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 In addition, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced a consensus on table targets for the individual budget conference committees. The table target amounts for individual committees include the following: $20 million   Mental Hygiene $50 million   Education $10 million   General Government $10 million   Economic Development $30 million   Health $5 million      Transportation $55 million   Higher Education $50 million   Human Services […]

Governor Launches School Funding Transparency Website Governor Cuomo announced the launch of a school funding transparency website. The new site offers the ability to view and download data at the school district level and the school building level. According to the press release, the initial launch includes data from the 76 school districts required to submit school-level funding […]

Employee Scheduling (Call-in-Pay) The Department of Labor issued a notice of expiration for proposed regulations to reform on-call scheduling. Due to this notice, regulations cannot be reconsidered unless the Department of Labor publishes a new notice of proposed rulemaking.

School Zone Speed Camera Bills Last week, the Senate and the Assembly passed legislation (S.4331/A.6449) that would expand the use of speed cameras to 750 school zones in New York City. The cameras would operate Monday through Friday from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM, and the City would be required to install signs giving notice […]

New York State Religious and Independent Schools, Professional Development Resource Centers State Education Department (SED) The New York State Education Department (NYSED) State Office of Religious and Independent Schools is seeking proposals to establish three (3) regional Professional Development Resource Centers. The regional Professional Development Resource Centers (PDRC) will work in collaboration with the Education […]

The NYS Board of Regents will meet on April 8-9, 2019. The State Education Department announced the following State Board Meetings: Social Work: March 27, 2019 (New York City, Albany, Syracuse, via video) Occupational Therapy: April 1, 2019 (New York City, Albany, via video) Acupuncture: April 8, 2019 (New York City, Albany, via video) Professional Engineering, Land […]

Negotiations are now set to begin on a final budget, due by April 1, now that the Assembly and Senate have both passed one-house budget resolutions outlining their respective priorities. Both houses restored the Executive’s reduction of Medicaidspending contained in the 30 day amendments. Both houses also provided an additional $1.6 billion in education funding. The Assembly’s plan would add […]

In an op-ed published by the Daily News, Governor Cuomo pledged that he would not sign a budget that does not include criminal justice reforms. Issues specifically mentioned were changes to the bail system, the right to a speedy trial, and the discovery process. The Governor argues that our current bail system disproportionately affects the poor […]

Attorney General Tish James announced this week that she and the legislature have come to an agreement on legislation to close the double jeopardy loophole. The bill is designed to allow New York prosecutors to bring charges for state crimes committed in New York against anyone who is granted a presidential pardon for federal crimes. The double […]

Former Assembly Speaker Mel Miller, 79, passed away in Manhattan of complications from lung cancer. Miller served in the Assembly for 21 years and rose to the speakership in 1987 where he stood up to Governor Mario Cuomo, a fellow democrat, by fighting to enact a larger than proposed income tax cut. Miller advocated for education […]