Bills

Governor Paterson 2009 Department Bills
By Agency

Adirondack Park Agency
33	This bill would facilitate affordable housing development in the Adirondack Park.
41	This bill would authorize a fee structure for applications filed with the Adirondack Park Agency to fund local land use planning initiatives.
97	This bill would clarify various provisions of the Adirondack Park Agency Act, and extend certain time periods relating to initial review of major project applications and hearings for such projects .
Agriculture and Markets
15	This bill would increase certain thresholds for determining the size of the Milk Producers Security Fund which protects milk producers against defaults to provide increased payment protection to New York's dairy farmers .
16	This bill would allow grape processors to provide certain statutorily required notices of prices and of refusals of delivery by fax or other electronic means .
17	This bill would increase from $50,000 to $100,000 the volume of farm products an applicant for a farm products dealer license would need to purchase to be exempted from the requirement that the applicant file a bond or letter of credit .
53	This bill would eliminate the Industrial Exhibit Authority (IEA) (which runs the New York State Fair), authorize the Department of Agriculture and Markets to assume the IEA's responsibilities, and reconstitute the State Fair Advisory Board.
Alcoholism and Substance Abuse
12	This bill would raise the deposit for a keg of beer registration from $50 to $75 .
26	This bill would require no-fault carriers to provide coverage for emergency heath services for injured persons who are intoxicated or drug impaired.
74	This bill would create a process for siting residential chemical dependency treatment centers similar to that now in place for locating group homes for those with mental illness or developmental disabilities .
151	This bill would make it a violation for an individual over the age of eighteen to permit consumption of alcoholic beverages by persons under twenty-one years of age on private property which the host owns, rents, or controls.
Banking Department
62	This bill makes permanent provisions giving state-chartered banks the same powers as federal banks .
114	This bill would conform the regulation of mortgage loan originators in New York State to the requirements under federal 115
115	This bill would make various technical and clarifying amendments to the Banking Law and the Real Property Law .
128	This bill would modernize the articles of the Banking Law ("BL") covering "licensed financial services" providers, including licensed lenders, licensed cashers of checks, sales finance companies, premium finance agencies, budget planners and money transmitters .
Battery Park City Authority
38	This bill would change the name of the Battery Park City Authority to the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority.
65	This bill would reinstate authorization for the Battery Park City Authority to enter into interest rate swap agreements .
Bridge Authority
49	This bill would raise the New York State Bridge Authority bond cap from $100 million to $153,255,000.
Children and Family Services
34	This bill would allow the Office of Children and Family Services to withhold releasing certain factual information from a child fatality report to protect the deceased child's siblings.
37	This bill would create various reforms in the child guardianship and custody process, including creating a process for reinstatement of terminated parental rights and for having a child declared "destitute."
108	This bill would enhance statutory provisions that protect the identity of callers to the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR) and other hotlines operated by the Office of Children and Family Services, and strengthen the protection of confidential information maintained by the Office of Children and Family Services .
131	This bill, which arose out of discussions with Civil Service Employees Association and the United Federation of Teachers pursuant to Executive Order #6 of 2007, would increase the child day care capacity in group family day care homes and make other amendments to improve quality enforcement for child day care.
Civil Service
61	This bill would revise certain Civil Service Law provisions to promote efficiency and effectiveness in administration of the public workforce .
94	This bill would allow for the creation of temporary 4 year positions in information technology .
Consumer Protection Board
143	This bill would strengthen the State's truth in heating law, requiring disclosures about the efficiency of appliances on the sale of a home, and the right of a purchaser to obtain utility bills of the seller .
144	This bill would extend state do-not-call restrictions to include recorded messages, and set hours during which marketing calls are not permitted .
145	This bill would require heightened disclosure of store refund policies .
147	This bill would amend last year's child product safety statute to conform it to recently enacted federal law .
Correctional Services
18	This bill would make clear that the Department of Correctional Services can assign to drug treatment at other facilities those offenders who are judicially sentenced to the Willard Drug Treatment program, but whose medical needs cannot be met there .
