Asm. David Weprin

Requires persons or entities providing benefits in the event of disability to not impose "onerous or unreasonable conditions" for the payment or continued payment of benefits thereunder, and provides for the enforcement thereof including actual damages, interest and penalties, reasonable costs and attorney's fees, and in the court's discretion, exemplary damages; exempts worker's compensation and NYS disability insurance.

Establishes the New York state commission to end mass incarceration and to prevent violence; provides such commission shall investigate, evaluate and make recommendations concerning how to reduce the New York prison population, incidences of violent crime in New York state, and other various topics related to the criminal justice system.

Maddy summaryBill A 8135 requires general hospitals to publicly post copies of their annual financial and statistical reports, known as institutional cost reports, on their websites. These are the same reports hospitals submit to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Hospitals must display these reports in a conspicuous place on their website at the time of submission to CMS, or within 30 days of submission. Failure to comply with this requirement will subject general hospitals to daily financial penalties.

Requires transportation network companies to notify passengers who have reported an incident of sexual assault that occurred during a TNC prearranged trip that the TNC will not report such incident to law enforcement; requires TNCs to advise every passenger that reports an incident of sexual assault that occurred during a TNC prearranged trip of their right to make a report to local law enforcement or the state police.

Provides that absentee ballots for all elections shall be made available in Braille and large print, upon request of a blind or visually impaired voter no less than 30 days prior to each election day.

Establishes the "education equity act" which provides language assistance to parents or guardians who have children enrolled in public school and whose primary language is not English; defines terms; creates an annual language assistance plan to assess language needs in the district; requires the department of education to establish web pages detailing the rights of parents to translation services in each covered language; requires annual reports by each school district to the local board of education.

Requires all police vehicles to be equipped with bulletproof or bullet resistant glass on and after January 1, 2027; requires existing police cars to be retrofitted with bulletproof or bullet resistant glass.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires Queens County's election board to provide written language assistance in Bengali, Punjabi, and Hindi for all election materials. It directly affects Queens County voters who speak these languages by making ballots, signs, voter mailings, training materials, and website content available in these languages. Key provisions include creating a multilingual voter booklet with registration forms, absentee ballot instructions, and general information in all three languages. The requirement aligns with federal voting rights law and applies to all election-related materials countywide.

Maddy summaryThis bill establishes a legal framework for safe injection sites in New York, creating a program approved by the Department of Health to provide overdose prevention services. It directly affects people who use drugs (participants), community health organizations operating the sites, and local communities through designated locations. Key provisions require sites to offer sterile equipment, overdose monitoring, naloxone access, referrals to treatment, and language-accessible education, while mandating annual reporting on participant numbers and services. The bill also provides legal immunity from arrest or penalties for participants, staff, and property owners who follow approved protocols, ensuring these sites operate without criminal or civil liability.

Authorizes the justice center to create a central registry for employees for all current and prospective agencies, sponsoring agencies or other providers of services that are certified, authorized, approved or funded through contract by the office for people with developmental disabilities to streamline criminal background checks.