Vacancy decontrol, enacted in 1993, permits landlords to charge market rate rent for a rent-regulated apartment when it becomes vacant and the rent has hit $2,000. New York City and the suburban counties of Westchester, Nassau, and Rockland already face an alarming shortage of affordable housing, and vacancy decontrol has helped pave the way for much of the city’s stock of rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments to be deregulated.

To address this problem, I sponsored bill A7416, which would bar the removal from rent regulation of vacant apartments renting for $2,000. It passed the Assembly by a large margin. I am tremendously proud of having fought for this crucial piece of legislation. My bill represents a major victory in the fight to retain affordable housing throughout New York State. It also removes a primary incentive for owners to withhold basic services from tenants, as well as to harass them until they give up their apartments. I’ve received many complaints from tenants whose landlords have harassed them in an effort to drive them from their homes so that the landlords can rent the apartments for astronomic rates. This is completely unacceptable. As an elected official, it’s my duty to protect the rights of tenants to live free of harassment and to preserve New York’s supply of affordable housing.

In some instances, owners have inflated or even falsified costs of renovation in order to drive apartment rents to the $2,000 threshold for vacancy decontrol. In other cases, no renovations at all are done to vacant apartments and such apartments are treated as deregulated regardless of the legal rent. Vacancy decontrol makes such abuses possible. Repealing it will restore the integrity of the rent regulation systems and protect the state’s increasingly endangered supply of affordable housing.

Because my district contains one of the highest numbers of rent-regulated units in the city, some studies suggest that vacancy decontrol is more problematic on the Upper West Side than anywhere else in Manhattan. Available data and several studies indicate that because of vacancy decontrol, more than 300,000 rent-stabilized apartments have already been removed from regulation in New York City and the counties of Westchester, Nassau, and Rockland. The pace at which vacancy decontrol removes affordable housing units from regulation is accelerating with each passing year. The Assembly is working to ensure that the middle class doesn’t find itself locked out of the city because of the dearth of affordable apartments.

The vacancy decontrol bill is part of a nine-bill package passed by the Assembly to address the affordable housing crisis plaguing New York City and its surrounding suburbs. This legislative package protects tenants from being priced out of their homes through insufficient rent regulation laws and an unstable housing market. It also addresses issues of owner occupancy, preferential rents, major capital improvements, and protections for Mitchell-Lama residents.

I am pleased to report that I passed into law a bill banning unnecessary product testing on animals where a valid alternative method exists. It is only the third law of its kind in the country. Every year, millions of animals are used in the United States and Europe to assess the potential health hazards of cosmetics, soaps, household cleaners, and other chemicals and products to which people might be exposed. As part of these tests, chemicals are applied to animals or injected into their bodies, or the animals are forced to ingest or inhale them. My legislation will protect animals from needless cruelty, while in no way jeopardizing human health or safety. It’s an important step toward a more ethical and humane society. There is no reason for manufacturers to rely on the cruel animal testing methods of old when so many viable, scientifically approved alternatives that would safeguard human health and safety and spare animal subjects unnecessary pain and suffering exist today.

My Assembly Majority colleagues and I worked hard this session to pass two new laws and several crucial bills protecting the rights of seniors. One of the laws we passed will increase the penalties for assaulting a person 65 or older; the other directs the superintendent of state police to develop policies and educational materials relating to the abuse of adults. These laws will punish more harshly criminals who prey on the elderly and will raise awareness of the problem of elder abuse.

We also passed bills in the Assembly that would increase the penalties for scam artists who victimize more than one elderly person and add an attorney experienced in elder law to the state Crime Victims Board.

I also helped pass legislation assisting some of New York’s most vulnerable citizens by preventing debt collectors from seizing all Social Security, Social Security Disability, Supplemental Security and veterans’ benefits (they must leave at least $2,500 in the bank account), requiring landlords to repay tenants’ rent security deposits within 30 days of the move-out date, and rewriting New York’s power of attorney statute so that agents for the elderly and/or incapacitated cannot cheat or defraud the very people whose interests they are supposed to be protecting. Another bill that passed in the Assembly requires the state Office for the Aging to report annually to the Governor on the delivery of services to and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender older adults.