19	This bill would allow the Department of Correctional Services to hire unlicensed psychologists for its sex offender treatment programs when licensed psychologists are unavailable.20
20	This bill would clarify the need for the sentencing court to deliver certain documents to the relevant correctional facility, insuring that the facility will have important information regarding the inmate.
21	This bill would clarify the need procedures for the Department of Correctional Services to notify sentencing counts that have imposed erroneous of illegal sentences inmates received in state facilities.
105	This bill would revise disciplinary criteria for the earning of merit time by inmates to include as a disqualifying factor an inmate's overall poor institutional record .
Council on Children and Families
93	This bill would place the coordinated children's services initiative (CCSI) within the administrative purview of the Council on Children and Families, clarify the roles and responsibilities of state and local entities participating in CCSI, and better define the population of children and youth eligible for services through CCSI .
Crime Victims Board
39	This bill would allow for certain awards to child victims in the absence of physical injury.
59	This bill would remove a provision waiving a fee for criminal defendants who pay restitution .
Criminal Justice Services
51	This bill would expand the circumstances in which child witnesses can testify via closed circuit.
52	This bill would consolidate and streamline the police officer and peace officer registries and clarify and update minimum training requirements for peace officers.
Cyber Security & Critical Infrastructure Coordination
63	This bill would update the Information Security Breach and Notification Act .
130	This bill would broaden the Freedom of Information Act's (FOIL) exemption from disclosure of certain information technology records .
Dormitory Authority of the State of New York
25	This bill would increase the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York's bonding authority for hospital and nursing home project bonds from $14.2 billion to $15 billion.
89	This bill would enhance the ability of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York to meet the tax-exempt financing and construction needs of New York's not-for-profit corporations .
117	This bill would authorize the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York to provide financing and construction services to any not-for-profit corporation organized by officers, employees, alumni or students of the State University of New York for the purpose of providing housing facilities, academic and administration buildings, libraries, laboratories, classrooms or other facilities.
Environmental Conservation
8	This bill would reduce phosphorus levels in dishwasher detergent, and restrict the use of lawn fertilizers containing phosphorus, thereby reducing the presence of phosphorus in the environment.
9	This bill would extend current law allowing the Department of Environmental Conservation to use sweepstakes to help sell The Conservationist magazine .
40	This bill would allow the annual federal regulations to set the State's migratory game bird hunting seasons and bag limits unless the Department of Environmental Conservation issued more stringent rules, and authorize the Commissioner of the Department of Environmentlal Conservation to adopt, by order, management measures for marine fish in order to comply with interstate and federal fishery management plans.
81	This bill would clarify the Department of Environmental Conservation's authority to remove structures, improvements and fixtures on State lands without authorization, and increase civil penalties for related legal violations .
Environmental Facilities Corporation
29	This bill would extend the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund (CWSRF) fifty-percent subsidy through September 30, 2012.
46	This bill would expand the permissible range of Environmental Facility Corporation investments to include Multilateral Development Banks.
47	This bill would authorize municipalities to convert short term State Revolving Fund ("SRF") financings into a long term SRF financings utilizing a single installment bond.
General Services
14	This bill would extend for 2 years the ability of the State to waive competitive bidding rules in certain emergencies .
27	This bill would allow the Office of General Services to provide insurance and risk management coordinated services to State agencies.
55	This bill would clarify restrictions on communications during procurement lobbying .
141	This bill would allow for waiver of the deposit the Office of General Services currently must charge for bidders to obtain copies of plans and specifications for public works projects, where the bidder is a Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise or the plans are made available in non-paper form .
142	This bill would extend the expiration date of the procurement lobbying law to July 31, 2011 .
Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform
112	This bill would clarify and ease the process for filing consensus rules .
Health
35	This bill would make changes to the vaccination requirements applicable to long term care facilities by requiring, among other things, annual influenza vaccination of personnel in such facilities.
56	This bill would: (1) revise the informed consent requirements associated with HIV/AIDS testing, while ensuring that adequate patient protections are maintained; (2) tailor counseling information based on HIV test results; (3) update current testing requirements to reflect medical advances; and (4) facilitate authorization for testing in the case of certain occupational exposures to HIV infection .
