Sen. Chris Ryan

Maddy summaryThis bill makes it a crime to intentionally stage a construction site accident to file a fraudulent insurance claim. It specifically targets individuals who enter a construction site to create or arrange an accident, or who direct others to do so, with the intent to submit a false insurance claim. The offense is classified as a class E felony, punishable by up to four years in prison. This law directly affects construction workers, contractors, or others involved in insurance claims who might attempt to fabricate accidents for financial gain.

Relates to the assessment of extraordinary needs count for purposes of the apportionment of public moneys to school districts employing eight or more teachers; defines count of homeless children and children or youth in foster care.

Maddy summaryThis bill creates a new enforcement mechanism allowing certain workers, whistleblowers, or labor organizations to file public lawsuits on behalf of New York's labor department to address violations of specific labor laws. It enables private parties to initiate enforcement actions for issues like unpaid wages or misclassification (covered under Articles 5, 6, 9, 19, 19-A, 19-B, and 25-A), with civil penalties collected going to the state treasury. The law aims to supplement limited public enforcement resources by empowering workers and organizations to act as "private attorneys general" while protecting whistleblowers from retaliation. It explicitly excludes government agencies as targets and applies only to violations covered by designated labor law sections.

Ensures that construction and fabrication done off of a public work site for specific use only in a public work project be compensated at the prevailing wage rate.

Provides that beginning in the 2026-2027 academic year, certain graduate students shall be required to pay 25% of all current and future mandatory university fees; provides that in the 2027-2028 academic year and thereafter, no mandatory university fees shall be charged, with the exclusion of the graduate student association student activity fee.

Relates to providing information to patients and the public on hospital rule-based exclusions; requires the commissioner of health to collect from each hospital a list of its hospital rule-based exclusions and publish such information on the department's website.

Maddy summaryS 6997 requires utility companies and contractors to electronically submit detailed information about pole attachments (including equipment ownership, work dates, and contractors) to a central database. It creates a public complaint system for safety issues like unsafe attachments or violations of industry standards, with inspectors required to investigate within two weeks. Violations can result in fines up to $50,000 for repeat offenses, and the commission must publish semiannual lists of repeat violators. The bill also adds new disclosure requirements for contractors working in public rights-of-way when applying for permits.

Requires the superintendent of state police to develop, maintain and disseminate to all members of the division of state police a critical incident leave policy requiring critical incident paid leave for any members directly involved in a critical incident; prohibits such superintendent from taking any punitive administrative action against any member of the division of state police granted critical incident leave solely on the basis of the provision of such leave.

Requires warning labels on social media platforms which provide an addictive feed, autoplay, infinite scroll, like counts, and/or push notifications; directs the commissioner of mental health to design the warning label.

Establishes masked harassment when a person wears a mask or other face covering that intentionally hides or conceals their face for the primary purpose of menacing or threatening another person or placing another person or group of persons in reasonable fear for their physical safety.