Legislative Update

2005

June 24, 2005; 6:45pm

The Senate and Assembly have adjourned their "regular" sessions, and with that the 2005 Legislative Session has come to a close. While there are a couple of outstanding issues like the death penalty and casinos, there are no plans to return at this time.

The 2005 Legislative Session was a generally successful one for the State University. The budget process produced a good budget; one which appropriated funds to cover fixed costs including the collective bargaining agreements and increased energy costs.

The end of the session was relatively quite for the higher education issues. While there were numerous discussions on issues including construction safety standards, hazing and alcohol prevention, suicide prevention, a rational tuition policy, a commission to study SUNY, unemployment insurance, and research investment, assessment and high tech development, to the extent these issues needed a remedy it was reached administratively.

We still anticipate public hearings this summer and fall by Senator LaValle and Assemblyman Canestrari on the State University. The topics, while not yet agreed to, will revolve around meeting the higher education needs of New Yorkers, specifically, a rational tuition policy, the mission of the University, and public access and affordability.

The following is a listing of bills of higher education interest that have either (1) already been signed into law, or (2) passed both houses and are awaiting gubernatorial action. A full listing of all the legislation we monitored this session will be provided next week.

2005 Session Higher Education Summary

Chapter Laws of 2005

Chapter 22 - FOIL Access
A.6714 Destito
S.3460 Spano
Establishes if an agency determines that a request for access to records shall be granted in whole or in part, the grant of the request shall be made within a reasonable period depending on the circumstances.

Agency Shop Extension - Chapter 31
S.1217 Robach
A.2347 Abbate
Extends right of public employee organizations to agency shop fee salary deductions for two additional years.

Chapter 41 - Graduation Student Salaries
S.5356 Robach
A. 8185 John
Provides for the adjustment of stipends of certain incumbents in the state university of New York; continues a doctoral program recruitment and retention program; continues an employee assistance program; continues a professional development committee; makes related provisions; appropriates certain moneys.

Chapter 65 - Internet Access
A.4762 Bing
S. 3155 Trunzo
Provides for the promulgation of rules and regulations with respect to the posting of application forms of state agencies on the internet.

Bills Passed Both Senate & Assembly

Defibrillator Access
A.112 Weisenberg
S. 1074 Alesi
Requires that the state sanitary code contain provisions to require at least one functional cardiac defibrillator be made available for emergency use to resuscitate attendees at each facility having a capacity for occupancy by 1,000 or more people, except a facility utilized for religious services, at functions held thereat at which people are present and requires at least one person employed by the facility who is trained in its proper operation and use and who will be present at such function to assist in its use.

Emergency Contraceptives
A.116 Paulin
S.3661 Spano
Authorizes nurses and pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception upon the prescription and order of a non-patient specific regimen by a licensed physician, certified nurse practitioner, or licensed midwife; enacts the "unintended pregnancy prevention act".

Ethics Reform
A.4975A Destito
S.5848-A Winner
Relates to the continuing jurisdiction of the state ethics commission.

Evacuation Drills
A.7055 McEneny
S.4028 Farley
Requires evacuation drills be conducted at least twice a year at all buildings owned or leased in whole by the state or any agency thereof.

Memorial Scholarship Award
A.7150 Espaillat
S.1259-A Sabini
Establishes a memorial award for children and spouses of those deceased as a result of American Airlines flight 587, airbus A300 which crashed into Belle Harbor, Queens county on November 12, 2001, which allows eligibility for such persons to receive an amount equal to the actual annual tuition at SUNY or CUNY, reduced by the amount of any other award or grant from the state received by the recipient.

Consulting Contracts
S.1920 Robach
A.6542 Lupardo
Relates to reporting and disclosure about contracts for consulting services; requires the department of civil service to maintain records documenting the employment of persons pursuant to contracts for consulting services issued by state agencies.

Stony Brook Autism Center
S.2952-A LaValle
A.5814-A Englebright
Establishes the Stony Brook University Cody center for autism and developmental disabilities at Stony Brook University; provides that the purpose of the center is to advance the standards of care for people with autism and provide intensive research on the cause and potential cures of autism.