57	This bill would enhance efforts to curtail the diversion, abuse and illegal sale of prescription controlled substances .
75	This bill would improve the health, safety and quality of New York residents living in adult care facilities by establishing in law important resident rights and protections, strengthening the enforcement of applicable standards, improving inspection report procedures and removing obstacles to the institution or continuation of temporary operators or receivers .
85	This bill would update standards of care and eligibility standards for prenatal care under the Medicaid program and remove statutory references to the Prenatal Care Assistance Program, which is no longer needed in light of changes to the Medicaid reimbursement methodology .
132	This bill would centralize procedures for the filing and issuance of birth certificates for children adopted in foreign countries and make technical changes regarding the release of information .
Higher Education Services Corporation
121	This bill would allow adjustment of tuition assistance awards mid-year .
133	This bill would exempt the community college student member of the Higher Education Services Corporation board of trustees from Senate confirmation .
Housing & Community Renewal
30	This bill would correct a technical error in legislation from last year, which precluded a redevelopment company from receiving certain financing for capital improvements and redevelopment above project cost.
45	This bill would create the Main Street Program, which uses federal funds earned from administering programs to rehabilitate local downtown areas.
100	This bill would allow for an expansion of the activities of neighborhood preservation corporations .
148	This bill would strengthen penalty and notification provisions of the rent stabilization law .
Housing Finance Agency
24	This bill would extend the Housing Finance Agency's authority to issue bonds through June 2011, and increase its bond cap from $13.78 billion to $14.78 billion.
70	This bill would authorize the Housing Finance Agency to issue unrated bonds in private placement offerings for affordable housing projects .
103	This bill would extend for an additional year the tax exempt private activity bond allocation process for state and local issuers.
Human Rights
101	This bill would give winning plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases the right to seek attorneys' fees and expert witness fees against employers with 50 or more employees.
140	This bill would add persons with disabilities to various sections of the Human Rights Law from which they are currently omitted .
Insurance Department
86	(Joint bill with the Department of Health) This bill would address certain abuses of the no-fault insurance system by prohibiting a provider of health services from demanding or requesting payment for health services if the provider has engaged in abusive activities .
98	This bill would provide for licensing of title insurance agents .
99	This bill would update the Insurance Department's licensing process, including by creating licenses for three new lines of coverages, allowing for fingerprinting, requiring continuing education and creating a mechanism for licensing of non- resident adjusters who have reciprocal provisions in their state.
139	This bill would create a regulatory regime to regulate the life settlement business, including licensing and consumer protection provisions .
Labor
60	This bill would require notice of wage and overtime rates to employees .
92	This bill would strengthen the sanctions against employers who violate wage laws, and retaliate against whistleblowing .
120	This bill would exempt those employees whose employer or bargaining unit did not participate in a strike from the seven-day delay in the receipt of unemployment insurance benefits currently applicable to striking workers .
Mental Health
42	This bill would extend for one year the provisions of Timothy's Law, which requires parity for mental health benefits by health care plans.
43	This bill makes clear that the removal of a resident from Office of Mental Health and the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities group homes is governed by the laws governing these agencies, not the landlord-tenant law.
106	This bill sets forth technical amendments regarding mental health background checks for gun ownership .
118	This bill would require criminal history record checks for each prospective operator, employee, or volunteer of certain providers of mental health or mental retardation and developmental services who will have regular and substantial unsupervised or unrestricted physical contact with clients of such providers.
122	This bill would establish restrictions on the use of restraint and seclusion in facilities under the jurisdiction of Office of Mental Health .
Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities
13	This bill would make certain changes to the Most Integrated Setting Coordinating Council membership .
36	This bill would rename OMRDD the New York Developmental Disabilities Services offices.
96	This bill would allow the Consumer Advisory Board, which represents and advocates on behalf of those who had been residents of the former Willowbrook State school, to make end- of-life decisions for such former residents who lack capacity to make their own health care decisions .
107	This bill would create a process to allow the release of certain records for deceased residents of the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities facilities, in certain instances, when requested by a family member .
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
87	This bill would increase the fines of Metropolitan Transit Authority and remove a requirement that certain notices be sent by certified mail .
