Asm. Emérita Torres

Maddy summaryThis bill allows Civil Air Patrol members to take paid leave from their employers during emergencies or when assigned by the U.S. Air Force. It directly affects CAP members who need to respond to declared emergencies or Air Force missions. Key provisions require employers to grant leave upon written notice from a unit commander, but they may deny it if the absence would cause undue hardship to their business. Employees must later provide documentation confirming their emergency service to their employer.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires New York's state librarian to develop and distribute evidence-based guidance on core reading skills (like phonemic awareness, fluency, and comprehension) for libraries serving pre-K through 5th-grade students, with separate guidance for older students and adults. The guidance, created within one year of the law taking effect, must be based on existing education standards and shared with all public and association libraries statewide. Libraries will receive resources such as texts, educational technology, and professional materials to support literacy programs. The state librarian must update this guidance every two years, incorporating feedback from libraries.

Enacts "Francesco's law" which establishes violations for the failure to safely store rifles, shotguns, and firearms in the presence of a minor or a prohibited person; requires the office of gun violence prevention to collect and analyze statistical and other information and data with respect to injuries or deaths of minors resulting from failure to safely store a firearm, rifle, or shotgun.

Requires the registration of data brokers; imposes regulations upon data brokers; establishes a data deletion mechanism for consumers; imposes penalties upon data brokers for violations of the law.

Requires the display of certain labels and warnings on gas stoves sold, displayed for sale, or offered for sale at retail to a consumer in this state; authorizes the department of state to adopt regulations regarding the placement and format of such labels; provides for penalties; authorizes the attorney general to enforce such provisions.

Requires property/casualty insurance companies to submit certain zip code-level data to the department of financial services on nonrenewal rates, nonpayment cancellation rates, other cancellation rates, claim frequency rates, average claim amounts, paid loss ratios, and average premiums; requires property/casualty insurance companies that use a natural disaster risk model or scoring method to assign risk, information about such model or scoring method; authorizes a premium discount to policyholders of homeowners insurance or property/casualty insurance applicable to residential real property who demonstrate certain mitigation actions; requires insurers to post about such discounts on their public websites; relates to the timing of cancellation and nonrenewal notices for certain insurance policies; relates to increasing membership of the board governing the New York property insurance underwriting association; requires a quadrennial report on the activities of such association; increases such board membership to 23 including 6 directors appointed by the legislature and 4 directors appointed by the governor.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires chatbot operators (proprietors) to prevent their AI systems from impersonating licensed professionals like doctors, lawyers, or therapists when providing advice or taking actions that would be illegal if done by a human. Proprietors must clearly disclose to users that they are interacting with an AI chatbot in the same language and readable font size as the chatbot's interface, and cannot avoid liability by merely stating this fact. If a chatbot causes harm through such impersonation, affected individuals can sue for actual damages, plus attorney fees if the violation was willful. The law specifically targets chatbots offering professional advice, excluding basic tools like spellcheck or payment processors.

Regulates the development and use of certain artificial intelligence systems to prevent algorithmic discrimination; requires independent audits of high risk AI systems; provides for enforcement by the attorney general.

Maddy summaryThis bill (A 8810) extends accidental death benefits to children of qualifying public safety workers who were under age 25 when the worker died. Previously, benefits for children ended at age 18 or 23 (if a student), but this change provides lifetime benefits for those children. It applies to children of police officers, firefighters, EMTs, correction officers, and other emergency service workers covered under New York’s retirement systems. Benefits are calculated as the deceased worker’s salary minus other received death benefits and continue for the child’s lifetime without age restrictions.

Requires chain restaurants to display an added sugars warning next to or directly under the name of each food item with high added sugars content wherever such food item is listed on a menu, menu board, or food tag, and by any self-serve dispensing point at which such food item is dispensed.