To say that this was a difficult year in Albany is a dramatic understatement. In a time of shortfall and scarcity, the decision of which government services to slash and which to save was intense and unlike anything anyone has witnessed.
While there were many aspects of the budget that I disagreed with, I worked diligently to safeguard priorities you identified, including education resources for schools, the environment, health care and assistance for people with disabilities. I also successfully opposed attempts to eliminate the Title XX funding that is used to keep our senior centers open. I helped secure over $1.5 million in New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA) grants for organizations in our district.
In early May, as budget negotiations stalled, I joined some colleagues in seeking an impromptu meeting with the Governor, an event later described as the “sit-in” widely credited for restarting talks.
Although Albany’s propensity for brinksmanship and other theatrical elements was on full display this year, I had my most productive legislative session yet. I passed 24 bills, many of which are being signed into law. Within the 150-member body I serve in, I ranked sixth for bills that will reach the Governor’s desk.
While pundits have noted that dissatisfaction toward government is at an all time high, the West Side has long held its elected officials to higher standards of dedication, commitment to reform and ethical conduct. I continue to work full-time toward meeting this expectation. My office is always open to hearing your perspective, concerns and also complaints. I look forward to continuing to improve our neighborhood, city and state.
Linda B. Rosenthal
I have co-sponsored legislation and spoken out strongly in favor of reforming the redistricting method that allows for partisan politics and stifles democratic representation. Already, we were able to include language in the budget ending the shameful practice of “prison gerrymandering,” in which New York City residents currently serving sentences in upstate prisons are counted as living in the upstate counties where they are incarcerated. This deprives our city of federal funding that is determined by formulas based on population and artificially inflates sparsely populated upstate districts. With prison gerrymandering addressed in time for the next round of redistricting, there is still much to be done, including creating a non-partisan redistricting commission that will ensure that districts are created as balanced as possible.
Bedbugs have become an epidemic in New York and have caused anxiety and financial hardship for residents across the economic spectrum. For this reason, I introduced two bills necessary to combat the growing number of bedbug cases in our city.
I am committed to giving my constituents the tools to protect themselves both epidemiologically and financially from this plague. One of my bills that passed both the Assembly and Senate will require landlords to give prospective tenants a history of any bedbug infestations in the apartment building and individual unit within the past year. Another bill creates a personal income tax credit that residents can use to recoup some of the money spent on furniture, bedding, clothing and other belongings that had to be replaced during the extermination process.
The ability to obtain a bedbug history in a specific building gives prospective tenants a first line of defense against the nightmare of renting an infested apartment. As this newsletter goes to print, I am awaiting the Governor’s signature on this bill. The tax credit would cover 15% of property replaced as a consequence of bedbugs, up to a maximum of $750 per person.
As we forge new solutions to fight this scourge, I am eager to hear your personal experiences with bedbugs. E-mail me at rosenthall@assembly.state.ny.us.
I was proud to recently pass legislation that reduces the number of witnesses required when signing a health care proxy from two to one. Health care proxies enable people to designate health care agents who make decisions on their behalf if they lose the ability to make them for themselves. Having a health care agent in place ensures that providers carry out that person’s wishes related to treatment and end-of-life decisions.
We need to take steps toward encouraging the use of proxies and eliminating ambiguities in this process. That’s why I passed legislation that eliminates the onerous requirement of two witnesses, and brings this standard in line with comparable medical and legal documents. As more people complete this form, fewer families will have to struggle over who has the authority to make medical decisions on behalf of a comatose, incapacitated, or terminally ill loved one.
Proxy forms can be used to legally codify which treatments a patient should receive under specific circumstances and to define the scope of the health care agent’s decision-making power. This authority is granted to the health care agent only after a doctor has determined that a patient is incapable of arriving at these decisions on their own. The two-witness requirement for patients residing in mental health facilities remains unchanged in this bill.
