Here are the Bills That NY Lawmakers Passed, and Didn’t Pass, This Year

Lawmakers in the New York state Legislature raced to pass more than 800 bills this year.

The pace accelerated in the final days of session this week, as they worked to make up for time lost during prolonged budget negotiations that concluded nearly two months past the April 1 deadline.

The legislation now heads to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk for her sign-off.

Here are some of the bills that passed – and didn’t pass – the Assembly and Senate.

First, the ones that passed:

Medical aid in dying

After years of fraught debate, New York could become the 12th state to allow medical assistance in dying for those with terminal illnesses.

The law sets medical and safety standards for determining which patients would qualify for a lethal prescription, and how it should be administered.

The bill was one of the most highly-contested pieces of legislation debated during this session. Supporters said the provision would let loved ones die with dignity and on their own terms. Opponents, including the state’s Roman Catholic bishops, said the bill was morally repugnant and ripe for abuse.

Prison reform

New York’s corrections systems came under scrutiny this year, and that only intensified as the legislative session wore on. It began before lawmakers returned to Albany this year when an incarcerated person, a Black man named Robert Brooks, was beaten to death in December by corrections officers in an upstate prison – and all of it was caught on body-worn cameras.

Then came the death of Messiah Nantwi, another Black man who was also handcuffed, and similarly beaten by corrections officers. His death occurred as wildcat strikes from corrections cropped up across the state.

The deaths and strikes prompted state legislators to pass a package of bills that they say will increase transparency and accountability.

Tighter regulations on artificial intelligence – for now

As federal lawmakers look to block states from enforcing their own regulations on artificial intelligence, New York went ahead with imposing more safety requirements on state-of-the-art AI models.

One bill, called the Responsible AI Safety and Education, or RAISE, Act, requires developers to inform the state when there are major security incidents – which the authors envisioned could include when a model acts on its own without a user to prompt it.

Tech companies and trade organizations are urging Hochul to veto the bill, while technology ethics organizations are adamant she sign it.

Mandated time off for state troopers after traumatic incidents

If signed by Hochul, state troopers would be required to take time off after experiencing a traumatic incident while on the job.

State troopers would receive at least 20 days of paid leave if their actions resulted in someone’s death or serious injury. Troopers involved in similar incidents but didn’t directly cause harm would get 15 days of paid leave.

Sen. Jeremy Cooney, D-Rochester, sponsored the bill with state troopers’ support. They argued that the law would give troopers space to process trauma without having to take unpaid leave or vacation time to do so.

“Our law enforcement officials who are on the front lines are witnessing very traumatic events, whether it’s the death or serious injury of a civilian or of a fellow officer,” Cooney told the New York Public News Network. “When you come back to the force, you are ready to better serve our community. We believe every law enforcement organization should be able to have this, but we want to start with our state police in New York and become a model for the rest of the nation.”

Warning labels for social media

Social media apps might soon come with a warning label.

State lawmakers took steps to require social media companies to add a label that warns users that there are negative mental health effects when those apps are used excessively. The warning label would appear when users open the app or access the platform

“Beyond the oft-cited side effects of depression, anxiety, and body dysmorphia, leaked company documents reveal that social media companies knew that compulsive use of their products was also associated with ‘loss of analytical skills, memory formation, contextual thinking, conversational depth, (and) empathy,’” according to the bill language.

Increased protections for sex workers

Lawmakers agreed to grant immunity to sex workers and survivors of human trafficking who report a crime to law enforcement or help them in a criminal investigation.

Proponents of the bill say that sex workers are often victims of sexual violence, and increasing legal protections for workers would make them more likely to report cases without fear of retaliation or other repercussions.

Consumer protection practices (sort of)

Several bills aimed at bolstering consumer protection practices either got watered down or laid aside after concerted lobbying from business groups slowed momentum for the proposals.

One bill would have capped fees and let performers pull tickets for their shows off of resale sites, like StubHub, if they were selling them for a profit. While the omnibus bill didn’t get a vote, lawmakers did agree to extend existing laws that set guardrails on certain reselling practices.

Another bill, backed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, allows the attorney general’s office to make it easier to bring lawsuits against businesses who violate consumer protection standards.

Currently, state law allows consumers to sue over “deceptive” practices. While lawmakers tried to broaden the standard to “unfair” and “abusive” practices, lobbying from business trades compelled lawmakers to only broaden that standard for the attorney general’s office when issuing lawsuits.

Now, the bills that didn’t get passed:

Reuniting people with their deceased pets

Lawmakers proposed a bill that would require municipal employees to try to identify and notify owners of a deceased dog or cat found on public roads.

State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, a Hudson Valley Democrat, sponsored the bill and argued the public service would help families find closure after what is often anguished searches for their pets.

The bill passed unanimously in the Senate but did not get a floor vote in the Assembly.

Environmental legislation

Some environmental advocates thought this would be the year when New York would curb the amount of plastic packaging used for products, and take substantive steps to heat homes with renewable energy sources.

But the two bills in question – the Package Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, and the New York HEAT Act – both stalled in the Assembly.

A measure that would have paused the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer also failed to pass.

Voluntary Intoxication Loophole

State law currently makes it a crime to have sex with someone who was drugged by someone else. But sexual assault survivors say there’s a “voluntary intoxication” loophole, because the state has no way to deal with situations where somebody voluntarily consumes drugs or alcohol, and another person takes advantage of their inebriation.

Prosecutors and sexual assault support groups backed a bill that would close that loophole. The Senate passed the bill, but the Assembly did not take it up for debate.

Bans on certain food additives

Another piece of legislation that did not get passed would have taken a blue-state regulatory approach to an issue that has captivated “Make America Health Again” supporters: foot additives.

Lawmakers had proposed a bill that would have banned certain food dyes and required companies that sell packaged foods to disclose more information about the additives they put into their products.

The legislation listed three additives to be banned from products that have outlawed in Europe over concerns they are carcinogenic or can harm the endocrine system: Red #3, potassium bromate and propylparaben.

The bill cleared the Senate 58-1, but did not get a vote in the Assembly.

Story by Jeongyoon Han/New York Public News Network

Jeongyoon Han is a Capitol News Bureau reporter for the New York Public News Network, producing multimedia stories on issues of statewide interest and importance.

Image: The New York State Capitol. (Credit: Denise Young/WXXI)