Plugged In @ Hinman Straub – January 3, 2020

What’s Inside

  • Governor Continues Rollout Of State Of The State Proposals
  • Medicaid Rate Cut Announced
  • Department of Labor Issues Order Eliminating The Subminimum Wage For ‘Miscellaneous’ Industries Statewide
  • Veto, Chapter, and Outstanding Actions
  • Assemblyman Kolb Announces He Will Step Down As Assembly Minority Leader
  • Political Updates
  • Updates, Reminders, and Links
  • Coming Up

Governor Continues Rollout Of State Of The State Proposals

The Governor continued to reveal select proposals which will be included in the 2020 State of the State address. The following proposals have been announced since the last issue of Plugged In:

Eliminating the “pink tax” – the 10th proposal of the State of the State: eliminating the pink tax by prohibiting gender-based pricing discrimination for substantially similar or like kind goods and services. The legislation will require certain service providers to post price lists for standard services; businesses that violate the law would be subject to civil penalties.

Sex offender registry of online platform usernames – the 11th proposal of the State of the State: preventing convicted sex offenders from using social media accounts, dating apps and video game chat functions to exploit children. Specifically, the proposal would require all sex offenders to affirmatively disclose their screen name for each social media account or dating/gaming app they are on to the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), as opposed to just giving the email address they use for those accounts. DCJS will send this list to any provider that the offender discloses, and the provider will be required to review this data, develop policies on how to use it, and release this policy publically to their users.

Make the Buy American Act permanent – the 12th proposal of the State of the State: making the “New York Buy American” Act permanent. The “Buy American” Act requires all structural steel and structural iron used in all state road and bridge construction projects with contracts worth more than $1 million to be made in America. The current law is set to expire April 2020.

High speed rail – the 13th proposal of the State of the State: convening outside experts to reexamine and rethink strategies to bring high-speed rail to New York. A panel of engineers will reexamine past high-speed rail plans, question and rethink past assumptions and methods, and recommend a new plan for how to build high-speed rail in New York.

Transparency in healthcare costs – 14th proposal of the State of the State: increasing transparency in healthcare costs. Under the proposal, the Department of Health, the Department of Financial Services and the New York State Digital and Media Services Center will be directed to create a website, called NYHealthcareCompare, where New Yorkers can compare the cost and quality of healthcare procedures at hospitals around the state.

Ban online sale of vapor products – the 15th proposal of the State of the State: banning all flavored nicotine vaping products including menthol flavors and vaping advertisements aimed at youth. The proposal would also authorize the Department of Health to regulate the sale of chemicals used in vaping-related products and ban the sale of vaping product carrier oils deemed to be a public health risk. The proposal would prohibit the online, phone and mail order sale of e-cigarettes; only registered retailers would be allowed to purchase e-cigarettes using those methods.

Legalize gestational surrogacy – the 16th proposal of the State of the State: lifting New York’s ban on gestational surrogacy. The proposal will establish criteria for surrogacy contracts that would provide protections for surrogates and parents and streamline the “second parent adoption” process.

Combatting nuisance calls – the 17th proposal of the State of the State: a comprehensive proposal to fight incessant robocalls or nuisance calls. The proposal would require telecommunications companies to deploy technology that allows customers to block suspected robocalls. The proposal will also require providers to adopt technology that warns consumers about potential robocalls and scams, including those not originating from New York numbers. The proposal would also increase financial penalties against companies who do not comply with New York’s “Do Not Call Law.”

Banning untraceable guns – the 18th proposal of the State of the State: banning untraceable “ghost guns” by requiring firearm parts be sold only to authorized buyers, requiring the same eligibility requirements as a completed firearm and that all major parts receive a serial number.

Growing New York’s craft beverage industry – the 19th proposal of the State of the State: growing New York’s craft beverage manufacturing industry by reforming prohibition-era laws that will remove barriers to new investments. The proposal will make it easier for movie theaters to sell alcoholic beverages and modernize New York’s Alcoholic Beverage Control law to help higher education institutions train the next generation of the craft beverage workforce.

Passing an inclusive Equal Rights Amendment Act – the 20th proposal of the State of the State: passing the first-in-the-nation inclusive Equal Rights Amendment to establish sex, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes.

Medicaid Rate Cut Announced

A Medicaid rate cut of 1% was announced this week through an announcement posted in the December 31 edition of the New York State Register (page 104). The rate cut took effect as of January 1 and will continue through the final quarter of the fiscal year, as well as each subsequent fiscal year. The State estimates the cut will reduce gross Medicaid payments by $124 million in the final quarter of the fiscal year and $496 million in each subsequent year thereafter (totals include federal matching funds) and will apply to payments to hospitals, nursing homes, doctors, pharmacists, home-care providers and Medicaid managed-care plans. Certain programs and providers that are paid entirely with federal funds or otherwise exempt by federal law will not be affected.

