June 21, 2021
June 21, 2021 – Senate Mental Health Committee Chair Samra Brouk, a Rochester-area Democrat, talks about her end-of-session legislative victories, reflects on her first session in Albany and reviews the movie-musical In the Heights. Read More
June 21, 2021
June 21, 2021 – On Tuesday, June 22, a handful of state lawmakers from New York City are hoping to win Democratic primaries and trade in Albany for municipal jobs closer to home. City & State New York senior state politics reporter Zach Williams provides a rundown of who is trying to go where. Read More
June 18, 2021
June 18, 2021 – If 2020 was a dark year for New York’s child care industry, 2021 has the potential to be the dawn of a new era, according to Assembly Children and Families Committee Chair Andrew Hevesi. The Queens Democrat talks about why he’s optimistic about overhauling the system, reflects on his approach to working with the Cuomo administration and much more. Read More
June 18, 2021
June 18, 2021 – Dr. Bonnie Litvack, a member of the governor’s vaccine distribution and implementation task force, discusses the recent COVID-19 vaccine threshold hit by the state, peels back the curtain on her work with the state task force and explains the role physicians play in vaccine distribution. Read More
June 18, 2021
June 18, 2021 – Assembly Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chair Didi Barrett, a Hudson Valley Democrat, breaks down a slew of bills approved by state lawmakers designed to ensure veterans and their families have access to a variety of state benefits. Read More
June 17, 2021
June 17, 2021 – In the pursuit of healthy food in the bellies of more New Yorkers, Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation requiring the Cuomo administration to adopt a healthy food standard that would inform what food is prepared and sold at state entities and on state property. Jessi Silverman, a policy associate and the Mark & Sushma Palmer Public Health Advocacy Fellow at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, explains how the bill would work and what else can be done to promote better eating habits. Read More
June 17, 2021
June 17, 2021 – It’s been another busy year for Democratic lawmakers’ efforts to make voting easier, and Jarret Berg, a voting rights advocate and co-founder of Vote Early NY, has a run down of the measures that made it through the Capitol and at least one piece of unfinished business. Read More
June 17, 2021
June 17, 2021 – Assemblymember Amy Paulin, a Westchester County Democrat, talks about two of her bills that were approved by state lawmakers and are designed to reduce gun violence by limiting who can purchase firearms. Read More
June 17, 2021
June 17, 2021 – Becky Preve, executive director of the Association on Aging in New York, discusses the rise in elder abuse during the pandemic, the different forms of elder abuse and what the state is doing to fight back. Read More
June 15, 2021
June 15, 2021 – New York State Building Trades Council President Gary LaBarbera will discuss his union’s victories during the recently completed legislative session, including a wage theft prevention measure and prevailing wage requirements on new green energy projects. Read More
June 15, 2021
June 15, 2021 – Rob Rosborough, author of the New York Appeals blog, will break down a lawsuit against a nursing home stemming from the death of a married couple last year who contracted COVID-19. The case could be a major harbinger for whether similar cases are brought and how they’ll be treated by the courts. Read More
June 15, 2021
June 15, 2021 – New York League of Conservation Voters President Julie Tighe talks about the environmental measures that got done this legislative session – a stricter drinking water standard in schools – and the bills that didn’t – CCIA, clean fuel standard and more. Read More
June 15, 2021
June 15, 2021 – If signed into law, the Gender Recognition Act will give nonbinary and transgender New Yorkers the option of marking their gender as X on their driver’s license application and also makes it easier to change their names, and have those changes acknowledged. We’ll unpack the entire measure with New York Civil Liberties Union’s Allie Bohm and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund’s Charlie Arrowood. Read More
June 14, 2021
June 14, 2021 – Lisa Freeman, director of special litigation for the juvenile rights practice at the Legal Aid Society, discusses legislation that made its way through the Capitol – and one bill that didn’t – designed to end the school-to-prison pipeline. Read More
June 14, 2021
June 14, 2021 – Proponents of harm reduction are applauding state lawmakers for passing legislation that would decriminalize possession of syringes, but they say more needs to be done to combat the war on drugs, including the creation of safe consumption sites for illicit drugs and eventually decriminalize all drugs. Read More
