End-of-year legislation signed by Hochul

Understand the legislation set to go into effect in 2023

By Alicia Venter

aventer@queensledger.com

January 1, 2023 – Albany, NY – Governor Kathy Hochul takes the oath of office and delivers an inaugural address at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany. (Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

As the year came to a close, Governor Kathy Hochul had a busy two weeks. She became the first woman to be sworn into a full term as governor of New York on Jan. 1, and in the month prior, she signed numerous pending state legislation into law.

Notably, she signed a bill that prohibits discrimination based on citizenship or immigration status and immigration status is illegal in New York.

This law will expand the protections from the NYS Division of Human Rights, which currently investigates cases in which individuals have been potentially discriminated against due to their immigration status.

State Senator John Liu and State Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz came together with activists on Dec. 29 in front of Flushing Library to applaud the signing of this bill (S6586A/A6328A).

​​“We appreciate Governor Hochul for signing this legislation in recognition that our state is made greater by the vast contributions of talented and aspiring people from everywhere in the world who adopt New York as their new home,” Liu said in a statement. “Unfortunately, even as they pursue the American Dream, they are stymied by obsolete federal laws and byzantine bureaucracies that prolong their path to citizenship and subject them to bias and discrimination. This bill will help provide equal opportunity in employment, housing, and other needs that all New Yorkers should have access to.”

The first state program in the nation allowing individuals to be reimbursed for the costs of kidney and liver donations came from the governor’s office this week.

The legislation (S.1594/A.146A) amends the public health, tax and social services laws to enact the “New York State Living Donor Support Act,” which will establish a program to cover the extra costs that come with organ donation for New York residents who donate to a fellow New Yorker. The law comes in an effort to eliminate financial barriers to organ donation and, as a result, reduce wait times for organ transplants and address the organ shortage in New York.

As of publication, there are over 8,000 people on transplant wait lists, most of whom are awaiting a kidney, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

A legislative package (S.3897/A.8936-A) supporting pedestrians, bikers and transit riders included increased funding for “Complete Street” projects.

A Complete Street is a roadway designed for all roadway users — not just drivers.

This includes pedestrians, bicyclists, public transit riders as well as motorists. It also makes an effort to focus on children, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

With this legislation, the state’s contribution to the non-federally funded portion of the project increases to 87.5 percent.

New legislation (S.3959-B/A.7822-C) will require the non-voting transit dependent representative be moved into a voting position on transportation authorities’ boards. In short, this new legislation will provide a vote — and a voice — to riders who permanently rely on transit services including bikeshares, buses and paratransit.

To protect existing labor laws on behalf of workers, Hochul signed legislation (S.5994C/A.1338C) that establishes a registration system for contractors and subcontractors engaged in public work and covered private projects. This law will require contractors and subcontractors to provide a series of disclosures about their businesses every two years with the Department of Labor.

The department will determine whether a contractor or subcontractor is fit to registers based on previous labor law and workers compensation law violations, including prevailing wage requirements. This law will create a publicly available database.

Furthermore, notable previously signed laws that are set to go into effect in 2023 include the establishment of a task force and annual report to examine social media and violent extremism.

The Electric Vehicle Rights Act, which prevents a homeowners association from adopting or enforcing any rules or regulations that would effectively prohibit, or impose unreasonable limitations on the installation or use of an electric vehicle charging station, is set to go into effect on Jan. 21.

In this year, student-athletes will be able to receive endorsement compensation, and New York schools will be prohibited from taking away the scholarships or eligibility of any athlete making money from such endorsements.

New York bans selling of dogs, cats and rabbits in pet stores

By Alicia Venter

aventer@queensledger.com

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Bill S1130 into law on Dec. 15, in an attempt to bring an end to the sale of animals by commercial breeders, a business often accused of keeping the animals in inhumane conditions. (Photo: Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

By the end of next year, New Yorkers will be unable to purchase dogs, cats and rabbits in retail pet stores.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Bill S1130 into law on Thursday, Dec. 15, in an attempt to bring an end to the sale of animals by commercial breeders, a business often accused of keeping the animals in inhumane conditions.

