Plugged In @ Hinman Straub – August 28, 2020

What’s Inside

  • Governor Signs Legislation
  • U.S. Department of Justice Investigating Nursing Home Resident Deaths
  • Governor Announces College Guidelines for COVID Spikes
  • Governor Announces Lower Risk High School Sports Can Begin in September
  • New Group Formed to Push Back on Calls to Tax the Rich
  • Political Updates
  • Reminders, and Links
  • Coming Up

Governor Signs Legislation

The Governor signed dozens of bills this week, most of them local bills. Highlights include the following:

Authorize the use of Opioid Antagonists by Public Accommodations (A.7812a/S.8259) – The Bill expands the list of entities authorized to possess, distribute, and administer an opioid antagonist to reverse an opioid-related overdose to include places of public accommodation, including restaurants, bars, retail stores, shopping malls, barber shops, beauty parlors, theaters, sporting or event centers, inns, hotels or motels. This law will take immediate effect.

Bond Anticipation Notes Issued in Calendar Years 2015 through 2021 (A.10492/S.8417) – The Bill would allow bond anticipation notes issued originally during calendar years 2015 through 2021 to extend up to seven years beyond their original date of issue. The Bill would also authorize local governments and school districts to spend moneys from capital reserve funds for capital costs attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic, without the referendum requirements that would otherwise apply. In addition, the Bill would temporarily allow local governments and school districts to access capital and other reserve fund moneys to be temporarily advanced to cover operating costs attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Local governments or school districts must reimburse the reserve fund, with interest, over a period of not more than five years. Finally, the bill would also provide that flexibility by extending the maximum time for repayment of an advance made from one fund of a municipal corporation to another fund when the advance is made for costs attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. Department of Justice Investigating Nursing Home Resident Deaths

This week the Justice Department requested COVID-19 nursing home data from New York as well as New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is evaluating whether to initiate investigations under the federal “Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act” (CRIPA), which protects the civil rights of persons in state-run nursing homes, among others. The Civil Rights Division seeks to determine if the state orders requiring admission of COVID-19 patients to nursing homes is responsible for the deaths of nursing home residents. Governor Cuomo and top aides denounced the request by DOJ as a political stunt.

The New York State Bar Association also announced this week that it is launching a task force that will be investigating why so many nursing home residents died from COVID-19 across the state. The task force will be co-chaired by Hermes Fernandez and Sandra D. Rivera. Providers, advocacy groups and others will be invited to meet with the panel. The task force will prepare recommendations for the April 2021 meeting of NYSBA’s governing body, the House of Delegates.

Governor Announces College Guidelines for COVID Spikes

The Governor announced guidance for infection rates on college campuses and mitigation actions schools must take when the infection rate rises above certain levels. Schools are required to institute remote learning with limited on-campus activity if colleges have 100 cases or if the number of cases equal 5 percent of their population within a two-week period. During that time, athletic activities and other extracurricular activities must be suspended, and dining hall options must move to take-out only. If clusters under the threshold exist, which strain the school’s ability to contain or properly manage the outbreak; remote learning will also be required.

The Governor said:

“We’ve seen troubling reports of students congregating on college campuses, so we are setting a threshold that says if colleges have 100 cases or if the number of cases equal 5 percent of their population or more, they must go to remote learning for two weeks, at which time we will reassess the situation.  We should anticipate clusters and that’s what we’re seeing. Be prepared for it, get ahead of it.”

Governor Announces Lower Risk High School Sports Can Begin in September

Governor Cuomo announced this week that lower-risk, school-sponsored sports including tennis, soccer, cross country, field hockey and swimming may begin to practice and play beginning September 21st. Travel for practice or play will be prohibited outside of the school’s region or contiguous regions or counties until October 19th.

Higher-risk sports, including football, wrestling, rugby, hockey and volleyball may begin to practice on September 21st but cannot play until a later date or December 31st. In accordance with DOH’s guidance for sports and recreation during the COVID-19 public health emergency, practices for higher-risk sports are limited to individual or group, no- to low-contact training.

New Group Formed to Push Back on Calls to Tax the Rich

A new group, chaired by former Governor David Paterson, has been formed to push back against calls to raise taxes on the wealthy. The group, called the Campaign for New York’s Future, is made up of civic and business groups and will lobby to oppose the imposition of new taxes as a means of overcoming the tremendous deficit as a result of the pandemic.

Governor Paterson said:

“We don’t have as many people working. Our retail operators can’t make the money. We can’t generate the revenue right now. We are having a revenue crisis. And when that occurs, it would appear to me that everyone is going to have to make a sacrifice. There aren’t that many people left in the state who have the kind of wealth that we thought. Maybe 7,000 of them. They are paying 60 – 70% of the taxes now. I think they should stay here as New Yorkers and help us fight this crisis, but they have leverage. They can go other places if they want to.”

Political Updates

Elections investigation alleges wrongdoing by Rochester mayor.

 Times Union: Everything you need to know about voting in NY here.

A look at the race to replace retiring Rep King here.

Maloney primary challenger concedes.

Reminders and Links

City & State NY’s Weekly Winners and Losers here.

City & State NY’s Power of Diversity: Latino 100 here.

Coming Up

The Board of Regents will hold their next meeting on September 14 and 15.

The Public Service Commission will hold its next meeting on September 17.

JCOPE will hold its next meeting on September 22.