Asm. Ari Brown

Maddy summaryBella's Law requires New York's Office of Children and Family Services to investigate potential domestic violence when an individual is accused of or under investigation for animal abuse. Law enforcement must notify the Office of Children and Family Services about such cases, and the Office must determine if the animal abuse is linked to domestic violence or family abuse. The law applies to all animal abuse crimes listed in the bill, including offenses like animal fighting, torture, abandonment, and harming service animals. This policy change mandates coordination between law enforcement and child/family services to address the established connection between animal cruelty and domestic violence.

Requires school districts and board of cooperative educational services to pay physical therapists and occupational therapists in alignment with the department's career ladder pathway framework; makes related provisions.

Creates a service learning program for students serving as active volunteer firefighters or volunteer ambulance workers; mandates certain features of such program.

Establishes interregional enrollment of students taking classes in multiple school districts (Part A); allows students who are enrolled in and taking classes in multiple school districts to receive cooperative and individualized educational services (Part B).

Establishes minimum compensation standards for the reimbursement of home health agencies and persons employed thereof; directs the commissioner of health, in consultation with the commissioner of the office for people with developmental disabilities to develop methodologies to determine such minimum compensation standard.

Establishes the NY food insecurity, farm resiliency and rural poverty initiative to provide financial assistance in the form of matching grants, hiring assistance, purchasing assistance, tax credits, tax exemptions, and reimbursements.

Enacts the "New York state Palestinian refugee relocation prevention act"; provides that no state or local agency, authority, or official shall cooperate with, or provide any assistance to, the federal government in the relocation or resettlement of Palestinian refugees within the state of New York; requires that federal funds allocated for the resettlement of Palestinian refugees in New York shall be rejected and returned to the federal government; imposes a temporary moratorium on the admission to any institution of higher education in this state of Palestinian students and scholars; makes related provisions.

Establishes a committee to conduct a survey of instruction on the history and civic impact of the September eleventh, two thousand one terrorist attacks and issue a report on such survey.

Improves the transportation of children with special needs to and from school; provides that bussing time shall not exceed one and one-half hours; provides a special needs liaison to work with each family with a child with special needs; makes related provisions.

Enacts the "Gold Star Families Support Act"; provides a member of a Gold Star family with state paid health insurance; removes provisions relating to veterans with disabilities; expands employment of veterans to employment of veterans and members of a Gold Star family; establishes the Gold Star family tuition fund to be distributed to any public or private educational institution from grades pre-K through graduate and post-graduate school shall be deposited with any school providing free tuition to a member of a Gold Star family; makes related provisions.