Asm. Al Stirpe

Maddy summaryThis bill (A 1094) permits licensed hunters and wildlife officials to use drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) to locate dead, wounded, or injured big game animals, as authorized by the Department of Environmental Conservation. It directly affects licensed hunters and wildlife management personnel who track game. The law requires the department to establish regulations for drone certification and their specific use in tracking, including for bears under existing rules. The policy change takes effect 90 days after enactment, allowing regulated drone use for wildlife tracking without altering hunting regulations.

Establishes the civil right to counsel in eviction proceedings in New York state; creates the New York state office of civil representation; requires that covered individuals be given notice of such right to counsel.

Permits an exception from registration for nonresident pharmacies in cases of a specific patient need or a declared public health emergency under certain conditions.

Enacts the student journalist education act to protect student speech at educational institutions unless such speech is libelous, an invasion of privacy, or incites students to commit an unlawful act, violate school policies, or to materially and substantially disrupt the orderly operation of the school.

Relates to preserving access to affordable drugs; provides that an agreement resolving or settling, on a final or interim basis, a patent infringement claim, in connection with the sale of a pharmaceutical product, shall be presumed to have anticompetitive effects if a nonreference drug filer receives anything of value from another company asserting patent infringement and if the nonreference drug filer agrees to limit or forego research, development, manufacturing, marketing, or sales of the nonreference drug filer's product for any period of time.

Maddy summaryThis bill amends education law to require school districts in cities with at least one million inhabitants to include specific provisions in their school transportation contracts. These provisions mandate the retention or preferential hiring of school bus workers, such as operators, mechanics, dispatchers, and attendants. It also ensures the preservation of their wages, health, welfare, retirement benefits, and seniority when they are hired under these new contract terms. This applies to workers who become unemployed or furloughed due to changes in these transportation contracts.

Relates to dental laboratories; defines terms; requires any dental laboratory operating, doing business, or intending to operate or do business in this state to register with the department of health; makes related provisions.

Enacts the "Empowering People in Rights Enforcement (EMPIRE) Worker Protection Act"; relates to the delegation of state enforcement authority to private actors; authorizes an affected employee, whistleblower, representative organization or an organizational deputy to initiate a public enforcement action on behalf of the commissioner for certain provisions of the labor law, or any regulation promulgated thereunder.

Maddy summaryBill A 8172 establishes new timeframes and processes for insurers to pay claims submitted by hospitals. It requires insurers to pay hospital claims at the contracted rate as billed, regardless of their own medical necessity or administrative policies, before any review. After payment, insurers can request a post-payment review for a limited percentage of claims by a joint committee composed of medical professionals from both the insurer and the hospital. If this committee cannot agree on the medical necessity of the services, an independent third-party review agent will make a binding determination, and hospitals must refund payments for services found not medically necessary.

Requires the collection and reporting of sexual offense evidence on the statewide electronic tracking system within seven days of permission to release the evidence by the alleged sexual offense victim; relates to additional rules and guidelines.