Legislative Updates - Major Progress in NYS Legislature As Session Winds Down

As the New York Legislative Session gets close to wrapping up later this month, our priority bills are moving quickly through legislative committees and votes in the Assembly and Senate. After months of good work by the New York Legislative and Political Action Team (LPAT), making repeated trips to Albany to speak with legislators and spearheading mobilization activities, we’re doing well on our priorities:

• One Week Unemployment Insurance Striking Workers [Bronson A3654]
  • What we’re fighting for: reducing the waiting period for striking workers to receive unemployment to one week.
  • PASSED in both the Assembly and Senate!
• Keep Police Radio Public Act (S416 Gianaris / A3516 Reyes):
  • PASSED in both the Assembly and Senate!
• Anti-OTMR Enforcement Bill (S6997 C. Ryan / A7544 Magnarelli): 
  • What we’re fighting for: robust enforcement of legislation blocking harmful “One Touch Make Ready” regulations to stop unsafe make-ready work and violations of CBA protections by creating a dedicated complaint form and penalty structure for contractors who violate the law.
  • PASSED in the Senate on June 6
  • We expect it to pass in the Assembly this week, but it’s not over yet, so please take action now to send a quick email to your Assemblymember telling them to pass this bill
• Codifying Graduate Student Worker Fees Phase Out (S3458 Stavisky / A5457 Solages):
  • What we’re fighting for: In 2022, we won a commitment to fund phasing out mandatory broad-based fees for SUNY graduate student workers, the backbone workforce of the SUNY system. While we’ve successfully obtained the first two installments, we need to codify this language to ensure graduate students are protected in perpetuity.
  • PASSED in the Senate
  • We expect it to pass in the Assembly this week
• Tower Climber Safety Bill (S2709 May / A4938 Levenberg):
  • What we’re fighting for: Tower climbing is an essential yet dangerous industry, where tower climbers work on towers between fifty and two hundred feet tall. However, there are few regulations and safety standards in place. The State must use its procurement power to demand better labor standards and subcontractor transparency.
  • PASSED in both the Assembly and Senate!