150	This bill would enact various provisions relating to New York City's Bus Rapid Transit Program, including the installation of cameras to monitor bus lane violations, and greater penalties for such violations .
Motor Vehicles
58	This bill would allow the Department of Motor Vehicles, in consultation with the State Archives, to set a schedule for retention of certain records .
88	This bill would enhance teen driving safety by requiring more driving experience before teens can reach the next level of their license, and by placing certain restrictions on drivers with learner's permits .
146	This bill would raise the age for requiring a child passenger to be in a child safety seat from 7 to 8, and would require that all seat belts be secured across the torso .
Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation
5	This bill would extend the requirement that passengers on certain pleasure vessels wear personal flotation devices between November 1 and May 1.
6	This bill would raise the reporting threshold for a boating accident from $1000 to $2000 of damage.
7	This bill would reduce the number of members comprising the Saratoga-Capital District Regional Park, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commission.
Probation & Correctional Alternatives
50	This bill would expand requirements for fingerprinting probationers.
116	This bill would provide probation departments and the courts with greater flexibility in resolving alleged juvenile delinquency actions, including by allowing greater access to an informal mechanism for resolution and allowing for exemption of certain information from disclosure .
129	This bill would make various statutory changes to enhance the ability of victims to recover restitution by offenders, including by requiring restitution orders to remain in effect until fully satisfied.
Public Employees Relation Board
28	This bill clarifies certain time frames that apply to interest arbitration.
Public Service
1	This bill would facilitate programs by natural gas utilities through which the utilities would pay the up-front costs of customers' energy efficiency improvements and receive repayment of such costs over time through a charge on customers' utility.
2	This bill would allow the Department of Public Service to authorize localities and State agencies to place conditions on the establishment of gas or electrical transmission facilities.
3	This bill would reduce regulatory oversight by the Public Service Commission of fuel cell, tidal and wave energy facilities generating up to 80 megawatts, in order to encourage the development of such facilities.
4	This bill would amend the shared meter provisions of the Public Service Law to eliminate, for buildings with no more than three residential apartments, the statutory payment imposed after discovery of a shared meter condition, and (2) to preclude inadvertent creation of shared meter conditions in two-family dwellings that are not separately metered.
135	This bill would increase penalties for gas safety violations to encourage compliance with such regulations .
Racing & Wagering Board
48	This bill would empower the Racing and Wagering Board to impose fines on off track betting corporations and other persons or corporations participating in off track betting.
90	This bill would allow New York state to enter the Interstate Compact on Regulation of Horse and Greyhound Racing and Pari-Mutuel Wagering Activities .
102	This bill would increase from $5,000 to $25,000 the maximum fine that can be imposed for violation of the Racing, Pari- Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law .
Real Property Services
79	This bill clarifies provisions relating to Coordinated Assessment Programs .
137	This bill would require the State Board of Real Property Services to provide the State equalization rate and apportionment rate only upon the request of a school district or county.
State
32	This bill would allow the Department of State's Office of Fire Prevention and Control to create a fire department resource inventory system, based on annual reports from local fire districts. The system would be used for the State's emergency preparedness planning.
68	This bill would combine the Class B and Class C classifications of not-for-profit corporations .
80	This bill would require prior approval of local fire codes by the State Fire Prevention and Building Code Council .
State Commission on Correction
64	This bill would clarify that county jails may be used for fingerprinting of non-inmates, thereby eliminating the need for counties to buy a second fingerprinting machine .
State Insurance Fund
67	This bill would change the number of commissioners necessary to approve a rule, to reflect the 2007 expansion of the State Insurance Fund board .
State Liquor Authority
31	This bill would give the State Liquor Authority general authority to issue regulations.
104	This bill would make those waiting for the State Liquor Authority to review their liquor license application eligible for a temporary permit .
State of New York Mortgage Agency
44	This bill would allow the State of New York Mortgage Agency to purchase its own bonds without extinguishing them.
71	This bill extends the State of New York Mortgage Agency's authority to issue tax-exempt bonds and increases its bonding cap from $8.420 billion to $8.92 billion .
