of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer, administrative warrant, or judicial warrant. Reinstates the maximum one-year sentence for a class A misdemeanor for deportation purposes.

Week In Focus

On May 14, the Assembly Standing Committee on Correction and the Senate Standing Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction held a Joint Public Hearing on

the Safety of Persons in Custody, Transparency, and Accountability within State Correctional Facilities. To view, CLICK HERE