Asm. Jonathan Jacobson

Protects individuals who provide or receive legally protected health activity, including reproductive health care and gender-affirming care, from criminal or civil liability or professional sanctions imposed by jurisdictions outside the state.

Maddy summaryThis bill changes voter registration by automatically removing individuals from any political party if their enrolled party name includes "Independence" or "Independent" (e.g., "Independence Party"). It directly affects voters registered with such parties, transitioning them to "no party enrollment" status. The law requires election officials to update these records without requiring voter action. The change takes effect immediately upon enactment. This is a procedural adjustment to voter registration rules, not a substantive policy change.

Permits the rendering of an estimated bill from a utility corporation or municipality under certain circumstances; requires each utility corporation and municipality within six months to submit to the commission a model for the calculation of and procedures for estimated bills that incorporates best practices and technology and accounts for any barriers to the use of actual meter readings.

Permits the state board of elections to join certain multistate voter list maintenance organizations and provide such organizations with certain voter information; requires the state to join a multistate voter list maintenance organization on or before July 31, 2026.

Ensures energy services companies are subject to the same consumer protection regulations regarding unclaimed deposits and refunds currently facing utility companies.

Maddy summaryBill A 3858 increases the maximum financial penalties that courts can impose on corporations convicted of various offenses defined in the penal law. It raises the top fine for a felony conviction from $10,000 to $80,000 and for a Class A misdemeanor from $5,000 to $40,000. The bill also increases maximum fines for Class B misdemeanors and violations. Additionally, it allows fines to be set at up to three times a corporation's financial gain from an offense, up from the previous limit of double the gain.

Maddy summaryBill A 6326 requires gas and electric utility companies to provide their customers with at least 45 days' written notice before any service rate or charge increase takes effect. This bill directly affects gas and electric corporations by mandating this notification period and impacts their customers by ensuring they are informed in advance of changes to their utility costs. It amends the public service law to add this new requirement.

Requires utilities to notify property owners prior to beginning any non-emergency construction or other work that may interfere with a property owner's ability to use, or access such owner's property; requires notice to include, but not limited to, a description of the work to be performed, the expected duration of such work, the location of such work, any road closures or detours that may occur due to such work, any action that may directly and materially impact the use of such property, and the contact information for the utility performing such work; provides notice may include electronic communications, signage, and written materials; exempts cases where a natural or man-made disaster or state of emergency occurs.

Requires public-facing websites operated by political committees to contain "paid for by" language; adds such public-facing websites to the list of political communications that qualify as independent expenditures.

Requires that a billing statement delivered to the customer by an energy services company include a side-by-side comparison showing both the price charged by the energy service company for commodity and delivery service during the prior billing period, and the price the customer would have paid had they taken commodity and delivery service from their local utility corporation or municipality; requires an energy service company to provide each of its customers with an annual statement comparing the price charged by the energy service company for commodity and delivery services and other energy-related value-added products over the prior twelve-month period with the price such customer would have paid had they taken commodity and delivery service from their local utility corporation or municipality.