BILL TO GIVE NANNIES RIGHTS PASSES
By Dan Rivoli
Nannies in the state are close to winning labor rights. The State Legislature just passed a final bill that will give time-and-a-half overtime for nannies and other domestic workers that put in more than 40 hours a week (44 hours if the nannies are live-in), at least a day off a week plus three more after a year of employment and a minimum wage. Read more
BED BUG BUSTING BILL
The stigma that bed bugs are only a problem for low-income neighborhoods is waning. And now an Upper West Side lawmaker wants to curb the spread of infestations and alleviate the costs incurred by getting rid of the tenacious pests. Treatments are costly and an extermination process can last months.
Bill to Help 2nd Ave. Biz
Legislation to assist struggling Second Avenue businesses hurt by subway construction hasn’t made much progress in Albany. But Assembly Member Jonathan Bing and State Sen. Jose Serrano are once again pushing a bill that Gov. David Paterson vetoed in 2008.
The legislation sets up a grant program for Second Avenue businesses in danger of closing. The money could be used for capital improvements, better signage, payroll or rent. Businesses would have to apply for the grant. Read more
HEALTH CARE DECISIONS BILL PASSES
In 2006, Lloyd Luntz, stepson of East Side resident Carol Rinzler, was admitted to a Philadelphia hospital with lung cancer that would eventually kill him. Luntz never signed a form that allowed family members to access medical records, forcing Rinzler and her husband, Perry Luntz, to battle doctors to get any information about their son’s condition.
“That period of trying to get information about his condition was horrible,” Rinzler said.
Situations like that may no longer happen in New York, thanks to the Family Health Care Decisions Act. The bill would allow families and friends of medical patients to be involved in health-care decisions for loved ones who have been judged incapable of making such decisions by a physician.
The State Senate passed the bill Feb. 24, 17 years after it was introduced, and it is now awaiting Gov. David Paterson’s signature. State Sen. Tom Duane and Assembly Member Richard Gottfried, chairs of their respective chambers’ health committees, authored the legislation. Currently, New York law requires “clear and convincing evidence,” such as a living will, to allow decisions to be made on patients’ behalf.
“This is vitally important legislation that protects those who are incapacitated and powerless,” Duane said in a statement. “The [legislation] eliminates the uncertainty that care-givers face when a patient is no longer able to make decisions for him or herself, assuring that the best interests of that individual are respected.”
Rinzler praised the bill as a way to get crucial health information about a family member.
“They’ve made it possible for families to deal with bad situations,” she said.
Correction added.
BIKE BILL GETS COUNCIL HEARING
The City Council’s Transportation Committee heard testimony on Oct. 8 about legislation that would shift the liability of bicycle scofflaws from the rider to the business owner.
“I hear from children, seniors and everyone in between about dangerous bikes illegally on sidewalks or [riding] the wrong way on the street,” said Council Member Jessica Lappin, the bill’s lead sponsor.
East Siders testified at the hearing in support of the bill, telling legislators about numerous hits and near-misses from restaurant deliverymen on bicycles. Nancy Gruskin, a New Jersey woman whose husband died after he was struck by a bicycle deliveryman going the wrong way on a one-way street this year, pleaded with the committee to pass the legislation.
The committee must approve the bill before the entire Council weighs in on the proposal.
Delivery Dangers
New York City business owners who use bicycle delivery, beware: you may soon have to pay up when your delivery workers break the law.
Until now, commercial cyclists have been fined $100 to $250 for infractions like speeding, running red lights or riding on sidewalks. A new law would shift the fine from delivery personnel to employers.
“By putting the onus for penalties on the businesses that employ delivery riders, we give the businesses extra incentive to ensure that their employees are being responsible on the road,” said Council Member Jessica Lappin, the bill’s sponsor. Read more
A BILL FOR THE BIRDS, CATS AND DOGS
Cash-strapped New Yorkers who pay expensive veterinarian bills may be getting help from Assembly Member Micah Kellner, who wants to offer a tax break to offset the cost.
While a tax break for veterinarian care might seem costly with New York facing a $2 billion deficit, Kellner believes the state will actually save money if people can afford to care for their pets instead of placing them in shelters.
“It costs more for the shelter to keep animals or to put the animal down,” Kellner said. “There’s a real heavy cost involved in that.”
Kellner, who owns a dog named Nina, wants to offer a tax break to pet-owners who spend more than 7 percent of their annual income on veterinarian bills. The Assembly member believes that owners who qualify for the break would opt for treatment, rather than giving up their pet.
“No one should have to be put in that position,” Kellner said.
Domestic Workers of the World Unite!
“If something happens, you have nowhere to complain,” said Anna*, a 38-year-old West African nanny. “It makes me worried.”
For most of her seven-year career as a nanny, Anna has been fortunate to work for two families that have paid her a decent wage for roughly nine hours of work a day. Her duties usually include taking the children for a stroll or to play dates, cooking dinner in the evening and cleaning.
But even with good employers, Anna has still been denied something as basic as proper time off. Read more
KRUEGER’S BILLS SEE LIGHT OF DAY
After years of being in the minority, and a month of being in a deadlocked chamber, State Sen. Liz Krueger finally got to celebrate the passage of legislation she has championed.
After the State Senate stalemate was resolved, the chamber passed rules reform legislation. Krueger has long pushed for such reform in the Senate, even as she ran to unseat longtime Upper East Side GOP incumbent Roy Goodman. In 2005, Krueger sued the State Legislature to implement changes to its operation.
“I am proud that these reforms are the culmination of all that transpired,” Krueger said, referring to the Senate Republican coup and subsequent stalemate. “After seven years as a minority Senator and just six months in the majority, these reforms are especially gratifying.”
The changes impose, among other rules, eight-year terms for Senate leaders and committee chairs and an equal distribution of office resources. They also strengthen the power of individual senators to bring a bill to a vote.
Soon after the rules reform, the Senate passed Krueger’s Breastfeeding Mothers’ Bill of Rights. That legislation mandates that new mothers be informed of their breastfeeding options. The bill also bans baby formula companies from lobbying new mothers while in maternal facilities.
Senate GOP Killed 2nd Ave. Subway Bill
The 30-member State Senate Republican conference, consisting of suburban and rural-based senators, threatened to defeat a bill designed to assist struggling Second Avenue businesses affected by subway construction.
The legislation would give property tax abatements for the next five years to landlords who renegotiate cheaper rents with small businesses hurting from Second Avenue subway construction. Read more
