Sen. Gustavo Rivera

Maddy summaryS 7377 establishes a framework for creating and operating mental health clubhouses across New York State. These clubhouses provide free, community-based support for people with serious mental illness, offering services like job training, housing assistance, and social activities through a non-clinical therapeutic environment. The bill requires clubhouses to be accredited, near public transportation (with virtual options for rural areas), and submit biennial reports on membership, employment, housing, and crisis support to the Office of Mental Health. The Office of Mental Health must develop a statewide implementation plan within one year to guide accreditation and compliance.

Establishes a state SNAP minimum benefit program to provide a minimum amount of supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits that is higher than the amount of federal SNAP benefits.

Relates to the execution of a warrant of arrest; authorizes the commissioner of the division of criminal justice services to establish a system to record and monitor the issuance and execution of search warrants; authorizes the chief administrator of the court system to establish educational programs for judicial personnel on the law of searches, arrests and seizures.

Expands the scope of the temporary operator program permitting the commissioner of health to appoint an operator if a facility experiences serious financial instability or conditions that seriously endanger the life, health or safety of residents or patients.

Establishes Three King's day as a school holiday for all public schools in a city school district of a city having a population of one million or more inhabitants.

Relates to establishing the housing access voucher program; provides that the commissioner of the division of housing and community renewal shall implement a program of rental assistance in the form of housing vouchers for eligible individuals and families who are homeless or who face an imminent loss of housing; provides that the commissioner shall designate housing access voucher local administrators in the state to administer the program.

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.

Maddy summaryThis bill prohibits police officers from using chemical agents - such as pepper spray, tear gas, or oleoresin capsicum - against any minor under 18 years old in all circumstances. It directly affects minors under 18 and requires all police departments to update their use-of-force policies to ban these chemical agents. The law amends existing policy rules to explicitly forbid such use, applying immediately upon enactment. This is a policy change to restrict specific police tactics targeting children, with no exemptions or exceptions specified.

Expands the maximum benefit and eligibility requirements for financial assistance for burial arrangements; provides for expedited assistance during a state disaster emergency.

Maddy summaryS 895 requires courts to automatically expunge arrest records when an arrest is deemed "voidable" (meaning no charges were filed, the arrest lacked probable cause, or charges were dismissed). It mandates that courts issue expungement orders within 30 days of an arrest becoming voidable, and directs law enforcement agencies to destroy physical records like photos, fingerprints, and documents within the same timeframe. Individuals affected can answer employment questions as if the arrest never occurred, and courts must notify both the person and their attorney of the expungement. This applies to all arrests meeting the "voidable" criteria in New York, streamlining record clearance without requiring individual petitions.