Good morning,
Last week, the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly “returned” to Albany and went into legislative session after a seven-week recess. Both houses held their sessions in line with social distancing and public health guidelines and permitted members to vote remotely to ensure their health and safety. It is unclear at this time when or whether the Legislature will return this year for additional business even though a number of members have expressed a desire to continue the legislative session.
The Senate and Assembly passed 32 bills designed to address the COVID-19 crisis during those session days. While some of the bills served to codify actions undertaken by Governor Cuomo in his Executive Orders, certain other pieces of legislation represented new initiatives to combat the impact that the COVID-19 crisis has had on New York State and its residents. If you wish to see a full list of bills passed by the Legislature, please feel free to e-mail and I can send it to you. Some of the more noteworthy bills passed last week include the following:
HOUSING
- S8243C/A10351 (Kavanagh/Rozic): This bill would permit deferral of residential mortgage payments during the COVID-19 crisis. Governor Cuomo previously issued Executive Order 202.9, which directed the Department of Financial Services to issue a directive to New York State mortgage servicers to provide mortgage relief to borrowers impacted by COVID-19, including forbearance of mortgage payments. This legislation grants up to 180 days of mortgage payment forbearance (dating back to March 7, 2020) to residential mortgagors who are in arrears in their mortgage. To satisfy the deferred payments, the borrower would have an option (1) to extend the term of a mortgage loan for the length of the forbearance period, (2) to have the arrears accumulated during this period payable in monthly payments during the original life or (3) defer the arrears accumulated during the forbearance as a non-interest-bearing balloon payment payable at the maturity of the loan or when the loan is satisfied, subject to the safety and soundness of the lender. All of these options would be without to penalties or late fees and prohibit the lender from making a negative report to credit bureaus.
- An Omnibus Chapter Amendment bill passed during this legislative session (A10530 Mosley/S8428 Parker) made significant changes to the residential mortgage legislation. Among other things, the legislation was amended to require the property at issue to be the borrower’s primary residence and the owner must demonstrate that financial hardship as a result of COVID-19, not hardship during COVID-19. In addition, the amended legislation would offer additional re-payment options to the borrower. The new language also exempts SONYMA (State of New York Mortgage Authority) from the provisions of the legislation.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately.
- S8192/A10290 (Hoylman/Dinowitz): This legislation prohibits courts from issuing a warrant of eviction or judgment of possession against a residential tenant or lawful occupant that suffered financial hardship during the COVID-19 covered period for the nonpayment of rent that accrues or becomes due during the COVID-19 covered period. A court, however, is still permitted to award a judgement for any rent due and owing for the COVID-19 covered period. This eviction prohibition of a residential tenant would remain in place until those Executive Orders that restricted businesses, public accommodation, and gatherings no longer applied in the county of a tenant’s residence.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately.
- S8419/10522 (Kavanagh/Cymbrowitz): Known as the “Emergency Rent Relief Act of 2020”, this legislation would allocate $100 million in CARES Act to offer rental assistance to certain New York renters for four months of the COVID-19 crisis. New York renters are eligible for this relief if they made less than 80% of the median income in their area before March 7, 2020, they experience a loss of income and their rent was more than 30% of their income both before and during the COVID-19 state of emergency. The amount of the rental assistance would be the gap between their pre-COVID rent burden and their new rent burden. Individuals that receive assistance under the Emergency Rent Relief Act would not be required to repay the financial relief granted and it will not be considered income.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately and expire on July 31, 2021.
HEALTH CARE
- S8397/A10326A (Savino/Reyes): The legislation provides health care professionals with greater whistleblower protections, so that they are able to speak more freely about the conditions of the people that they are trying to care for. The proposed law would expand the types of prohibited retaliatory actions that a health care employer could take against an employee for his or her reporting complaints of employer violations. Specifically, this legislation expands existing whistleblower protections for health care employees by prohibiting employer retaliation if an employee reports improper quality of patient care or improper quality of workplace safety to a news media outlet or social media forum. “Improper quality of workplace safety” is a new category and is defined to include any violation of law, rule, or regulation where such violation relates to matters which may present an unsafe workplace environment, risk of employee safety, or a significant threat to the health of a specific employee.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately.
- S8289B/A10394A (Salazar/Lentol): This legislation would require nursing homes to prepare and submit an annual pandemic emergency plan to the Health Department, subject to the review and approval by the Health Commissioner. The pandemic emergency plan will be required to include a communication plan and an infection protection plan. The initial plan is due within 90 days of the legislation becoming law and is an annual obligation of the nursing home, although such plan could be required more frequently as directed by the Health Commissioner. Moreover, these facilities will have to make their plans available to the public on the facility’s website and immediately upon request. Nursing homes will be required to prepare and comply with the pandemic emergency plan or be subject to civil penalties and criminal liability for willful violation under Sections 12 and 12-b of the Public Health Law.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately. As noted above, the initial pandemic emergency plan will be due within 90 days from the date the legislation is signed into law.
- S8420/A10528 (Gounardes/Abbate): This legislation establishes a COVID-19 public employee death benefit for individuals who reported to their usual place of work at the direction of their public employer after March 1, 2020, contracted COVID-19 within 45 days of reporting to work, as confirmed by a lab test or doctor, and subsequently died on or before December 31, 2020, with COVID-19 caused or contributed to the person’s death. The public employees covered by this legislation include those employees enrolled in (A) New York State Employees’ Retirement System (NYSERS); (B) New York State Police and Fire Retirement System (NYSPFRS); (C) New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS); (D) New York City Employees Retirement System (NYCERS); (E) New York City Teachers’ Retirement System (NYCTRS); (F) New York City Board of Education Retirement System (NYCBERS); (G) Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Retirement Plan; (H) New York City Police Pension Fund; and (I) New York City Fire Pension Fund.