The Department of Health issued a statement:

“Today the Department of Health issued public notice of its request for federal approval of a one percent uniform reduction of all non-exempt Medicaid payments, effective January 1. This reduction in spending growth was approved by the Legislature as part of the FY 2020 budget and is being implemented in the fourth quarter of the state’s fiscal year as the Department of Health works with its partners to develop an overall plan to reduce Medicaid spending growth while continuing to provide high-quality care to over 6 million New Yorkers.”

Department of Labor Issues Order Eliminating The Subminimum Wage For ‘Miscellaneous’ Industries Statewide

On December 31, 2019, the Department of Labor issued a report and recommendations to the Governor to eliminate the subminimum wage for “miscellaneous” industries statewide. Based on that report, the Commissioner issued an order proposing modifications to the Minimum Wage Order for Miscellaneous Industries and Occupations. The order impacts over 70,000 tipped employees and will include nail salon workers, hairdressers, aestheticians, car wash workers, valet parking attendants, door-persons, tow truck drivers, dog groomers and tour guides. The report and recommendations are the culmination of several public hearings to examine industries and evaluate the possibility of ending minimum wage tip credits in New York State. The changes will not impact restaurant servers.

Governor Cuomo said:

“In New York, we believe in a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. But after an exhaustive investigation conducted by the Department of Labor, it’s clear the tip system in many situations is needlessly complicated, allowing unscrupulous businesses to flout our nation-leading minimum wage laws and robbing workers of the paycheck they earned. That ends now. Today, I am directing the labor department to put an end to the tip credit in the industries with the highest risk of wage theft to help restore fairness for workers, many of whom are critical to the service industries that keep our economy moving forward.”

Veto, Chapter, and Outstanding Actions

The Governor acted on a number of bills in the last weeks of the year including the following:

Signed

Note: Many of the bills signed are subject to agreed upon chapter amendments to be acted on in the upcoming session and are not yet publically available. 

A.2101A / S.5679A – Chapter 744 – Relates to additional information provided to employees on public work contracts, including supplements.

A.2850A / S.3962A – Chapter 733 – Requires hospitals to establish policies and procedures regarding domestic violence; establishes ongoing training programs on domestic violence for all current and new hospital employees; designates a hospital staff member to coordinate services to victims; provides for the interaction of hospitals with community domestic violence service providers in order to coordinate services to victims of domestic violence; requires hospitals to offer to contact a local advocate when admitting or treating a confirmed or suspected victim of domestic violence.

A.2904 / S.4808 – Chapter 748 – Prohibits certain insurance policies from requiring prior authorization for buprenorphine products, methadone and long acting injectable naltrexone for detoxification or maintenance treatment of substance use disorders.

A.7540B / S.5815C – Chapter 731 – Relates to regulatory penalties for small businesses; provides that upon an initial violation of a state agency’s rules or regulations, a small business shall be afforded a cure period or other opportunity for ameliorative action, which if successful shall prevent the imposition of a fine or fines.

S.439A / A.445A – Chapter 702 – Relates to reducing the use of PFAS chemicals in firefighting activities.

S.456B / A.1047B – Chapter 743 – Relates to fair, non-biased compensation; provides for remedies and enforcement where an employee believes he or she is being discriminated against in terms of compensation in violation of section 115 of the civil service law; makes related provisions.

S.1456 / A.4452 – Chapter 734 – Relates to licenses to purchase, store or use certain compounds; $50 fee.

S.1826 / A.567C – Chapter 752 – Enacts the “New York call center jobs act”; requires prior notice of relocation of call center jobs from New York to a foreign country; directs the commissioner of labor to maintain a list of employers who move call center jobs; prohibits loans or grants.

S.2385 / A.1564 – Chapter 735 – Creates a permanent environmental justice advisory group; provides that the function of the group is to ensure that no group of people, including a racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic group, bears a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies; empowers that advisory group to adopt a model environmental justice policy applicable to state agencies, and to monitor agencies on compliance with such policies; specifies responsibilities of state agencies; establishes an environmental justice interagency coordinating council.

S.3631 / A.268 – Chapter 736 – Relates to expanding the availability of meaningful service contracts to protect New Yorkers leasing automobiles for their personal use from unanticipated “lease-end” charges related to excess use or wear and tear of the leased vehicle.

S.3966A / A.5775A – Chapter 737 – Relates to enacting the “safe way home act”; provides that sexual assault crime victims and crime victim advocates shall be entitled to free transportation to and from medical facilities such sexual assault crime victims had received initial victim services from.