Introduced by Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris, the legislation states that a retail pet shop “shall not sell, lease, offer to lease, offer to sell, barter, auction or otherwise transfer ownership of any dog, cat or rabbit.”

The bill passed both the state Senate and Assembly last spring, and is an attempt to bring an end to inhumane breeding conditions.

“Today is a great day for our four-legged friends and a big step forward in our fight against abusive and inhumane puppy mills,” Gianaris said in a statement. “My thanks to Governor Hochul for standing up for the voiceless loving animals who are members of our families and deserve the respect we’ve shown them today.”

A retail pet shop is defined in the legislation as any for-profit location that offers to sell animals to be kept as household pets, pet food or supplies. There are approximately 80 pet stores registered in New York State, according to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

The law does not prohibit a retail pet shop from collaborating with certain entities to showcase such animals for the purpose of adoption: societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals, humane societies and animal protective or rescue tax-exempt associations. Pet stores will be allowed to charge shelters rent to use their spaces for adoption.

New York joins California, Maryland, Illinois and other states who have also passed retail pet sale bans.

The New York Times reported in July that pet stores fiercely objected to the legislation, stating the bill would put them out of business and could potentially lead to an underground market of pet sales as it became more difficult for people to obtain a pet in the state.

People are still permitted to buy animals directly from breeders, but the legislation encourages people to adopt pets from shelters and rescue organizations.

According to The Humane Society of the United States, puppy mills often lead to an array of painful and life-shortening veterinary problems due to unsanitary conditions and the lack of proper oversight.

“Dogs, cats and rabbits across New York deserve loving homes and humane treatment,” Hochul said in a statement. “I’m proud to sign this legislation, which will make meaningful steps to cut down on harsh treatment and protect the welfare of animals across the state.”

The legislation will take effect in December 2024.

Pol Position: Conceal Carry Explained

Governor Hochul signed legislation on Friday, attempting to carve out restrictions on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn New York State’s conceal carry laws.

“A week ago, the Supreme Court issued a reckless decision removing century-old limitations on who is allowed to carry concealed weapons in our state—senselessly sending us backward and putting the safety of our residents in jeopardy,” Governor Hochul said in a statement. “Today, we are taking swift and bold action to protect New Yorkers. After a close review of the NYSRPA vs. Bruen decision and extensive discussions with constitutional and policy experts, advocates, and legislative partners, I am proud to sign this landmark legislative package that will strengthen our gun laws and bolster restrictions on concealed carry weapons.”

On June 23, the Supreme Court reversed New York’s over century-old legislation that required Empire State residents to demonstrate a special need–such as past death threats–to defend themselves. Justice Clarence Thomas’ majority opinion argued that the legislature may have some leeway to ban guns in “sensitive areas” but defining entires cities, or Manhattan writ-large, is unconstitutional.

“Put simply, there is no historical basis for New York to effectively declare the island of Manhattan a ‘sensitive place’ simply because it is crowded and protected generally by the New York City Police Department,” Justice Thomas wrote in the court’s majority opinion.

New York’s new legislation attempts to establish a list of sensitive places, within the judicial leeway provided by Thomas–but only time will tell whether it stands. The concealed carry law improvement act would ban concealed carry across many different areas: public transport, parks, preschools, houses of worship, protests, Times Square, and more.

The legislation also makes “no-carry” the default in private businesses, meaning that it is illegal to conceal carry a weapon in a private business unless they have signage directly notifying patrons that firearms are allowed.

Beyond the obvious runaround of the Supreme Court ruling, the legislation would set storage requirements, social media reviews to determine whether someone is of “good moral character,” and mandating training.

Other disqualifying criteria include misdemeanor convictions for weapons possession and menacing, recent treatment for drug-related reasons, and for alcohol-related misdemeanor convictions.

Another section of the bill expands upon bullet-resistant armor bans, by now being able to ban the equipment used by the racist gunman who unloaded on a Buffalo grocery store, that the legislation failed to adequately address the first time around.

Gun rights groups are almost certainly going to oppose the legislation based on specific rules or the entirety of the legislation.

The law will take effect on September 1, 2022. In addition, an appeals board will be created for those applicants whose license or renewal is denied or revoked, which will take effect on April 1, 2023.