72	This bill extends the sunset for certain powers of the State's Mortgage Insurance Fund until July 16, 2011 .
73	This bill allows the State of New York Mortgage Agency to sell mortgages in private sales .
138	This bill would authorize the State of New York Mortgage Agency to use funds of the Mortgage Insurance Fund to acquire mortgage loans until it obtains long-term financing for these acquisitions .
State Police
54	This bill would remove an unconstitutional provision in regard to warrants .
82	This bill would expand the definition of "serious crime," a conviction for which bars ownership of a shotgun or rifle, to include menacing in the second degree and attempts to commit a serious crime .
83	This bill would remove the requirement that members of the military have to provide social security numbers on acknowledgement of service forms in relation to civil suits .
126	This bill would make trespass into an automobile an offense .
127	This bill would bar the return of a firearm to a person who used it to attempt suicide .
Tax & Finance
76	This bill would allow a taxpayer to request a reversal of the crediting of an overpayment to estimated tax .
77	This bill would allow the Department of Taxation and Finance to seek judicial review of adverse rulings of the Tax Appeals Tribunal .
78	This bill would require the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance to publish an annual report identifying the names of taxpayers receiving refundable business tax credits and the amounts of those credits, as a measure to increase transparency.
109	This bill would allow county, city and village tax districts to provide the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance with notice of commencement of real property tax lien foreclosure proceedings by alternative means besides first class or certified mail, if approved by the Commissioner .
110	This bill would grant discretion to the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance to prescribe the method or methods for effecting electronic funds transfers by taxpayers participating in the PrompTax programs .
Technology
66	This bill would change the name of the Office for Technology to the "Office of the Chief Information Officer" .
91	This bill changes the name of the "Statewide Wireless Network Advisory Council" to the "Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee" and reorganizes the composition of the Executive Committee .
Temporary Disability Assistance
10	This bill would extend provisions of law exempting certain income and resources from calculation of public assistance eligibility.
11	This bill would extend the period of time in which certain public assistance recipients can repay social services districts for utility arrears payments from one year to two years .
69	This bill would allow four years of college to count as vocational training, as now permitted under federal law .
84	This bill would enact federal mandates set forth in federal medical support regulations for the child support enforcement program, which require each state to define when health insurance benefits, an element of support, are "reasonable in cost" and when health insurance shall be considered reasonably accessible .
95	This bill would allow the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance to obtain wage reporting information, under certain confidentiality protections, which it could use to evaluate the effectiveness of its programs .
119	This bill makes various technical changes regarding child support enforcement, including by clarifying the role of the Office of Temporary and Disability Support's child support enforcement unit .
123	This bill would make a number of reforms to the child support system, including requiring employers to report the availability of certain health insurance coverage and permitting the Department of Taxation and Finance to share with the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance information needed to evaluate the enhanced earned income tax credit available to non-custodial parents; and allowing the Family Court to require certain non-custodial parents .
124	This bill would change the name of Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance to the Office of Economic Support and Opportunity .
Thruway Authority
111	This bill would allow for the abandonment of approximately 3 .85 acres of barge canal terminal lands which are no longer necessary or useful for the barge canal system to be used for the Syracuse Inner Harbor .
113	This bill would permit the Thruway Authority to form a pure captive insurance company in New York State .
125	This bill would add toll evasion to the theft of services crimes and would make the payment of lost toll revenue to the Thruway Authority and other tolling facilities a mandatory part of the penalty when a toll collection violation is adjudicated in court.
136	This bill would raise the Canal Corporation bond cap from $60 million to $160 million, and the emergency cap from $10 million to $20 million .
Transportation
149	This bill would ease the process for registering oversize or overweight vehicles .
Worker's Compensation Board
22	This bill would correct anomalies in the Workers' Compensation Law relating to the timing for appeals, to subject all appeals to the same 30-day limit for seeking full Board review, and to require that such appeals specifically address the panel decision appealed from.
23	This bill would allow an independent medical examination report of a workers� compensation plaintiff to be saved on the Workers compensation Board in a different manner from service on the parties, allowing for the electronic submission of such report.