Only 20% of New Yorkers have completed a health care proxy, and many people are unaware that this document is available. As we work to reform and modernize our existing health care system, the adoption of enlightened legal practices will expedite this transition. For more information, visit: http://www.nyhealth.gov/professionals/patients/health_care_proxy/index.htm.
Rosenthal Advocacy Pays Off: EpiPens Now Carried in all State Ambulances
Last year, I introduced legislation to require that all ambulances in New York State carry epinephrine-delivery devices, most commonly available in the form of “EpiPens.”
The bill faced bureaucratic inertia: the legislative process sometimes does not move quickly enough to accomplish needed policy changes. Instead, I took a different course and spoke to officials at the State Department of Health (DOH), New York State Emergency Medical Services Council (SEMSCO) and the State Medical Advisory Committee (SEMAC) to urge them to institute this change through departmental regulation. This attempt was successful, and I know the use of these devices will have the direct result of lives saved.
Epinephrine auto-injectors are a low-cost emergency treatment and an effective means of quickly remedying dangerous allergic reactions. This equipment can save the lives of New Yorkers with serious allergies, from adults who receive a bee sting on a trip to the Catskills to children who are unwittingly exposed to something in their school cafeteria. Adding EpiPens to our ambulances is a sensible way to ensure emergency relief to those in the midst of an attack.
With the occurrence of at least 70 accidents in 2009 and 2010, it is common knowledge that the 71st and 72nd Street area that includes the 71st Street and Broadway / Amsterdam “bowtie” intersection is highly unsafe for pedestrians and drivers. The chaotic arrangement and poorly timed lighting sequence has caused seniors and others to fear crossing the street in the amount of time allotted. After the August 2009 crash of a taxicab into the 72nd Street subway headhouse, I wrote to the Department of Transportation (DOT) and urged the agency to expedite the safety changes they were studying. One year later, these changes and the more basic task of restoring the section of fence surrounding the 72nd Street headhouse remain stalled.
Beginning in 2007, I worked with Transportation Alternatives to publish an Upper West Side Senior Pedestrian Safety Plan detailing suggestions for creating safer intersections, including the use of speed bumps, expanding existing medians, creating pedestrian islands, and shortening the crossing distances in select locations. These options remain no less viable than when they were originally proposed.
After months of delay, DOT officials finally agreed to a site visit that I led and they appeared to share my concerns. However, after DOT’s insistence once again in continuing to study the problem, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and I joined to protest this persistently dangerous situation. Making this intersection safe may be a less glamorous project than what DOT is working on in Times Square, but it’s certainly as important. I will continue to pressure DOT and keep everyone informed on new developments in this matter.
My legislation, which allows courts to process orders of protection notices through electronic means, was recently signed into law. Previously, these documents had to be hand-delivered to a law enforcement entity by either a court official or by the victim, who is often under considerable personal duress, for service to the abuser. In 2007, I passed legislation creating a pilot program to study this change in select New York counties. This new law makes the initial stage of the process permanent and effective statewide.
Orders of protection are not enforceable until served. This measure expedites the court’s usual method of delivery by ensuring that the police receive the necessary paperwork without delay. Immediate transmission to law enforcement can make the difference between keeping victims safe and exposing them to further harm. New York’s domestic violence victims cannot wait.
Caring for an autistic child can be a financially difficult proposition for many parents who want to provide their kids with behavioral therapy, extracurricular instruction, and other worthy regimens. Even as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has estimated that one out of 110 children is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), parents have been on their own. The cost of caring for a child with unique needs can be staggering, and although medical opinion on the most appropriate course of treatment for children with ASD varies, most professionals agree that early intervention can lead to significantly improved outcomes.
That’s why I worked to pass legislation requiring accident and health insurance policies to provide lifetime coverage for the screening, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder. This historic measure closes the gap in insurance coverage for individuals and families affected by autism. The current coverage requirements for ASD are vague and inadequate, leaving parents unsure of whether their insurance provider will cover the medical care their child needs.