New COVID-19 testing, vaccine site opens at Astoria Houses

Residents of Western Queens and Astoria Houses now have a new and closer COVID-19 vaccination and testing site made out of repurposed shipping containers.

The temporary medical care unit located just steps from the Astoria Houses Community Center will be operated by NYC-based charity hospital, The Floating Hospital, and will provide free vaccines and tests. The site will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

NYS Gov. Hochul shakes hands with residents of the Astoria Houses

With only a single permanent vaccination site located within a half-mile of Astoria Houses, and just two permanent vaccination sites in the 11102 area code, the lack of access to vaccines has shown higher case and death rates in the area compared to other parts of Queens and New York City.

In the area code 11102, there is a case rate of 30,300 per 100,000 individuals, compared to 13,350 and 12,600 in Queens and New York City, respectively. The death rate within the same zip code is approximately 616 per 100,000, compared to 448 and 408 to the borough and city, respectively.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney was joined by NYS Governor Kathy Hochul, NYC Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo, and other community leaders to unveil the new 40-foot-long medical care center in the courtyard of the housing complex.

“We learned during COVID that there are great inequities in health care, there are great needs, and that we have to do a better job to support and provide health care, equally, to all people,” Maloney said.

The temporary medical care unit was designed by a research and development consortium composed of the New Jersey Institute of Technology and The Tuchman Foundation. Maloney worked with the aforementioned agencies, as well as the New York City Housing Authority, to secure the placement for the temporary healthcare unit.

Hochul praised the leadership of Maloney, as well as echoing similar sentiments about unequal access to healthcare.

“Today, we begin to right the wrongs of the past. If anything, this pandemic demonstrates that there are systemic disparities in healthcare access and therefore healthcare outcomes,” Hochul said. “Nowhere do we see that more intensely than in this neighborhood and in this community.”

Claudia Coger, the former Astoria Houses Tenants Association President, said that a high number of unvaccinated individuals live in the neighborhood. She says access is key when it comes to providing knowledge to the place she has called home for her entire life.

“Let’s get rid of some of the excuses,” Coger said.

Hochul in control

At this point, it looks like it’s Kathy Hochul’s job to lose.
According to a Siena College poll released this week, the current governor holds a double-digit lead over her next closest challenger, Attorney General Letitia James.
In a survey of registered Democrats, if the primary were held today, 36 percent said they would vote for Hochul to represent the party in next year’s general election, while 18 percent said they backed James.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would get 10 percent of the vote, while Mayor Bill de Blasio and Congressman Tom Suozzi would each get 6 percent of the vote. Twenty-four percent said they are undecided or back another candidate, which means there’s still plenty of undecided voters out there for the candidates to sway.
Suozzi announced his intent to run last week, turning down an offer by mayor-elect Eric Adams to join him at City Hall and serve as deputy mayor.
Suozzi’s decision reportedly upset some in the Democratic Party, who would prefer that he focus on re-election to Congress, especially after the GOP did much better than expected in local races in Suozzi’s current congressional district, which includes parts of Queens and Nassau County.
With Suozzi focused on running for governor, the seat could be vulnerable to being flipped by Republicans, who are focused on taking back the majority in the House next year.
There was also speculation that Suozzi and the governor would be competing for the same voters, namely conservative-leaning Democrats, making it harder for her to win re-election and opening the door for a progressive candidate like James or Williams.
As for now, it doesn’t look like Hochul has to worry about that, but there’s still a long way to go until the June primary.

Needle panic

Dear Editor,
I’m glad that 23 City Council members sent a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul and state legislative leaders urging revision of bail reform and giving judges discretion to consider a defendant’s criminal history.
But I have little hope for a positive response. Rather than strengthen law
enforcement, Governor Hochul seems to favor lawbreakers.
The latest example is a bill she signed that decriminalizes open drug use and
allows addicts to shoot up in public places without interference by cops.
It bolsters far left lunatics’ goal of “harm reduction,” but will actually heighten drug addiction. It will create a real-life version of the 1971 film “Panic
in Needle Park,” which depicts an upper Manhattan area that was a mecca for junkies.
We will have panic in all city parks that will no longer be safe for law-abiding residents, including families and children.
Hochul panders to “progressives” in order to win the 2022 Democratic primary election. She recently appointed two people to top-level posts in her administration who support bail reform and defunding the police.
She also approved a measure, opposed by the state’s Democratic Party chairman, that provides financial aid to illegal immigrants.
Far-left Democrats who call themselves “progressive” are really regressive. They want to return our city to the bad old days of the 1970s. Don’t let New York City become a paradise for junkies and a living hell for the rest of us.
Sincerely,
Richard Reif
Kew Gardens Hills

