Asm. Anna Kelles

Creates a set of media literacy standards for students in grades kindergarten through twelve which focuses on internet safety, civility and digital citizenship.

Requires that food services at transportation facilities and rest areas owned and operated by certain public authorities remain open seven days a week.

Requires school districts to have diversity, equity and inclusion officers to develop methods to diversify the personnel of the school district and to recommend changes to district policies and practices to reduce racial disparities in hiring school district employees, particularly teachers; requires boards of education to annually report information regarding such policies and practices to the department of education; requires the department of education to annually report such information to the legislature.

Maddy summaryThis bill increases the state commission of correction from 3 to 9 members. It specifies that 3 members are appointed by the governor (with Senate confirmation), 2 by the Assembly speaker, 2 by the Senate Temporary President, and 2 by the Correctional Association. The commission must now include at least one person formerly incarcerated in a New York correctional facility, a public health professional, a behavioral healthcare professional, an attorney with criminal defense or prisoner rights expertise, and others deemed beneficial. The bill also sets term lengths and removal procedures for commission members.

Maddy summaryThis bill (A 6051) expands protections under New York's assault laws by adding specific healthcare workers to the list of protected individuals. It amends Penal Law Section 120.05 to include medical providers (physicians, physician assistants), nurses (registered, nurse practitioners, certified nursing assistants), hospital employees, volunteers, ambulance personnel, and emergency medical staff as those who cannot be assaulted while performing their duties. The key mechanism is explicitly listing these roles in the legal definition of assault, making such attacks a more severe offense. It directly affects healthcare workers in hospitals, emergency departments, and related settings across New York State. The bill is currently referred to the Codes committee as of February 2025.

Allows the higher education services corporation to consider an applicant's change in income due to the loss of employment in determining eligibility and award amount for the tuition assistance program.

Requires ice skating rinks maintain a certain indoor air quality and maintain a certificate of acceptable air quality where a resurfacing machine is used.

Establishes the green affordable pre-electrification program to assist owners and tenants in residential properties in curing structural and building code defects which render the properties ineligible for improvements or projects relating to energy savings, green-house gas emissions reductions, climate change adaptation and resiliency project grants; establishes the energy efficiency and electrification interagency coordination group to coordinate between certain energy efficiency programs.

Maddy summaryThis bill (A 4764) eliminates two existing provisions: the excise tax on medical cannabis sales and the medical cannabis trust fund (a dedicated funding program). It directly affects medical cannabis businesses and patients by removing the tax they pay and ending the dedicated funding stream. The bill repeals specific sections of the tax law (Section 490) and state finance law (Section 89-h), taking effect immediately upon passage.

Maddy summaryThis bill amends New York's Penal Law to explicitly include animal fighting under the definition of criminal activity for enterprise corruption charges. It adds "section three hundred fifty-one of the agriculture and markets law relating to animal fighting" to the list of offenses that qualify as criminal activity in enterprise corruption cases. This change directly affects prosecutors and courts handling cases where animal fighting is part of a larger criminal enterprise, allowing such cases to be prosecuted under enterprise corruption statutes. The key mechanism is a technical update to the legal definition, not a new policy or funding measure.