Sen. Andrew Gounardes

Relates to voting rights and access for incarcerated individuals; authorizes polling places to be available at correctional facilities and local facilities; requires such facilities to provide persons detained or confined in such facilities access to register to vote or apply for an absentee ballot; requires voting information to be included in the inmate handbook.

Maddy summaryThis bill creates a demonstration program that provides a one-time payment of $1,800 to households with new parents who are already receiving medical assistance from the state. The program is designed to help families during the third trimester of pregnancy and defines eligible recipients to include biological, adoptive, and legal guardians of the child. To ensure the money does not reduce other financial support, the legislation explicitly excludes these grants from counting as income or assets when determining eligibility for various public benefits, including food assistance, low-income energy aid, and state payments. Additionally, the bill ensures that recipients do not have to pay state or local income taxes on the grant amount.

Increases the number of traffic-control signal photo violation-monitoring devices that may be installed in New York city to six hundred intersections; extends certain provisions authorizing photo-monitoring devices until December 1, 2027.

Maddy summaryThis law requires payment card networks and merchants to use specific standardized codes to identify businesses that sell firearms and ammunition in New York. Starting in May 2025, these codes must be assigned to licensed gun dealers and ammunition sellers to ensure their transactions are properly categorized. The bill establishes a penalty system where the Attorney General can issue fines of up to $10,000 per violation if a company fails to use the correct codes after receiving a warning. This change aims to improve how financial transactions involving gun sales are tracked and reported across the state.

Maddy summaryThis bill updates New York State's education laws to standardize the creation and funding of detailed site maps for school emergency response plans. It requires schools to produce digital and printable maps that include floor plans, aerial imagery, and specific labels for key locations like exits, hazardous materials, and security equipment, ensuring these files are compatible with law enforcement software. To support this, the legislation authorizes state funding for school districts to purchase these mapping services alongside other approved safety devices like metal detectors and security cameras. The bill also mandates that these maps be kept confidential and verified annually through walkthroughs to ensure accuracy for first responders.

Prohibits pharmacy benefit managers from penalizing pharmacies for providing customers certain information relating to the costs of prescription medications and services.

Requires motorists to exercise care to avoid colliding with any domestic or companion animal; increases fines and penalties for causing such injury and for leaving the scene of injury to certain animals without reporting.

Maddy summaryThis bill authorizes the direct shipment of liquor, cider, mead, and braggot across state lines into New York, expanding on existing rules that already allow wine shipments. To participate, out-of-state distilleries must obtain a specific license from the state authority, pay an annual fee, and agree to ship no more than 36 cases per year to residents aged 21 or older for personal use only. The law requires strict compliance measures, including age verification at delivery, mandatory signatures, clear labeling on packages, and the payment of applicable state and local taxes. Additionally, out-of-state shippers must maintain detailed records for three years and consent to state jurisdiction for enforcement purposes.

Maddy summaryThis bill changes how cities calculate property tax base proportions for their special assessing units in the 2025 fiscal year. It requires local city councils to decide the percentage increase for these proportions, but limits that increase to a maximum of five percent and sets a deadline of November 1, 2024, for the decision. If tax bills were already sent out before the law took effect, cities must issue amended bills to reflect the new calculations while ensuring taxpayers do not owe more for installments that were already due. The changes apply immediately to cities with special assessing units that have not yet finalized their 2025 tax rates.

Maddy summaryThis bill proposes to amend the state constitution to allow the legislature to change the number of supreme court justices in any judicial district. It establishes a rule that the number of justices in a district can be increased based on population, with a limit of one justice for every fifty thousand people, or decreased to a minimum level set by current law. The changes would take effect after a public vote and a subsequent legislative session, giving voters a direct say in the size of the court.