Sen. Pete Harckham

Maddy summaryS 1548 bans specific harmful chemicals from menstrual products sold in New York State. It prohibits manufacturers from intentionally adding substances like lead, mercury, formaldehyde, triclosan, and PFAS (a class of chemicals including Teflon-like compounds) to products such as tampons, pads, and menstrual cups. The bill takes immediate effect for all intentionally added restricted substances, with a 2029 deadline for setting science-based limits on any remaining traces of these chemicals. This directly affects all companies producing or selling menstrual products in New York, requiring them to reformulate products to remove these substances.

Provides for the inclusion of a faculty or staff member on the board of trustees of community colleges elected by and from among the faculty and staff of the college.

Requires public notice and public engagement when a general hospital seeks to close entirely or a unit that provides maternity, mental health or substance use care.

Directs counties, in coordination with their regional emergency medical services councils, to develop and maintain comprehensive county emergency medical system plans that provide for coordinated emergency medical systems within such counties.

Relates to rechargeable battery recycling; adds a battery used as the principal electric power source for an electric scooter or bicycle with electric assist to the definition of "rechargeable battery"; provides that a battery manufacturer may not sell, offer for sale, or distribute rechargeable batteries in the state unless the battery manufacturer is implementing or participating under an approved plan; allows a city with a population of one million or more to enforce through its own agencies.

Requires a caller making a report of suspected child abuse or maltreatment to the central register to leave their name and contact information; prohibits the office of children and family services from releasing information identifying a person who made such a report.

Maddy summaryThe RAISE Act establishes safety requirements for developers of powerful artificial intelligence models, known as "frontier models." A frontier model is defined as one trained with over 10^26 computational operations (costing more than $100 million) or a distilled version costing over $5 million. Large developers must implement documented safety protocols to prevent "critical harm," defined as events causing death, serious injury to 100+ people, or $1 billion in damages from AI misuse. The bill also defines key terms like "safety incident" and outlines remedies for violations, focusing on risk mitigation rather than restricting AI development.

Relates to prevailing wage requirements applicable to brownfield remediation work performed under private contract as it relates to certain remediation activities, for sites that are seeking or have received a determination that the site is eligible for the tangible property credit component of the brownfield redevelopment tax credit, and the work is paid for in whole or in part by public funds.

Relates to provisions governing contracting between state agencies and not-for-profit organizations including new, renewal, and extension contracts and advance payments and interest for such contracts; repeals provisions relating to interest payments.

Requires utilities to notify property owners prior to beginning any non-emergency construction or other work that may interfere with a property owner's ability to use, or access such owner's property; requires notice to include, but not limited to, a description of the work to be performed, the expected duration of such work, the location of such work, any road closures or detours that may occur due to such work, any action that may directly and materially impact the use of such property, and the contact information for the utility performing such work; provides notice may include electronic communications, signage, and written materials; exempts cases where a natural or man-made disaster or state of emergency occurs.