Sen. Mark Walczyk

Maddy summaryThis bill requires Herkimer County's county seat to have at least one polling location designated specifically for early voting. It directly affects residents of Herkimer County who vote in-person during early voting periods, ensuring they have access to a dedicated early voting site within the county seat. The law mandates that this polling place must be situated along public transportation routes if feasible, aiming to improve accessibility for voters who rely on transit. The requirement applies to all elections where early voting is offered, without changing broader early voting rules for other counties.

Relates to coverage for applied behavior analysis and for developmental, individual-differences, relationship-based treatment of autism spectrum disorder.

Creates the New York state commission on government efficiency to examine state spending, identify unnecessary and wasteful spending and create a report of recommendations of spending items that can be eliminated by New York state.

Establishes the shovel-ready housing program under which certain municipalities, at their option, may pre-authorize parcels of property for the construction of housing; establishes a shovel-ready community tax rebate for taxpayers residing in municipalities that opt-in to the shovel-ready housing program; provides for annual apportionment to municipalities that have certified participation in the shovel-ready housing program.

Maddy summaryS 1777 requires all individuals appointed as election commissioners in New York State to be U.S. citizens. This bill directly affects people seeking appointment to election commissioner roles by adding citizenship as a mandatory qualification. The key mechanism amends existing election law to explicitly state that non-citizens cannot be appointed, replacing prior language that focused on other disqualifications like party enrollment or holding other public offices. The change clarifies and strengthens the citizenship requirement for these local election officials.

Increases the reimbursement amount authorized to be paid to localities maintaining incarcerated individuals convicted of felonies to $300 per day per capita for the first 10 days, and $600 per day per capita for each day thereafter, or the actual per day per capita cost, whichever is more.

Maddy summaryThis bill creates a pilot program in St. Lawrence County allowing certified nursing home medication aides to administer routine medications in residential health care facilities under specific conditions. It permits aides to give prefilled or easy-to-administer medications (excluding most injections, except for diabetes care, heparin, or epinephrine), but only when directly supervised by a registered nurse. Key requirements include mandatory training, experience (at least one year), competency assessments, and documentation of all medication administration. The program strictly prohibits aides from assessing patient needs, performing tasks outside their scope, or administering medications without a registered nurse’s assignment.

Directs the commissioner of corrections and community supervision to establish contraband screening at correctional facilities including canines at the entrances and a third-party secure vendor mail program.

Relates to instruction in food, agriculture and nutrition in elementary and high school; contents may be varied to meet the needs of particular school districts; need not be uniform throughout the state; school districts shall utilize either the curriculum for health education instruction regarding food, agriculture and nutrition prescribed by the commissioner or a course approved by the commissioner in accordance with criteria established by the commissioner.

Excludes the five state-run veterans homes from assessments on their gross receipts received from all patient care services and other operating income; directs the Commissioner of Health to apply to the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for any necessary waivers pursuant to federal law and regulation.