Sen. Nathalia Fernández

Maddy summaryThis bill requires all daycare facilities in New York (excluding certain exempt providers) to create and maintain specific emergency plans for children with disabilities. The plans must detail evacuation procedures, lockdown protocols, a list of children needing assistance, and available assistive devices. Facilities must submit these plans to child welfare authorities within seven days of completion, share them with emergency responders and staff, and provide annual updates. Parents may access only information specific to their child, with all disability-related details kept confidential per existing laws. The bill takes effect immediately upon passage.

Relates to parole eligibility for certain incarcerated persons age fifty-five or older if they have served at least fifteen years of their sentence or sentences.

Enacts the "Empowering People in Rights Enforcement (EMPIRE) Worker Protection Act"; relates to the delegation of state enforcement authority to private actors; authorizes an affected employee, whistleblower, representative organization or an organizational deputy to initiate a public enforcement action on behalf of the commissioner for certain provisions of the labor law, or any regulation promulgated thereunder.

Maddy summaryThis bill expands retirement service credit eligibility for various law enforcement officers in New York State, including those in the Department of Environmental Conservation, regional state park police, university police, and the New York Waterfront Commission. It requires these officers to be automatically covered by the state police retirement provisions and grants credit for their previous police service when calculating retirement benefits. The legislation also provides additional service credit for state university police officers who meet specific training and service requirements. These changes will take effect on July 1, 2026, and apply to officers entering or re-entering service after specified dates.

Maddy summaryBill S 3185 mandates that health insurance policies covering pain management services must also provide outpatient coverage for non-opioid treatments for chronic pain, defined as pain lasting over three months. This directly affects individuals with chronic pain by expanding their covered treatment options to include complementary and integrative therapies. The bill ensures that insurance companies cannot impose stricter financial requirements or treatment limitations on non-opioid chronic pain treatments than they do for other medical benefits or for opioid-based pain treatments. This aims to provide comparable access and coverage for these non-opioid alternatives.

Establishes a pilot program to provide grants to local education providers to implement high-impact tutoring programs prioritizing low-income or underserved students to address student learning loss or unfinished learning resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maddy summaryThis bill removes the time limits for filing civil lawsuits related to child sexual assault, incest, and the use of children in sexual performances. It allows victims to seek compensation for physical or psychological injuries at any time, even if years have passed since the abuse occurred. The law applies to cases involving offenders who were under eighteen years old at the time of the incident and does not require a prior criminal conviction to proceed. Additionally, the bill revives specific lawsuits that were previously dismissed because the filing deadline had expired, giving those plaintiffs a window to restart their legal claims.

Provides for the admissibility of a complainant's outcry and disclosures in cases of sexual abuse regardless of when the disclosure was made relative to the abuse.

Maddy summaryThis bill, known as the Access to Representation Act, would guarantee the right to legal counsel for certain low-income individuals facing immigration proceedings in New York. It directly affects non-citizens and citizens with disputed status who are detained or subject to removal, as well as those with a significant connection to the state. Under the proposed law, eligible individuals would receive ongoing legal representation from designated providers starting from their first court appearance or as soon as possible thereafter. The program would be administered by the New York State Office for New Americans, which would set income limits and oversee the delivery of legal services.

Enacts the student journalist education act to protect student speech at educational institutions unless such speech is libelous, an invasion of privacy, or incites students to commit an unlawful act, violate school policies, or to materially and substantially disrupt the orderly operation of the school.