This legislation will allow parents to focus on their children, and spend less time battling with insurance companies and worrying if they can afford the cost of treatment regimes.
Representatives from over 20 organizations including advocacy groups, tenant associations, the Division of Housing and Community Renewal and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development testified before my subcommittee. We took part in a productive discussion on how to keep developments affordable and how to mitigate the sudden spike in rents inflicted on longtime residents when their buildings exit Mitchell-Lama regulation.
At the hearing, advocates showed their support for bill A.9230, legislation I sponsored which would ensure that Mitchell-Lama rental units that exit regulation become rent-stabilized. While some individual buildings have signed plans that call for more gradual increases rather than a sudden transition to full market rate, these agreements offer tenants less than adequate protection and are subject to fixed expiration dates.
Assemblymember Rosenthal responds to testimony at the Mitchell-Lama Subcommittee hearing she chaired to address the growing concerns of housing advocates as more Mitchell-Lama developments are privatized. As Subcommittee Chair, Assemblymember Rosenthal has authored legislation that would protect Mitchell-Lama tenants during privatization and would ensure this stock of affordable housing is maintained.
Last year, the legislature passed a law ensuring that tenants are notified when their building goes into foreclosure. However, when two buildings in my district experienced this, the poorly written notice only provoked panic and unnecessary fear among residents.
The notices led many tenants to believe that their eviction was imminent and failed to mention the protections they are afforded under rent stabilization. After learning about this situation from panicked phone calls to my office, I immediately contacted the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) and received a reply from the Commissioner assuring residents that their rights remain intact. Tenants deserved to be informed, but not in this clumsily executed manner that frightened people without providing any clarity.
After holding a forum for building residents and representatives from DHCR, Legal Services of New York and the City-Wide Task Force on Housing, I introduced legislation to amend the notice to require this information as well as to provide the phone number for the foreclosing entity. This legislation was signed into law and future foreclosures will be far less panicked for rent-regulated tenants.
I continue to work toward preventing New York State from making the worst environmental mistake in modern history: drilling for natural gas or “hydrofracking” principally in our state’s Southern Tier region. Hydrofracking is accomplished by injecting millions of gallons of water and compounds containing chemicals underground at high pressure to break up rock and release gas. This action has caused terrible contamination of ground water in other states that has been linked to damage in human respiratory, developmental and reproductive systems.
Our state originally planned to allow drilling within the Catskill/Delaware watershed that New York City relies on for 90% of its water. Under pressure, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced on April 23 that it would require natural gas companies to conduct a separate environmental impact review for every well it proposes to drill in the Catskill and Skaneateles watersheds, which supply water to New York City and Syracuse, respectively.
While this effectively bans drilling in the New York City watershed, it is an unnecessarily reckless course of action to move forward in any location statewide until the Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment is completed and companies reveal all chemical components used in the drilling process.
As a co-sponsor of every single proposal which seeks to limit the proliferation of hydraulic fracturing and ban its use, I support a moratorium on the issuance of new permits and am working to actively ensure the safety of our drinking water statewide. Please feel free to contact my office at (212) 873-6368 or by e-mail at rosenthall@assembly.state.ny.us with any questions or to share your concerns on this critically important issue for New York.
Bullying, taunting and intimidation can be devastating for students in their school environment. A report released by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Educational Network documented that far too many New York City public school students have been harassed simply for who they are. This heartbreaking type of harassment can sabotage our kids’ ability to achieve in school and drives too many of them to depression and thoughts of suicide.
Under the Dignity for All Students Act that I co-sponsored, schools now have the additional support and direction to better address discrimination and harassment based on factors such as sexual orientation and physical appearance. Incidents will be tracked and tabulated instead of brushed aside and Boards of Education across the state for the first time will be required to develop firm policies governing bullying. Anyone who comes forward with bullying allegations will be protected from civil liability. At least one teacher or staff member at each school will receive specialized training in recognizing, counseling and intervening when students are facing harassment.