Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton

Enacts The New Deal for CUNY; increases the ratio of faculty and mental health counselors to full-time students; requires that certain amounts of tuition be replaced by federal, state, and city funds.

Establishes a statewide person-centered mental health services work group to improve statewide mental health planning and outcomes to achieve a person-centered, prevention-first integrated and tiered system of care for holistic health and wellness.

Extends a term estate; makes certain other changes relating to property known as Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds in the borough of Staten Island, city of New York until September 30, 2122.

Maddy summaryS 2362 exempts residents of lower Manhattan and Staten Island from the city's congestion surcharge when using for-hire transportation services like taxis or ride-hailing. The bill adds a new provision to the tax law, ensuring the surcharge does not apply to trips for passengers who live in those specific areas. This directly affects local residents who regularly commute or travel within these boroughs using such services. The exemption applies to all for-hire vehicle trips originating or ending in the exempted zones, not to visitors or other transportation types.

Relates to the misbranding of food products not containing meat; establishes a food product shall be deemed to be misbranded if the food product is labeled or branded in a false, deceptive or misleading manner that misrepresents the product as meat, meat food product or poultry.

Enacts the "Velmanette Montgomery YouthBuild act"; sets program requirements; authorizes grants to eligible YouthBuild participants; establishes application requirements.

Updates the fee collected by county clerks and clerks for the city of New York for deposit into the cultural education account from $15 to $30; increases the amount retained by the county or city from $0.75 to $1.00.

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.

Provides for the establishment of residential home safety and loss prevention courses certified by the superintendent of financial services; requires insurers to provide actuarially appropriate discounts on fire and homeowners insurance premiums to those homeowners who have completed a residential home safety and loss prevention course; directs the superintendent of financial services to promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary to implement such program and specifies certain matters which must be included in such rules and regulations; requires the superintendent of financial services to issue a report thereon.

Maddy summaryS 2363 requires the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority to create a plan exempting health care workers from paying tolls on bridges and tunnels. The bill defines "health care worker" to include doctors, nurses, EMTs, and other medical professionals listed in the text. This exemption would apply to tolls charged under the existing congestion pricing system, eliminating costs for qualifying workers. The plan must be implemented within 30 days of the bill taking effect.