S.4080C / A.4509A – Chapter 750 – Requires the licensing of persons engaged in the design, construction, operation, inspection, maintenance, alteration and repair of elevators and other automated people moving devices and creates the New York state elevator safety and standards board and the elevator and related conveyances safety program account, in cities with a population of less than one million (Part A); relates to the licensing of approved elevator agency directors, inspectors, and technicians performing elevator work in the city of New York (Part B). 

S.4173A / A.5957A – Chapter 738 – Relates to proof of eligibility for volunteer firefighter enhanced cancer disability benefits.

S.4241A / A.6701A – Chapter 745 – Authorizes retail licensees to purchase beer, wine and liquor by means of a business payment card.

S.4278 / A.6330 – Chapter 747 – Enacts the “women on corporate boards study”; requires the department of state, in collaboration with the department of taxation and finance, to conduct a study on the number of women directors who serve on each board of directors of domestic corporations and foreign corporations authorized to do business in New York state.

S.5160 / A.5619 – Chapter 739 – Provides that the defense, in a mortgage foreclosure action, of the plaintiff’s lack of standing is not waived because of the defendant’s failure to raise such defense in his or her responsive pleading.

S.5225A / A.4751A – Chapter 740 – Authorizes the commissioner of motor vehicles to require the submission of physicians’, physicians’ assistants or nurse practitioners’ statements on a scheduled basis under certain circumstances; relates to the licensing of drivers where there is evidence of the loss of consciousness by such person; defines “loss of consciousness”; makes related provisions.

S.6000A / A.7800A – Chapter 742 – Implements amended provisions of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act as drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.

S.6197 / A.492 – Chapter 746 – Relates to policies or contracts which are not included in the definition of student accident and health insurance.

S.6215 / A.7974 – Chapter 732 – Relates to notice of indicated reports of child maltreatment and changes of placement in child protective and voluntary foster care placement and review proceedings.

S.6293A / A.7636A – Chapter 749 – Authorizes in the city of New York, for certain public work undertaken pursuant to project labor agreements, use of the alternative delivery method known as design-build contracts.

S.6367 / A.7920C – Chapter 751 – Relates to a special retirement plan for certain members of the New York state and local police and fire retirement system.

S.6436 / A.7748A – Chapter 741 – Relates to equal pay for similar work protections for protected classes.

Vetoed

A.2969A / S.2849A – Veto 245 – Prohibits a health care plan from making prescription drug formulary changes during a contract year.

A.3939 / S.5496 – Veto 252 – Relates to requiring a particularized and specific justification for denial of access to records under the freedom of information law, exemption from disclosure under the freedom of information law of certain law enforcement related records and to records identifying victims.

S.2844B / A.486B – Veto 291 – Relates to securing payment of wages for work already performed; creates a lien remedy for all employees; provides grounds for attachment; relates to procedures where employees may hold shareholders of non-publicly traded corporations personally liable for wage theft; relates to rights for victims of wage theft to hold the ten members with the largest ownership interests in a company personally liable for wage theft.

S.4399 / A.1966 – Veto 259 – Creates the state office of the utility consumer advocate to represent interests of residential utility customers.

S.5294A / A.7431B – Veto 280 – Relates to bicycles with electronic assist and electric scooters; defines terms; provides that every person riding an electric scooter upon a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle; makes related provisions.

S.5935A /A.7246B – Veto 292 – Relates to medication assisted treatment for substance abuse disorders; prohibits prior authorization. 

S.6208 / A.7749 – Veto 285 – Requires contracts for the transportation of school children in a city of at least one million inhabitants to contain provisions for the retention or preference in hiring of school bus workers.

S.6281A / A.8299 – Veto 289 – Relates to defense and indemnification obligations relating to the Route 9A bikeway/Greenway adjacent to the Hudson river park.

S.6531 / A.2836A – Veto 286 – Provides for pharmacy benefit management and the procurement of prescription drugs to be dispensed to patients, or the administration or management of prescription drug benefits; sets forth definitions; provides for funds received by a pharmacy in trust for the health plan or provider and provides for accountability of such funds; further provides for an appeals process to investigate and resolve disputes regarding multi-source generic drug pricing.

S.6552 / A.2373 – Veto 287 – Permits a plaintiff to recover directly against a third party defendant found to be liable to the defendant in certain actions.

S.6566 / A.8351 – Veto 290 – Relates to development or redevelopment of Pier 40 in the Hudson river park and amount of passive and active public open space necessary for such development or redevelopment.

S.6597 / A.8430 – Veto 288 – Relates to making technical corrections relating to bicycles with electric assist and electric scooters.

