Plugged In @ Hinman Straub
June 2, 2023
What’s Inside
- Legislative Session to Conclude Next Week
- Department of Health and Office for the Aging Plan Town Hall to Discuss the Master Plan for Aging
- Governor Announces Investment to Bolster New York’s Child Care Workforce
- Governor Announces Nearly $50 Million Available for Farmland Protection Projects
- Attorney General James Secures Settlements for Failing to Protect Consumers’ Personal Information
- Political Updates
- Coming Up
Legislative Session to Conclude Next Week
The Legislature concluded session yesterday, wrapping up this week. Please note, next week is the last scheduled session week, ending on Thursday, June 8. There are several issues being reported as “close to a deal” in the final days of this year’s legislative session, including the Clean Slate Act which would seal New Yorkers’ criminal records after a certain period of time. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins held a press availability on Wednesday afternoon and stated that she thinks leaders are “pretty close” to a deal regarding the Clean Slate Act.
Department of Health and Office for the Aging Plan Town Hall to Discuss the Master Plan for Aging
The Department of Health (DOH) has issued a media advisory regarding the launch of a series of town hall meetings across the state. The meetings set out to provide information to local communities and receive input on the New York State’s Master Plan for Aging (MPA). The initial meeting will be held at Hunter College in New York City on Wednesday, June 7 at 10:00 a.m. To attend in person click here to register, and to register to attend virtually click here.
Governor Announces Investment to Bolster New York’s Child Care Workforce
On Wednesday, Governor Hochul held a press conference announcing the state’s $500 million investment in New York’s child care workforce through the Workforce Retention Grant Program. The Governor made the announcement in Brooklyn at Vivvi, a child care provider based in New York City. Invested funding through this program can be used to provide bonus payments ranging from $2,300 to $3,000 to staff in caregiving roles, as well as to recruit new staff, offer sign-on bonuses and more. Application for the program will open on July 13.
Specific investments in the state’s child care system and workforce include the following:
- A four-year, $7.6 billion commitment to improving the child care assistance program through raising the income limit to the maximum allowed by federal law, making over 100,000 additional New York families eligible. Families participating in the Child Care Assistance Program will also see child care costs limited to 1% of the total family income above the poverty line. The state will increase the number of allowable annual absences from 24 to 80 in an effort to standardize eligibility for child care assistance across the local districts;
- Creating a statewide electronic child care assistance application;
- Streamlining the application process for those enrolled in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), Medicaid, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; and
- Incentivizing supply building by favoring applications for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit that incorporate child care facility space.
In a prepared statement, Governor Hochul said:
Governor Announces Nearly $50 Million Available for Farmland Protection Projects
The Governor announced that nearly $50 million in funding is available through the Farmland Protection Implementation Grants Program. The program helps to support perpetual agricultural conservation easement projects to keep agricultural land in production and ensure the long-term viability of New York’s farming operations.
For Round 19 of the State’s Farmland Protection program, $47.5 million will be awarded to projects that support the State’s top priorities, including food security, climate resiliency, and source water protection. In addition, the eligibility criteria for the program has been expanded again, now including three new categories: field crops, livestock or livestock products, and access to farmland. Access to farmland is specifically intended to help address ongoing challenges facing new and beginning farmers as well as retiring farmers in this area. Round 18 was the first time the eligibility criteria for the Farmland Protection program had been expanded, including the agroforestry, equine, and wine sectors to reflect New York’s diverse agricultural industry.
As part of the funding awarded, $4.5 million will be allocated to each of the State’s 10 economic development regions. Round 19 also continues the one-time incentive payment of 10 percent of the value of the agricultural conservation easement being required for projects that meet climate resilience or source water protection goals.
Governor Hochul said:
Attorney General James Secures Settlements for Failing to Protect Consumers’ Personal Information
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that she has secured $300,000 from Sports Warehouse Inc., an online sporting goods retailer, for failing to protect 2.5 million consumers’ personal data. Due to poor data security by the Sports Warehouse Inc., a data breach occurred in 2021, which compromised consumers’ private information including credit card information and email addresses.
As a result of the agreement, the Sports Warehouse companies must pay the state $300,000 in penalties and adopt measures to better protect the personal information of consumers going forward, including:
- Maintaining a comprehensive information security program that includes regular updates to keep pace with changes in technology and security threats and reporting security risks to the companies’ leadership;
- Encrypting the private information the companies collect, use, store, and maintain;
- Strengthening the requirements for customers’ passwords and hash all stored passwords;
- Developing a penetration testing program that includes regular testing of the companies’ network security; and
- Updating their data collection and retention practices, including only collecting data to the minimum extent necessary to perform legitimate business functions and permanently deleting all such data when there is no longer a reasonably foreseeable business or legal purpose to retain such information.
More information can be found here.
The Attorney General has also recouped $550,000 from a medical management company, Professional Business Systems, Inc. d/b/a Practicefirst Medical Management Solutions and PBS Medcode Corp. (Practicefirst), for failing to protect New Yorkers’ personal information, including health records. Due to the failure of a timely software update, their networks experienced a cyberattack, affecting more than 1.2 million individuals nationwide – 428,000 being New York State residents.
As a result of the agreement, Practicefirst will pay $550,000 in penalties and offer affected consumers free credit monitoring services. In addition, Practicefirst will be required to adopt measures to better protect personal information, including:
- Maintaining a comprehensive information security program that will be regularly reviewed and updated;
- Encrypting private and health information;
- Adopting appropriate account management and authentication procedures, such as multi-factor authentication;
- Implementing a patch management solution that will ensure security patches and updates are timely installed;
- Developing a vulnerability management program that includes regular vulnerability scanning and penetration testing as well as appropriate remediation of vulnerabilities revealed by such scanning and testing; and
- Updating its data collection, retention, and disposal practices to ensure that private health information is maintained only to the minimum extent necessary to accomplish legitimate business purposes.
More information can be found here.
Political Updates
City & State NY’s Weekly Winners and Losers here.
City & State’s Albany Power 100.
New York liquor store lobbying groups oppose allowing chains to own stores, a push complicated by their history.
Lawmakers poised to send wrongful death expansion to Governor Hochul again.
COVID led to hundreds of millions being paid for traveling nurses.
Should some criminal record be wiped clean after seven years?
Suburban Democrats lost. Now they wield all the power.
Public weighs in on New York State’s $4.2 billion environmental bond act.
National Grid on New York emissions reduction target: ‘It’s 78 months ‘till 2030’.
In a push for affordable housing, Metzger proposes a $15-million fund.
Testing New York Apartments: How dirty is that gas stove, really?
Adams’ aides ramp up for 421-a extension, office conversions.
John King Jr. and Governor Kathy Hochul talk goals at SUNY address.
An end-of-session housing deal for NYC looks bleak.
Child care offerings are set to expand in New York.
New York lawmakers close to deal on Clean Slate Act.
New York elections officials launch online voter registration site.
SUNY Chancellor says public higher education system is ready to aid migrants.
Coming Up
The Board of Regents will hold their next meeting on June 12 and 13.
The Public Service Commission will hold its next meeting on June 22.
The Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government will hold its next meeting on June 27.