Here are some of the Assembly bills on the calendar for today that I felt should be highlighted, the full calendar can be found here.

A00070-A - An act to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring third-party food delivery services maintain insurance through a group policy that covers bodily injury or death arising out of or resulting from qualifying accidents involving a delivery person.

A00077 - Prohibits the sale of flavored smokeless tobacco within five hundred feet of a public or private elementary or secondary school; defines "flavored smokeless tobacco"; authorizes the commissioner to impose a civil penalty for violations.

A00349 - Establishes the previously owned zero-emission vehicles rebate program to provide an incentive of an amount up to $2,000 for individuals who purchase used or previously owned zero-emission vehicles.

A00688 - Empowers the office of fire prevention and control to, in coordination with the commissioner of the office for people with developmental disabilities and the chief disability officer, provide minimum basic training related to handling emergency situations involving individuals with any physical and/or developmental disability to all firefighters.

A00697 - Prohibits the use of the term "excited delirium" as a diagnosis, label, or cause of death on death certificates, autopsy reports, police reports or any report, policy or procedure by a public agency or contractor; defines excited delirium.

A01698 - Requires municipal officials to attempt to identify and notify the owners of a deceased dog or cat recovered on public roads by such municipal employees.

A01749 - Enacts the "packaging reduction and recycling infrastructure act" to require companies selling, offering for sale, or distributing packaging materials and products to register with a packaging reduction organization to develop a packaging reduction and recycling plan.

Morning NYers!

There is another senate legislative session scheduled for today at 3:00pm (Session Info). I do not see any other budget extenders on the calendar for today.

For those interested in specific committees, the senate has the following committee meetings which will be live streamed today prior to the full session at 3pm:

9:00 AM

Aging Meeting

 Legislative Office Building

 Streaming Live Now

9:30 AM

Environmental Conservation Meeting

 NYS Capitol Building

 Will Stream Live

9:30 AM

Children and Families Meeting

 Legislative Office Building

 Will Stream Live

9:30 AM

Labor Meeting

 Legislative Office Building

 Will Stream Live

10:00 AM

Judiciary Meeting

 NYS Capitol Building

 Will Stream Live

10:00 AM

Local Government Meeting

 Legislative Office Building

 Will Stream Live

10:00 AM

Education Meeting

 Legislative Office Building

 Will Stream Live

10:30 AM

Higher Education Meeting

 NYS Capitol Building

 Will Stream Live

10:30 AM

Transportation Meeting

 Legislative Office Building

 Will Stream Live

11:00 AM

Elections Meeting

 NYS Capitol Building

 Will Stream Live

11:00 AM

Agriculture Meeting

 NYS Capitol Building

 Will Stream Live

11:30 AM

Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Meeting

 NYS Capitol Building

 Will Stream Live

12:00 PM

Codes Meeting

 NYS Capitol Building

 Will Stream Live

12:00 PM

Health Meeting

 NYS Capitol Building

 Will Stream Live

12:30 PM

Civil Service and Pensions Meeting

 NYS Capitol Building

 Will Stream Live

1:00 PM

Energy and Telecommunications Meeting

 NYS Capitol Building

 Will Stream Live

1:00 PM

Even though I'm not a Capital Region native, I feel like I know a lot of local history and this is the first I've ever seen anything about the Freewheeler program.

A fourth budget extender was passed Thursday afternoon providing appropriations to keep the state government open until Monday April 20th, where a fifth budget extender is expected to be passed.

While lawmakers have worked quickly to pass these extenders in order to keep payrolls and other programs and services funded, there is still no expectation that a state budget will be passed in the coming weeks. Stopgap extenders funding the government for a handful of days until the next extender will eventually grate on the patience of lawmakers, school districts, state employees, and recipients of public services as inflation continues to spike and uncertainty and instability plague nearly every aspect of New Yorker's lives.

The Governor is flexing her political muscle to try to get agreement on certain non-budgetary initiatives before passing an already 16-day late budget. Is holding the budget hostage in order to negotiate on policy positions a savvy strategy, or a political liability heading into midterms and a Gubernatorial re-election bid? Post your thoughts below.