Public Project Record Access
S.3284 Spano
A.6625 John
Provides for public access (public inspection and copying) to certain records of public entities regarding certain public work and building service employees i.e., records or portions thereof pertaining to the employee classifications of, rate of wages and supplements paid to, and number of hours worked by the employees of contractors classified as apprentices.

Veteran Parking Fee Wavier
S.4306 Wright
A.7815 Towns
Provides that campus rules and regulations may provide that any veteran attending SUNY as a student shall be exempt from any fees for parking or registering a motor vehicle.

Prevailing Wage Notice
S.4549 Leibell
A.2578 Brodsky
Requires contractors and subcontractors give written notification to workers employed on public work projects of the right to receive prevailing wages; stipulates certain other notice and posting requirements.

Community College Credit Card Authorization - BOT # 10-2005
S.4652 LaValle
A.8405 Magee
Authorizes community colleges to accept payment by credit card, make electronic transfers, and accept internet payments.

DCJS Accreditation - BOT # 6-2005
S.5205 LaValle
A.8735 Destito
Includes state university police officers within the definition of law enforcement agency for the purposes of the law enforcement accreditation council.

Charter School Employees
S.5349 Saland
A.8452 Sanders
Extends the effectiveness of conditional employment and emergency conditional employment of prospective employees of school districts, boards of cooperative educational services and charter schools.

Military TAP Residency
S.5368 Wright
A.8658 Canestrari
Provides for the waiver of residency requirements for receipt of awards by certain members, or the spouse or a dependent of such member, of the US armed forces who is on full time active duty and stationed in this state.

Nursing Faculty Scholarships
S.5422 LaValle
A.8448-A Canestrari
Renames the "New York state nursing faculty scholarship program" the "Senator Patricia K. McGee nursing faculty scholarship program".

Prevailing Wage Records
S.5464 Rules
A.6622 John
Requires certain supervisors to maintain a daily headcount on all workers for all contracts requiring prevailing wage rates and requires such records to be kept for at least three years after the completion of the project.

Loan Default Information
S.5546 Spano
A.8717 Farrell
Provides for the furnishing of information acquired by the department of taxation to the higher education services corporation for the purpose of assisting in default prevention and collection of certain student loans.

Agency Reporting
A.4257-A Brennan
S.5108-A Farley
Consolidates and reduces the frequency of reporting requirements by various departments, agencies and public authorities and also provides for copies of public documents to be sent to the legislative library and re-defines content requirements for reports to the legislature to provide that a full copy of each report be delivered to specified members of the legislature and all other members may receive either a full copy or a summary; eliminates certain reports by departments from being done.

UAlbany Ground Lease
A.8719-A McEneny
S.5869 Rules
Authorizes the lease of lands located at the State University of New York at Albany to the Fuller Road Management Corporation for a period not to exceed forty years to be used to help support the University's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, the New York State Center for Excellence in Nonoelectronics and associated semi-conductor research activities.

Public Authority Reform
A.9007 Brodsky
S.5927 Leibell
Establishes the public authorities accountability act of 2005 which allows certain authorities to have presidents who shall be the chief executive officers of such authorities and establishes the role and responsibilities of board members of state and local authorities; relates to the disposition of property by public authorities; consolidates the office of the state inspector general.

Procurement Lobbying Reform
S.5873 Winner
A.8964 Silver
Relates to registration filing fees for certain lobbying entities; restricts contacts in the procurement process and the recording of contacts.

Procurement Contract Amendment
S.5918 Winner
A.8994 Silver
Relates to the conducting of an award of a procurement contract; makes a chapter amendment to provisions of A.8964 and S.5873 relating to the restrictions on contracts during the procurement process.

2005-06 Budget Amendments
S.5928 Rules
A.9009 Rules
Amends various provisions of law relating to implementation of the education, labor and family assistance budget which includes operational language for projects at UAlbany.

2005-06 Budget Amendments
S.5929 Rules
A.9008 Budget Bill
Amends chapters 50, 53 and 54 of the laws of 2005 relating to appropriations for the support of government which includes operational language for projects at UAlbany and Stony Brook.

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