One bill currently under consideration in the Assembly would raise the eligibility of income level for the Senior Citizens Rent Increase Exemption Program to $30,000, while tying future income increases to the rate of inflation. Another bill would raise the income limit of the Disability Rent Increase Exemption program.

My light pollution bill, which passed in the Assembly, mandates healthy, safe and energy-efficient outdoor lighting. This bill is intended to limit excessive outdoor illumination, which wastes energy and creates harmful and unnecessary glare. Another one of my bills that passed the Assembly again this session mandates that state lighting efficiency standards for public buildings be promulgated to protect the public’s health, safety and security while conserving energy, by eliminating wasteful artificial night lighting. It is becoming daily more evident that we must decrease our use of unnecessary energy in all areas of our lives. The state is not exempt from this imperative, and these bills mandate that New York proceed down an energy-efficient path.

Assemblymember Rosenthal stands with the parents and students of P.S. 199 at a press conference on PCB contamination. In response to pressure from Assemblymember Rosenthal’s office and other elected officials, the NYC DOE ultimately agreed to protect the health of students and staff at P.S. 199 by engaging in a comprehensive program to remediate and test for PCBs at the school.

In February of this year, the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) conducted a window replacement project at P.S. 199, which involved the removal of window caulk containing PCBs. The SCA contractor did not follow state protocols for work involving PCBs, raising concerns about safety. Subsequent testing of the school revealed airborne PCB contamination in the school cafeteria, in classroom rugs, and in soil on the school grounds.

Together with parents at P.S. 199, who used their considerable muscle, and with the support of the UFT, we were able to force the NYC DOE to take appropriate action to remediate conditions at the school. At a news conference in May with parents and students, I urged the NYC DOE to undertake a comprehensive survey of the school system to assess the presence of PCBs in our schools, and to responsibly address this threat to our children’s health by removing these materials while students are out of session. In response to pressure brought by my office and other local elected officials, the NYC DOE agreed to protect the health of students and staff at P.S. 199 by engaging in a comprehensive program to remediate and test for PCBs at the school. I will continue to work on this issue to ensure that our children, teachers, and school employees remain safe.

In order to protect children from the dangers of PCBs, I have introduced bill A11367 in the State Assembly that would require the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) to test for the presence of PCBs in school districts and to submit a report to the State Commissioner of Education on the status of PCBs in schools constructed or renovated prior to 1980. If PCBs are found, remediation would have to be performed according to existing state protocols. My bill makes use of the state’s protocols mandatory and requires the NYC DOE’s inspections to be completed by 2010. In addition, the New York State Education Department is required to make the findings readily accessible to the public by publishing them on its website in a timely manner.

Net metering is an electricity policy for consumers who own small, reliable renewable energy facilities, such as wind or solar power, or vehicle-to-grid systems. In this context, “net” means “what remains after deductions”—the deduction of any energy outflows from metered energy inflows. Under net metering, a system owner receives retail credit for at least a portion of the electricity he or she generates. As a staunch proponent of environmentally sustainable city planning, I co-sponsored a bill on net metering which I believe is especially crucial at this time. This bill would remove restrictions on net metering, giving credit to electric ratepayers who generate renewable energy and passing along the unused energy to others in the system. I believe that allowing net metering will benefit both the environment and the economy, while at the same time providing incentive for energy consumers to be more environmentally friendly. New York should be leading the nation in common sense, environmentally friendly public policy, and net metering is a huge step in the right direction. This bill passed both houses of the Legislature and I expect the Governor will soon sign it into law.

I co-sponsored the Safe Harbor for Exploited Children Act, which was passed in both the Senate and the Assembly. This legislation will provide critical services to the growing number of youth who have been coerced into a life of prostitution. It has been reported that the number of youth victimized by the sex trade is on the rise and that victims are often as young as eleven and twelve years old.

