Rep. Clyde Vanel

Directs the office of the state long-term care ombudsman to advertise and promote the long-term care ombudsman program (Part A); directs the commissioner of health, in consultation with the state long-term care ombudsman and the commissioners of the departments responsible for the license or certification of long-term care facilities, to establish policies and procedures for reporting, by staff and volunteers of the long-term care ombudsman program, issues concerning the health, safety and welfare of residents at long-term care facilities (Part B); includes access to state long-term care ombudsman program staff and volunteers within the pandemic emergency plan prepared by residential health care facilities (Part C).

Authorizes ballot by mail by removing cause for absentee ballot voting.

Expands customer access to community distributed generation by creating a model tariff to provide for the transfer of bill credits associated with electricity produced by community distributed generation facilities in one electric corporation territory to other territories.

Relates to parole eligibility for certain incarcerated persons age fifty-five or older.

Restricts the use of segregated confinement and creates alternative therapeutic and rehabilitative confinement options; limits the length of time a person may be in segregated confinement and excludes certain persons from being placed in segregated confinement.

Enacts the "marihuana regulation and taxation act"; establishes the cannabis law; defines terms; establishes the New York state cannabis control board and the office of cannabis management; outlines powers and duties thereof; authorizes the lawful use of medical cannabis; authorizes research programs related thereto; establishes a cannabis research license to permit a licensee to produce, process, purchase and/or possess cannabis for certain limited research purposes; relates to adult-use cannabis; authorizes a person to apply for a license to cultivate, process, distribute, deliver or dispense cannabis for sale in this state; relates to the description of cannabis, and the growing of and use of cannabis by persons twenty-one years of age or older; makes technical changes regarding the definition of cannabis; relates to removing certain references to marijuana relating to forfeiture actions; relates to the qualification of certain offenses involving cannabis; exempts certain persons from prosecution for the use, consumption, display, production or distribution of cannabis; relates to the definition of smoking; provides for the licensure of persons authorized to produce, process and sell marihuana; relates to the criminal sale of cannabis; relates to drug paraphernalia; adds a new article on cannabis to the penal law; authorizes a motion for resentence for persons convicted of certain marihuana offenses; levies an excise tax on certain sales of cannabis; creates the New York state cannabis revenue fund, the New York state drug treatment and public education fund and the New York state community grants reinvestment fund.

Provides for the authorization and regulation of visitation of compassionate care-giving visitors at nursing homes and residential health care facilities.

Enacts the "reimagining long-term care task force act" to create a task force to study the state of long-term care services in this state.