Votes in the NYS Senate for the Week of March 18, 2019

The bills listed below were voted on this week in the New York State Senate.  The legislation is listed by bill number and includes a short description, followed by Senator Gallivan's vote.  You can access each bill individually at the links provided below.

#S588  This bill precludes the interviewing of alleged child abuse victims in front of the subject of a report. NOTE - In practice, child protective services already conduct interviews in private, often during the school day, if they deem it necessary.

AYE

#S3248  This bill amends the Family Court Act Section 657(c) to include non-parents with lawful orders of custody as persons who may make medical decisions for minors in their care, and amends Public Health Law Section 2504 to include non-parents with lawful orders of custody along with parents and guardians as persons whose consent is not needed for the provision of medical, dental, health and hospital services when in the judgement of a physician emergency medical care is needed.

AYE

#S4004  Requires voluntary agencies to provide potential adoptive parents with information concerning state-funded benefits or services available once the foster child is adopted as well as those that expire upon adoption.

AYE

#S3387  This bill will authorize lactation counseling services without a referral from a physician, registered physician assistant, registered nurse practitioner, or licensed midwife for persons on Medicaid.

AYE

#S4211  This bill adds lactation to the definition of "pregnancy-related condition" under the Human Rights law. Doing so requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to such persons who have demonstrated a pregnancy-related condition unless such employer can prove undue hardship regarding such accommodation.

AYE

#S870  This bill redefines the board makeup of the public health and health planning council (The Council), within the Department of Health. The amendments proposed under this bill would increase the number of members of The Council to 36 members of which 30 members would be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, 2 members appointed at the recommendation of the Speaker, 2 members appointed at the recommendation of the Temporary President of Senate and 2 members to be appointed at the recommendation of the respective minority leaders.This proposal further requires that at least four members of The Council be representatives of health care consumer advocacy organizations and at least three members who are representatives of labor organizations for health care employees.

NAY (Potentially hinders the review process the Council carries out regarding a Certificate of Need approval or denial)

#S3339A  This bill authorizes the Commissioner of the Department of Health to reimburse relatives of patients receiving Medicaid, who have been approved for in-home nursing care through Medicaid, for providing private duty nursing services, so long as such relative is a registered professional nurse. The rate of payment to said relative must be on par with the rate paid to a licensed practical nurse.

AYE

#S4183  The law that requires all prescriptions for both non-controlled and controlled substances be electronically prescribed went into effect on March 27, 2016. Through administrative actions, the Department of Health (DOH) has allowed oral prescription to be submitted by nursing homes, however the existing waiver expires on March 24, 2019. This bill would amend section 281 of the PHL to add this exemption to nursing homes and residential health care facilities in statute until March of 2021 to allow DOH and the industry to address the issue.

AYE

#S231  Establishes in the city of Buffalo a demonstration program implementing speed violation monitoring systems in school speed zones by means of photo devices. NOTE - each violation must not exceed $50, except that the Buffalo Parking Violations Bureau may add an additional $25 to each violation for failure to respond. Only 20 school speed zones are permitted under this legislation to operate at one time.

AYE

#S1130A  This bill requires persons applying for a liquor store license with the State Liquor Authority to provide notice of said application once a week for two weeks in a daily or weekly newspaper whose circulation covers the area which such store will be located and further requires said applicant to provide notice to the applicable municipality not less than 30 days before submitting the application. NOTE - the sponsor indicates that adding section 63 of the ABC law will establish parity with the requirements set forth for applicants of any other kind of liquor license.

NAY (Increase cost of doing business and unnecessary)

#S3656  Requires the NFTA, CDTA, RGRTA, and CNYRTA boards to include "transit dependent" and "para-transit dependent" individuals as voting members. Such representatives would be appointed to five year terms. "Transit dependent" means a person who is limited to public transit due to such person having no means of private transportation or is elderly, a youth under the age of 18, or lives below the poverty or median income levels. "Para-transit dependent" means a person who either has a permanent or temporary disability.

AYE

#S4331  Reduces the limitations on the number of schools in the city of New York at which photo speed violation monitoring systems may be utilized ( by permitting such systems to operate between 6 am and 10 pm weekdays); requires such city to install signs giving notice of the use of such a system (strikes language that such signs be mounted "on advance warning signs"); and extends the expiration of such program until July 1, 2022.

NAY  (Vast expansion and excessive overreach)

#S2848  To add the replacement of a motor vehicle key or key-fob under a service contract in the event that the key or key-fob becomes inoperable, lost or stolen.

AYE

#S55  Requires the state liquor authority to make available to the public information pertaining to any conditions it imposes on a licensed premises.

AYE

#S4116  EXTENDER BILL - This bill would extend by one year the sunset for the provision in Section 97-a of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law ("ABCL") that allows the State Liquor Authority ("Authority") to issue temporary permits to certain retail applicants while they await a full review of theirlicense applications.

AYE

#S3444  Designates Junior, Mohansic and Sparkle lakes as inland waterways for purposes of waterfront revitalization.

AYE

#S1978A  Establishes the legislative task force on responsible gaming to develop policies and procedures that foster responsible gaming practices by gaming facilities in New York state. NOTE - bill was recalled and amended to extend the date of the report to the Governor and Legislature from February to December of 2020.

AYE

#S2174  This bill requires the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance to develop a plan to ensure individuals with limited English proficiency and in need of communication assistance receive appropriate written, verbal and other language translation services in the six most common non-English languages spoken by recipients to increase awareness and participation with regard to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. NOTE - the online application for SNAP benefits is already available in Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Haitian-Creole, Korean and Italian.

AYE

#S2270A  Creates the "Finger Lakes community preservation act"; prohibits the siting of newly constructed incineration facilities in the Finger Lakes region.

AYE

#S3238  This bill would prohibit municipalities which have enacted a local mortgage tax or recording tax from assessing such taxes on the refinancing of a home loan. NOTE - the bill is intended to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

AYE

#S2106A  Requires the disclosure of negative consequences an alternative payment schedule, agreed to by a bank or trust company, would have on a customer's credit rating. Such disclosure shall be provided at the time a loan is granted. NOTE - this bill is slightly different from the 2018 version in that it requires disclosure to be made at the time of application for such loan and when a customer requests an alternative payment schedule, in addition to at the time the loan is granted.

NAY  (Does not apply to all lenders 1.e. credit unions.)

#S102  Authorizes the Nassau County Assessor to accept an application from Sunrise Day Camps Association, Inc. for retroactive exemptions from real property tax for 2017-2018 assessment roll for a portion of the 2017-2018 school taxes and a portion of the 2018 general taxes.

AYE

#S1819  Establishes state and New York city maternal mortality review boards and the maternal mortality and morbidity advisory council for the purpose of reviewing maternal deaths and maternal morbidity and developing and disseminating findings, recommendations, and best practices to contribute to the prevention of maternal mortality and morbidity.

AYE

#S2709  To expand ownership of design professional corporations by employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) and non-licensed professionals while still preserving the current 75% control of design professional corporations by licensed design professionals. Currently, at least 75 percent of a design professional corporation must be owned by design professionals. Less than 25 percent of a design professional corp. can be owned by non-licensed employees and employee stock ownership plans.

AYE