Sen. Samra Brouk

Maddy summaryS 2444 amends New York's civil rights law to make breastfeeding protections gender-neutral. It replaces terms like "mother" and "her" with "person" and "their," ensuring the law applies to all individuals who breastfeed, regardless of gender identity. The bill guarantees that anyone breastfeeding their baby can do so in any public or private location where they are otherwise authorized to be, without requiring nipple coverage. This change directly affects all breastfeeding people and eliminates gender-specific language in existing law. The bill passed the Senate on May 28, 2025, and is now under consideration by the Assembly.

Adds hazardous air quality to the state definition of a disaster; requires explicit inclusion of air quality emergency preparedness in local comprehensive emergency management plans with an action plan and annual inventory of air quality emergency resources.

Relates to the health, safety and human rights of incarcerated pregnant individuals, incarcerated birthing parents and their children; requires the commissioner of corrections and community supervision to establish rules and regulations relating to conditions in institutions and correctional facilities and the treatment and care of birthing parents in such institutions and facilities.

Enacts the "PFAS discharge disclosure act"; requires certain SPDES permit holders to conduct PFAS monitoring and disclose the results from such monitoring.

Directs the office of children and family services to establish a center for fatherhood initiatives to issue grants to initiatives regarding the promotion and advancement of fatherhood, including but not limited to all underserved fatherhood groups to help expand opportunities to improve parenting knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy.

Establishes the mental health educational opportunity program and the mental health higher educational opportunity program to provide additional educational opportunities for students at certain universities and colleges in the state to enroll in academic programs that lead to a degree or degrees required for licensure in any of the mental health professions.

Requires chain restaurants to display an added sugars warning next to or directly under the name of each food item with high added sugars content wherever such food item is listed on a menu, menu board, or food tag, and by any self-serve dispensing point at which such food item is dispensed.

Relates to commissaries and canteens at correctional institutions; provides that items for sale at a commissary or canteen shall be sold for no more than a certain percentage over the purchase price; provides that the department of corrections and community supervisions shall publish on its website the price list for all commissary items for sale at each institution as of June 1, 2026 and on an annual basis thereafter.

Establishes visiting policies for incarcerated people, to provide incarcerated people opportunities for personal contact with relatives, friends, clergy, volunteers and other persons to promote better institutional adjustment and better community adjustment upon release.

Relates to enacting the rent emergency stabilization for tenants act on local determinations of a housing emergency; authorizes a city with a population of one million or more to declare an emergency as to any class of housing accommodations if the vacancy rate for the housing accommodations in such class within such municipality is not in excess of five percent and a declaration of emergency may be made as to all housing accommodations if the vacancy rate for the housing accommodations within such municipality is not in excess of five percent; authorizes other cities, towns and villages to declare a housing emergency after considering publicly available data and holding public hearings.