“I am happy to report that seven of the bills that I authored passed the Assembly this year, five of which also passed the Senate and will now go to the Governor for his signature. The first that I would like to highlight is A.2101, which requires that information about wage supplements be provided to employees on a public work contract by the employer. For example, if two organizations bid on the same project and one provides health care and the other does not, this must be disclosed in the bidding process. This legislation came to me at the request of the Local No. 733 of the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters, who I am happy to support.

At the request of locally elected officials in Washington County I authored A.6737 to waive residency requirements to hire an Assistant District Attorney which has passed both houses as well as A.6357 which came at the request of the City of Mechanicville and which will also waive residency requirements for hiring a city attorney. Another bill, A.8109, authorizes Saratoga and Washington counties to waive certain permit fees for repairs and new construction for our local veterans’ organizations. These three pieces of legislation all provide our duly elected local officials more flexibility to make decisions for the communities that they represent, and I am proud to say that all three will now go to the Governor for his signature.

A.1460, which relates to the labelling of “locally grown” or “locally produced” food also passed both houses. Previously, there was no standard definition of what a “locally grown” or “locally produced” food product is for labelling purposes. This led to food retailers applying their own definitions of local, which had the potential to be disingenuous or misleading to the consumer. These retailers often labeled food as local, based on how close products were produced to any one of their stores. For example, a grocery store chain with a store in North Carolina could sell apples from North Carolina in New York as “locally grown”. This legislation creates clear guidelines around the labelling of food to ensure that consumers who wish to buy local can shop confidently.

Also passed by both houses is legislation that will extend the three-rod rule, allowing fishermen to utilize three rods per person. The three-rod rule has been in effect since 2011 and is designed to favorably impact the fishing experience by increasing the probability of catching a fish. This bill will now go to the Governor for his signature.

A bill to permit 4-H Certified Shooting Sports Instructors to supervise and instruct New Yorkers at shooting ranges, A.8078, passed the Assembly and is in excellent shape to pass the Senate in January. Currently only the NRA can certify shooting instructors and this bill simply allows 4-H to certify instructors as well.

The last bill that I would like to highlight is A.6658, which allows custodial parents of adult children with developmental disabilities to pursue support orders up to the age of 26. This is a bill that was brought to me by my colleague, Assemblywoman Walsh. By the end of session this bill had fifty-five bipartisan cosponsors, which is a true testament to the relevance of this proposal, and to the effectiveness of bipartisan collaboration. I look forward to continuing to partner with Assemblywoman Walsh on this important piece of legislation and I am confident that it will pass through the Senate next year.