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Governor Cuomo this week signed the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act. The bill will take effect on January 1, 2020 and includes the following provisions: Grants collective bargaining rights to farm laborers; Requires employers of farm laborers to allow at least 24 consecutive hours of rest each week; Provides for 60-hour work week for farm workers; Requires […]

The Governor signed into law a bill (S.2833/A.558) to raise the minimum sales age for tobacco and electronic cigarette products from 18 to 21. Previously, each county was able to raise the age to 21 by the adoption of a local law. The law will take effect on November 13, 2019. Governor Cuomo said: “New York is taking […]

At this week’s Board of Regents meeting, Education Commissioner MaryEllen Eliaannounced that she would be resigning from her position at the end of August. The board was not informed of her decision to leave prior to announcing the move during the meeting. Elia is stepping down to join a national firm that specializes in helping districts […]

This week, the Rent Stabilization Association and the Community Housing Improvement Program, along with seven individual landlords, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York. The lawsuit alleges that the rent law approved last month violates the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, which includes a clause that bars taking of private property without […]

City & State NY’s Winners and Losers here. Daily News Opinion: Governor Cuomo, approve this pipeline here. Cabán narrows Katz lead to 15 votes here. Governor urges caution during this weekend’s heat wave here.

The Assembly Committees on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions and Consumer Affairs and Protection will hold a joint public hearing on robocalls, spoofing and nuisance calls on a date to be determined (Postponed – Date TBD). JCOPE will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, July 23. The PSC will hold its next meeting on Thursday, August 8. The Board of Regents will […]

This week, Governor Cuomo signed into law legislation that expands equal pay laws to prohibit unequal pay on the basis of a protected class for substantially similar work (S5248B/A8093A), and forbids employers from asking prospective employees about their salary history (S6549/A5308B). The Governor signed the measures, a key component of his 2019 Women’s Justice Agenda, […]

Election night results seemed to indicate a shocking upset in the Queens District Attorney race with Tiffany Cabán holding a 1,090 vote lead over establishment candidate Melinda Katz. However, after the counting of absentee ballots last week, the lead has changed to a slight 16 vote edge for Katz. It is unusual for absentee ballots […]

The influential labor leader Héctor Figueroa died unexpectedly of an apparent heart attack on Thursday night. He was 57 years old. As president of 32BJ SEIU, Figueroa guided policy positions of the country’s largest building services union, which numbers over 163,000 members. Figueroa has headed the union since 2012 and is credited with growing its […]

Property tax levy growth for local governments with fiscal years that close on Dec. 31 will be capped at 2 percent for the 2020 fiscal year, according to State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. This figure affects the tax cap calculations for all counties, towns, fire districts, 44 cities and 10 villages. The tax cap, which […]