Under current law, New York State prosecutes sexually exploited youth, most of whom are young women and girls, as if they were hardened criminals. Arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating children and young teenagers as if they were common criminals traumatizes survivors of sexual exploitation, the overwhelming majority of whom have histories of psychological, physical or sexual abuse as younger children and/or have been raised in poverty. Sexually exploited children are defined as persons under the age of 18 who may be subject to sexual exploitation because they engaged or agreed or offered to engage in sexual conduct in return for a fee, food, clothing or a place to stay. The youth would also be defined as sexually exploited if he or she has stripped, been filmed performing sexual acts, traded sex for drugs, or was found guilty of loitering for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. This Act mandates treatment, counseling, rehabilitation, and emergency and long-term housing services instead of incarceration and provides the promise of a better life in the future.

The Bigger Better Bottle bill would attach a five-cent rebate to bottled water, juice, and teas, which are not covered in the original 1982 bottle bill, the state’s most successful recycling program. Additionally, any unclaimed deposits would be redirected from the bottling industry, where unclaimed deposits currently go, to the State Environmental Protection Fund. The Environmental Protection Fund is a critical resource in New York; it provides funds to local governments and nonprofits to purchase park lands or historic resources and develop and preserve these resources, as well as for other open space conservation and land acquisition initiatives.

This bill is crucial to reducing litter and solid waste disposal. Each year, three billion non-carbonated beverages end up in landfills and incinerators, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and choking our planet with non-biodegradable garbage. Thanks to the success of the original bottle bill, more than six million tons of bottles and containers have been recycled. Improving the bottle bill would be a tremendous step toward environmental responsibility.

This legislation would provide an estimated $120 million in revenue in unclaimed deposits every year. Currently, according to New York State Department of Energy estimates, the bottling industry generates $85 million in revenue in unclaimed deposits. I believe the taxpayers’ money should benefit our communities, not the bottling industry.

Acting as a good steward of the environment is one of my top priorities in Albany. This vital bill has been blocked every year by the Senate Majority and the powerful lobbying interests who oppose it. Given its passage in the Assembly, it is now up to the Senate to turn this crucial bill into law.

For more than two years, I have been working with tenants at 200 West 93rd and 201 West 92nd Streets to oppose a plan by the buildings’ owner to add a 9-story condominium addition atop their 6-story tenement building. I agreed with tenants that the condo addition would create unsafe conditions for the residents, and would also violate the city’s multiple dwelling law. Working with tenants and other elected officials, I convinced the Department of Buildings to rescind the permits it had granted and put the breaks on the condo project. In June of this year, the building was sold to a new owner. I have already met with this owner and continue to meet with other landlords in the district to ensure that tenants are not put at risk by overly ambitious development projects that put profit ahead of public safety.

The Shalom family, owner-landlords of more than 130 buildings, have consistently evoked the outrage of many, many tenants and the adverse attention of many public officials -including me. It has been widely and repeatedly asserted that these landlords have improperly forced out rent-regulated tenants, failed to make critical repairs to premises, and harassed tenants who have complained.

This year, I worked with tenants at a Shalom building in my district, 244 West 72nd Street, who faced many hardships. Problems started in January, when tenants lost cooking gas and basement laundry service. Around this time, a tenant was summarily evicted, just days before his lease was set to expire. Building management threw out all of this tenant’s personal possessions, and more unbelievably, sent his four elderly cats to the pound to be euthanized or put up for adoption. In response to this outrage, I organized a news conference of elected officials, tenants, and advocates to protest this brazen and potentially illegal behavior, and to ask District Attorney Robert Morgenthau to step up his investigation of the Shalom family. We sent a clear message that this type of behavior by the Shaloms will not be tolerated.

I was able to work with city agencies and the Shaloms to have gas and laundry service restored to the building. I will continue to investigate, expose, challenge and initiate appropriate government action against landlords in the City who do not respect the rights of the tenants who live in their buildings. If you are experiencing landlord harassment, do not hesitate to call my office so we can help ameliorate the situation.

Renewable Energy
Tuition Assistance
Women’s Health

Such appointments are a special honor for a second-term Assemblymember. Rosenthal already serves on the Agriculture, Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions, Energy, Health, Higher Education, and Housing Committees.