Action Pending

The following bills are currently on the Governor’s desk awaiting action, however, they were delivered late enough in the year that the Governor is afforded 30 days from the date of the legislature’s adjournment of the 2019 session before needing to sign the bill. If the Governor takes no action, the bill is automatically vetoed (“pocket veto”).

S.501B / A.6296B – Relates to regulation of toxic chemicals in children’s products.

S.4030A / A.6346C – Requires car wash workers in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties and in a city with a population of one million or more to be paid the minimum wage without allowance for gratuities.

S.4573 / A.6592 – Relates to decreasing the length of the suspension period applicable to certain individuals who lose their jobs due to a labor dispute, such as a strike, and who seek to obtain unemployment insurance benefits; decreases the suspension period from seven consecutive weeks to seven consecutive calendar days; and permits the waiting period to be served during a suspension period.

S.5349 / A.7371 – Makes a chapter amendment to the regulation of toxic chemicals in children’s products; defines “trace contaminant”.

S.5946B / A.7914A – Establishes the Syracuse city school district regional STEAM high school to provide instruction to students in the Onondaga, Cortland and Madison county BOCES and the central New York region in the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM).

S.6219A / A.8082 – Relates to wages and supplements for building service employees employed at certain properties held in the cooperative or condominium form of ownership receiving a tax abatement, affidavits certifying the payment of prevailing wages to building service workers are made public record and may be produced before a court or administrative tribunal.

S.6265A / A.8083A – Ensures that utility employees, who currently fall outside the definition of an employee that may receive the prevailing wage, fall under such wage requirements.

S.6559 / A.8403 – Authorizes the commissioner of education and the chancellor of the board of regents, with the approval of the board of regents, to appoint monitors to oversee the Hempstead union free school district.

S.6567 / A.7569B – Requires the payment of prevailing wages of affected employees of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant; requires the department of labor to oversee sale and the hiring of new employees at such power plant.

S.6588A / A.8422A – Authorizes a state monitor for the Wyandanch union free school district to provide direct oversight of the fiscal policies, practices, programs and decisions of such school district.

Assemblyman Kolb Announces He Will Step Down As Assembly Minority Leader

The Assemblyman’s full statement is as follows:

“As Leader of the Assembly Minority Conference, I have always tried to put the needs and best interests of our Conference ahead of my own. That is why I have decided to step down as Minority Leader.

I have a profound respect for each and every one of my colleagues, and sincerely admire their daily efforts on behalf of constituents and communities in every corner of the state. But I will not allow my own personal challenges to distract from the goals, message, and mission of the Assembly Minority Conference. With a new year and new legislative session ahead, the work of our Conference cannot be undermined or deterred in any way. I will be forever grateful for the confidence my colleagues have placed in me for the past 10 years. But in my heart, I know that this is the right time for a new leader to step in and advance an agenda that benefits all New Yorkers.

The events of December 31 are ones I will always deeply regret. On a personal level, I have begun the process of seeking professional help in order to heal, learn, and fully address the challenges that I, along with my family, currently face.”

Political Updates

Potential primary for Assembly District 137 (Gantt)

  • Rochester City Board of Education Commissioner Natalie Sheppard announced her candidacy for the 137thAssembly District. That district is currently represented by Assemblyman Gantt, who has yet to announce whether or not he intends to run for re-election, setting up for a potential primary.

Senator Boyle announces he will not pursue congressional seat

  • Senator Boyle announced that he would not seek the congressional district being vacated by the retiring Peter King and will instead seek re-election to the State Senate.

Assemblyman LiPetri announces congressional bid

  • Assemblyman LiPetri officially announced his intention to replace U.S. Rep Peter King.

Endorsements

  • Queens Democratic Party backs Donovan Richards for Borough President.
  • NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams endorsed Bernie Sanders for President.
  • DC37 endorsed Michael Blake for Congress.

Assemblyman Ron Kim endorsed by the Working Families Party and Make the Road NY

Updates, Reminders, and Links

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

City & State NY’s 2020 Predictions here.

City & State NY’s In Memoriam 2019 here.

Albany Times Union’s Education Issues to Watch In 2020 Legislative Session here.

Coming Up

Governor Cuomo’s State of the State Address will be held at the Empire State Convention Center on January 8, 2020 at 1:30pm.

The Board of Regents will hold their next meeting on January 13th and 14th.

The Assembly will hold a public hearing to discuss changes the STAR rebate program on January 14.

The Senate Racing Committee will hold a public hearing on the economic impact of the three unused downstate casino licenses on January 22.

JCOPE will hold its next meeting on January 28.

The Legislative Commission on Rural Resources will hold a public hearing to examine the effectiveness of current flooding emergency and mitigation efforts, and to discuss the need for future assistance due to the increase in extreme weather events on January 28.