Hochul panders

Dear Editor,
Governor Kathy Hochul promised us a clean break from Albany’s disgraceful past upon taking office in August.
But she broke that vow by immediately urging a speed up in payments to illegal immigrants under the state’s $2.1 billion Excluded Workers Fund program passed by the legislature in April. It provides $15,600 to low earning undocumented immigrants who claim to have lost a job or suffered a 50 percent drop in earnings because of the COVID pandemic.
They are entitled to this money even if they worked off the books and paid no taxes. Moderate Democrats on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley and upstate opposed the measure, but progressives called them “racist” and rammed it through the legislative process.
State Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs chided progressives by noting that it’s not racist to question a program that gives “undocumented, non-taxpaying, off-the-books workers a humanitarian grant.”
Lawmakers passed the bill to benefit illegal immigrants who were excluded from the Trump and Biden
administrations’ COVID stimulus programs because they are in our nation illegally. Why can’t New York’s political leaders follow Washington’s example?
Blatant vote grabbing is one reason. Hochul plans to run for governor next year and needs left-wing voters to win her party’s primary election. Many of them live in New York City, where two-thirds of the 200,000 illegal immigrants eligible for COVID benefits reside and have relatives who vote.
I don’t know which NYC legislators voted for this measure, but those who did should be rejected by voters when they face re-election next year. They betrayed their taxpaying constituents and must be held accountable for it.
Sincerely,
Richard Reif
Kew Gardens Hills

Don’t pick your heroes from politics

Kathy C. Hochul is now officially the Governor of New York.
When the former Congresswoman from Buffalo was sworn in on Tuesday, she was making history as the first woman to ever hold the State’s highest office.
And indeed, her governorship is a historic moment that deserves to be celebrated. New York has been home to a passionate feminist movement since even before the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, yet somehow the State has never had a woman governor.
Yet Hochul’s term begins as that of her predecessor — Andrew Cuomo — ends in absolute disgrace. So while it is worth celebrating her achievement and the achievement of the State as a whole, the beginning of this new governorship is a time for New Yorkers to reflect on how we got here.
To put it lightly, Cuomo went down in flames. But even before his astronomical fall from grace, there were plenty of red flags. Cuomo was a classic, egotistical, old-school type of New York politician. That was clear since day one.
However, the former Governor’s capable response to the COVID-19 pandemic — at least compared to the absolutely abysmal leadership of governors from other, mostly republican, states — quickly earned the otherwise lackluster politician a new degree of national celebrity.
His daily press conferences about microbes and masks took the television slot of daytime soap operas, and became a strangely comforting cottage industry during the pandemic’s early days. Appearances on national TV shows soon followed. Then a book deal.
And just like that, Andrew Cuomo was becoming a hero to people. What a terrible mistake.
No matter how much we agree with a politician’s policy’s or beliefs, we should never put them on a pedestal so high that we can’t hold them accountable for their actions. The fanfare surrounding Cuomo’s leadership during the pandemic was too much for a public servant, but as is too often the case, service is the last thing we think about when we discuss politicians. Look no further than No. 45 himself, a former reality TV star turned twice impeached president who used the nation’s highest office to fuel his ego and do little else…that is an opinion piece (or two, or three) for another time though.
So as Kathy Hochul enters office, we as voters must not forget the role politicians are supposed to play in our society. Elected officials should be serving us, their constituents, rather than using our attention to serve their own egos.
Now is a time to celebrate. New York has a woman governor, which is a historic moment too long in the making. However, we must not repeat our own history of deifying the politicians who are supposed to serve our needs.

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