Today was a big day for NYS ratepayers, advancing a new ratepayer protection package aimed at making utility services fairer, more affordable, and secure. Some of the measures include the following:

• Prevent utility shutoffs during extreme weather events.
• Ensure utilities follow proper procedures regarding overdue ratepayers.
• Direct financial relief to ratepayers affected by utility misconduct.
• Automatically re-enroll eligible households for HEAP (Home Energy Assistance Program) benefits.
• Restrict retroactive service charge increases for small businesses.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on the package advanced today, "This package prioritizes affordability and equitability by introducing measures to prohibit utility disconnection during extreme weather events, limiting utility companies’ capacity to recover legal fees from ratepayers, and establishing protections for customers while a utility company is under investigation by the Public Service Commission." (Press Release)

The following legislation passed the floor vote today:

S1701 - Aye 38 Nay 17 - Relates to strengthening of utility storm response and compliance by reviewing mitigating factors including but not limited to mitigating factors and the specifics surrounding the violation or violations.

S3734B - Aye 44 Nay 11 - Authorizes and directs the public service commission to establish rules to limit a utility's ability to recover its direct or indirect costs associated with its attendance in, participation in, preparation for, or appeal of any rate proceeding conducted before the commission.

S8062A - Aye 55 Nay 0 - Establishes a usage monitor program for the purposes of notifying residential customers when energy usage exceeds a cost or usage threshold in a given billing period determined by the residential customer.

S120A - Aye 54 Nay 1 - Prohibits termination of electricity or heat service during forecasts of more than ninety degrees or less than thirty-two degrees.

S904B - Aye 41 Nay 14 - Prohibits utility corporations from imposing late fees, interest, or penalties during an investigation by the commission; allows retroactive late fees, interest, or penalties if a determination is made in favor of such utility corporation; prohibits utility services from being terminated during an investigation by the commission; requires utility corporations to notify customers of investigations

S1553 - Aye 52 Nay 3 - Provides that credits for excess electricity generated by customer-generators subject to net energy metering by an electric corporation or the Long Island power authority may be carried over indefinitely and used against any charges imposed by an electric corporation or the Long Island power authority when the customer-generator uses more electricity than such customer generates; provides for the accounting of credits once every 5 years and the electric corporation or Long Island power authority shall reimburse the customer-generator for the accumulated credits.

S8710 - Aye 55 Nay 0 - Prohibits utility corporations and municipalities from increasing a bill previously rendered to a small non-residential customer after twelve months from the date service was provided; provides limited exceptions to such prohibition; requires the utility corporation or municipality to provide notice regarding the late billing.

S8908 - Aye 55 Nay 0 - Requires that any sanction or civil penalty imposed by the public service commission be returned to the rate payers by means of a direct bill credit, as soon as practically feasible or no later than ninety days.

S1966 - Aye 54 Nay 1 - Requires social services districts to, every heating season, automatically re-enroll persons or households currently receiving assistance through the low-income home energy assistance program, so long as each person or household maintains eligibility.

S2011 - Aye 54 Nay 1 - Directs the department of state and the public service commission to study and report upon the prevalence of the disclosure by public utilities, cable television companies and cellular telephone service providers to credit reporting agencies of late payments and defaults in payment of fees and charges by consumers.

Found this opinion piece by Junior Dillon from cityandstateny.com talking about Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH); and after my most recent visit to NYC I have to say that I did notice more people living on the streets, in subway stations, in subway cars, etc., than in my previous visits over the past few years. That is just an observation, not meant as a comment on how NYC is handling the homelessness crisis. 

I personally support PSH funding and believe it to be a necessary safety net for our most vulnerable New Yorkers, but I can understand that those struggling to make ends meet may find it hard to accept using their tax dollars to fund such programs when those same dollars could be used to improve their own situations. 

How do we bridge that gap? How do we continue to provide stable funding for programs like PSH while also ensuring that those teetering on the edge of homelessness don't find themselves in need of such programs? Just a thought after reading this today. Would love to hear what others think!