Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton

Maddy summaryThis bill prohibits local or state regulations from banning the use of wood, coal, natural gas, propane, or other fuels specifically for cooking or food preparation. It directly affects restaurants, food vendors, and home cooks who use these fuels, preventing environmental restrictions under New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) from applying to culinary fuel use. The key provision amends environmental law to explicitly exclude cooking-related fuel burning from climate-mandated prohibitions and local regulations. The bill takes effect immediately upon enactment.

Allows police officers to request, and police departments to be reimbursed for, ballistic armor vests classified as level III or higher; prohibits the commissioner from denying an application for reimbursement because a vest classified as level III or higher was requested by a police officer.

Requires health insurance policies to include coverage of optional anesthesia for certain contraceptive and menstrual health procedures including, but not limited to, loop electrosurgical excision procedure, colposcopy, ablation, and intrauterine device insertion.

Maddy summaryThe Hunger-Free Campus Act (S 2637) creates a grant program for public colleges and universities to address student food insecurity. To qualify, campuses must meet specific requirements, including establishing student-led hunger task forces, providing SNAP enrollment assistance, operating on-campus food pantries, and conducting annual student hunger surveys. Grants fund initiatives like meal donation programs, SNAP outreach, and awareness campaigns to support students' basic food needs. The program requires institutions to report on grant usage and outcomes to the state education commissioner, with priority given to schools with high Pell Grant enrollment.

Requires the board of elections to provide Russian interpreters at certain polling locations in cities having a population in excess of one million people.

Maddy summaryThis bill adds three family court judges and three civil court judges specifically for Richmond County (Staten Island). It amends court laws to require at least three family court judges resident in Richmond County and creates three new civil court judge positions for the county. The new judges will be elected countywide in November 2025, with terms starting January 2026. These changes directly affect Richmond County residents by increasing judicial capacity in both family and civil courts there.

Requires the education department, in consultation with the department of health, to develop and adopt a comprehensive fentanyl education, awareness, and recognition program for all public, charter, and private schools in the state.

Allows evidence of a defendant's prior crimes or acts to be admissible in a criminal case for certain purposes including as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, state of mind of the defendant, state of mind of the victim or other party, absence of mistake or accident, identity, modus operandi, or common scheme or plan; requires that the prosecution provide reasonable notice of the general nature of any such evidence it intends to introduce at trial.

Relates to establishing unlawful discriminatory practices relating to models; requires models to be informed of what constitutes an unlawful discriminatory practice and how to file a complaint; requires modeling entities to provide adult models with educational materials regarding nutrition and eating disorders.

Maddy summaryThis bill caps payments to pharmacies for certain high-cost drugs. It requires that pharmacies receive no more than 2.5% of a drug’s total cost (including federal benchmark pricing) plus any authorized dispensing fees, but only for drugs with a federal cost benchmark exceeding $670. The rule directly affects pharmacies dispensing these specific high-cost medications under New York’s Medicaid program. It aims to standardize reimbursement without altering existing dispensing fee structures.