Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry (D-Corona) announced that he helped pass several bills to provide assistance to New Yorkers affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including a measure he sponsored requiring the Department of Health (DOH) to investigate the effects of the pandemic on minority communities (A.10517).

“Our families are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic due in part to the familiar forces of race and class – and our neighborhoods are not alone,­” Assemblyman Aubry said. “African-American and Latinx communities statewide have been disproportionately affected by this crisis, which is why I sponsored legislation to conduct a DOH study and help prevent further and future harm to these communities. We need to stay strong, not just to get through this crisis, but to lay the groundwork for a brighter future.”

Aubry’s bill requires the Department of Health to conduct a study on the health impacts of COVID-19 on minority communities in New York State. The study would be completed within one year.

The assemblyman also helped passed legislation to:

• ensure schools that have closed due to COVID-19 without the presence of a state or local state of emergency will not have state aid withheld (A.10189-A);
• extend library project deadlines by 12 months for libraries that received library construction grant funds in the last three fiscal years and are unable to complete the project during the proscribed period due to COVID-19 shutdowns (A.10465);
• extend price gouging regulations during a state of emergency to include medical supplies and services, as well as other essential goods and services needed for the health, safety and welfare of consumers (A.10270);
• prohibit landlords from evicting tenants for unpaid rent during the COVID-19 state of emergency (A.10290-B); and
• require state and local agencies tasked with hiring COVID-19 contact tracers to hire residents who are representative of the linguistic and cultural diversity of the community in which they work, to the greatest extent possible (A.10447-A).