The New York State Legislature is expected to adjourn for the year on June 10.
There are several questions looming over the next month: What will lawmakers focus on? And will lawmakers be able to focus with the results of three investigations into Gov. Andrew Cuomo dropping at some point in the near future?
Jack O’Donnell told Capital Tonight that it appears the legislature is functioning well in spite of all the distractions.
O’Donnell, founder of O’Donnell & Associates in Buffalo, said that there are several large issues that seem to have gained some momentum recently.
"Data privacy is a big issue,” he said. “After a lot of noise around its inclusion in the executive budget proposal in January, the governor’s proposed New York Data Accountability and Transparency Act quietly fell out of the final budget agreement. Now, insiders in Albany are saying that Senator Kevin Thomas plans to introduce an amended version of the bill.”
According to his weekly newsletter, other issues O’Donnell is watching include:
Adult Survivors Act: The bill, which is based on the Child Victims Act, would create a one-year legal look-back window during which people who were 18 years of age or older when they were abused could file civil lawsuits against their abusers. The look-back window would open six months after the bill is signed into law.
Criminal justice reforms: Advocates are pushing for an end to qualified immunity in New York state, as well as bills that provide transparency in police custody, New York for All (which would prohibit New York law enforcement agencies from sharing data with ICE) and bills increasing transparency in police interrogations.
New York Health Act: While seeing single-payer health care in the next year is unlikely, the Assembly moved it through the Health Committee and plans to pass it before the end of session as a show of force. More important, the larger policy discussion around the New York Health Act also opens smaller policy conversations that create interesting politics, like a Fee for Service Carve out of the Medicaid Drug Benefit and changes to administration of benefits through Managed Care Organizations.