This year’s legislative session has seen a roughly $237 billion state budget, squabbles over school funding, and the passage of good cause eviction laws. But otherwise, State Assemblyman Anil Beephan, a first-term Republican from the 105th District in East Fishkill, says it’s been a relatively quiet session.
“We haven’t been doing some crazy overnights like last year," he notes. "The budget came in several weeks earlier than it did compared to last year, and we’re anticipating a close of session just a mere 12-14 hours later than scheduled. So, I’d say this year went pretty smoothly.”
While lawmakers did agree on a final budget earlier than they did last year, they still missed the April 1 deadline.
For Beephan, the biggest item to come out of this year’s session is “Melanie’s Law,” a bill aimed at combatting domestic violence by extending orders of protection to victims’ immediate family and household members regardless of their age. The bill is named after Melanie Chianese, a 29-year-old Wappingers Falls woman who was stabbed to death by her mother’s ex-boyfriend in 2022. While her mother had a restraining order at the time, Beephan says it did not apply to Melanie because she was an adult who, in the eyes of the courts, had no relationship to the ex-boyfriend.
State Senator Rob Rolison, a Republican from the 39th District in Poughkeepsie who co-sponsored the bill in the Senate, says he hopes closing that loophole will protect others in the future.
“When you violate an order of protection, you are remanded. You are taken into custody immediately. You know, maybe that would’ve made a difference," he adds. "But we do know now, moving forward, that individuals that were excluded will be included in the ability to get orders against individuals who are dangerous.”
The bill still needs Governor Kathy Hochul’s signature.
Rolison says public safety and the opioid epidemic are at the top of his mind heading into the session’s final hours. He has a bill that would criminalize the act of knowingly exposing a police officer or first responder to fentanyl, creating an offense of “aggravated reckless endangerment.” Rolison cites an incident last year where a Poughkeepsie police officer reportedly suffered an accidental overdose while searching a car on the job.
Rolison says he’d also like to crack down on reckless driving.
“There need to be penalties for people who drive like maniacs, and currently that’s not the case," he explains. "So that’s another bill I’m hoping we may get action on. But again, hundreds and hundreds of bills. It starts out slow in the beginning of session, and then as we get toward the finals days, final week, it’s overwhelming.”
Among those bills: Democratic State Senator James Skoufis has been pushing the Senate to approve a constitutional amendment bill that would bring New York one step closer to fully consolidating local elections into even-numbered years. Hochul already signed a bill last year moving some local elections, prompting multiple lawsuits from counties and pushback from Republicans.
Democratic State Senator Michelle Hinchey of the 41st District, meanwhile, is calling on both houses to pass a bill that would create a statewide registry for short-term rentals. She and Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha, a fellow Democrat from the 103rd District in Kingston, have also been promoting the “Hudson Valley Power Authority Act,” which would create a state-owned entity to replace Central Hudson.
“We are pretty realistic that this is not something that’s going to pass tomorrow or this year, it’s going to be a long fight," said Shrestha at a recent town hall. "A state authority is a public benefit corporation at the state level. That means it's more or less like a regular corporation, but it does not have a profit motive, and it does not have shareholders — it’s publicly owned.”
The New York Public Service Commission is weighing whether to grant Central Hudson a 16 and 19 percent rate hike for electric and gas delivery, respectively.
Assemblymember Didi Barrett, a Democrat from the 106th District in Hudson, says the Assembly passed a bill this year requiring the PSC to provide an easy-to-understand one-sheet for major rate cases – but it still needs to pass the Senate. She’s also pushing NYSERDA to create a statewide implementation plan for fast electric vehicle charging stations, and sponsoring a bill that would allow some cities and towns to establish their own community housing funds to increase housing stock.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all when you’re looking at the state of New York, and we just want to give all of our municipalities as many good, solid tools possible to get this done," says Barrett.
Of all the issues on the table, one that looks more likely to pass is social media regulation. The “SAFE for Kids Act” promoted by Hochul would stop social media companies from using algorithms in feeds viewed by children. Hochul and state lawmakers are reportedly close to a deal on the bill. As of Tuesday afternoon, Beephan said he hadn’t seen any deal yet, but depending on the details, he’s open to moving forward with it.
“We’ve seen over the years how social media can be a detriment to children, especially during their developmental stages, and what they’re exposed to on there," he notes.
It’s unclear if other major efforts like the NY HEAT Act, a new bottle bill, and medical aid-in-dying will make it through before lawmakers trade Albany for the campaign trail.