- Over the weekend, Governor Cuomo signed this legislation into law. The law takes effect immediately but shall be deemed to have been in effect on March 1, 2020, and the provisions expire on December 31, 2020.
BUSINESSES AND LABOR
- S8412/A10489A (Benjamin/Paulin): This legislation codifies the ability of business, not-for-profit corporations and religious institutions to conduct board meetings via electronic communications for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency. Governor Cuomo’s Executive Orders have allowed businesses, non-profits and religious organizations to conduct required in-person meetings remotely, in a response to encourage social distancing. Such actions, however, require renewal every thirty days and thus, this legislation effectively codifies Governor Cuomo’s executive order on the subject. Now, the legislation permits the following during the duration of the COVID-19 emergency:
- Business Corporations: Written consent by a member may be made electronically and submitted via email, provided that it can be reasonably determined that the transmission was authorized by the member. Meetings of shareholders may be held partially or solely by means of electronic communication, with the electronic services and/or platform being the place of the meeting;
- Not-for-Profit Corporations: Meetings of members may be held partially or solely by means of electronic communication and the electronic services and/or platform shall be the place of the meeting. The Board is requires to implement reasonable procedures to: (1) verify that each person participating electronically is a member or a proxy of a member; (2 provide each member participating electronically with a reasonable opportunity to participate in the meeting; and (3) record and maintain a record of any votes or other actions taken by electronic communication at the meeting. Notice of meetings may be provided by electronic communication; and
- Religious Institutions: If the Board of Trustees is authorized to determine the place of a meeting, the board may hold the meeting solely by means of electronic communication.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately and deemed repealed on December 31, 2021.
- S8420/A10528 (Gounardes/Abbate): This legislation establishes a COVID-19 public employee death benefit for individuals who reported to their usual place of work at the direction of their public employer after March 1, 2020, contracted COVID-19 within 45 days of reporting to work, as confirmed by a lab test or doctor, and subsequently died on or before December 31, 2020, with COVID-19 caused or contributed to the person’s death. The public employees covered by this legislation include those employees enrolled in (A) New York State Employees’ Retirement System (NYSERS); (B) New York State Police and Fire Retirement System (NYSPFRS); (C) New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS); (D) New York City Employees Retirement System (NYCERS); (E) New York City Teachers’ Retirement System (NYCTRS); (F) New York City Board of Education Retirement System (NYCBERS); (G) Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Retirement Plan; (H) New York City Police Pension Fund; and (I) New York City Fire Pension Fund.
- Over the weekend, Governor Cuomo signed this legislation into law. The law takes effect immediately but shall be deemed to have been in effect on March 1, 2020, and the provisions expire on December 31, 2020.
TAXES
- S8138B/A10252 (Martinez/Stern): This legislation would allow a local taxing jurisdiction to defer property taxes due to the COVID-19 pandemic or separate property taxes into as many installment payments as necessary without liability to the county. As a result, a local taxing jurisdiction may choose to defer scheduled payments or permit installment payments of property taxes by its taxpayers while a declared state of emergency is in effect.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately.
- S8411/A10519 (Jackson/Weinstein): This legislation would decouple certain New York City income tax laws from business tax breaks that are provided under the Federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Under the passed legislation, four CARES Act tax breaks would be ruled out for New York City’s corporate business tax, general business tax, unincorporated business tax, or bank tax.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately.
EDUCATION
- S7996B/A10189 (Carlucci/Ortiz): This legislation codifies the directive issued by Governor Cuomo in certain previous Executive Orders that waived the requirement that schools be in session for 180 days or lose state funding. Schools would still be entitled to their state money for this school year even though COVID-19 forced them to fall short of a state law requiring 180 days of in-person instruction. The legislation applies to all New York Schools, including New York City.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately.
CONSUMER AFFAIRS
- S8113A/A10521 (Parker/Mosley): Under this legislation, utilities such as gas and electric utilities, water-works corporations, telephone corporations, and municipal utilities are prohibited from terminating service of residential customers for the non-payment of an overdue charge during the COVID-19 state of emergency. The moratorium remains in place for 180 days after the COVID-19 state of emergency is lifted or expires. For this period, utilities cannot terminate or disconnect service because of arrears owed, or a defaulted deferred payment agreement, if such arrears or default are due to a change in financial circumstances that occurred during the declared state disaster emergency. The law would also require utilities have to provide notice about this law and give affected customers the opportunity to have a deferred payment plan.
- The Omnibus Chapter Amendment bill amended this legislation to allow, during the declared state disaster emergency, telephone corporations not to reconnect service if such service was disconnected due to reasons other than non-payment of a charge by a customer, and disconnect service at the request of the customer.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately. The Omnibus Chapter Amendment provides for the expiration and repeal of all provisions on March 31, 2021.
- S8189/A10270 (Hoylman/Rozic): This legislation expands New York State’s law on price gouging. Current law is currently limited to consumer goods. This legislation would now apply to all goods that contribute to the health and safety of the general public. Attorney General Letitia James has announced her support for this legislation.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately.
CRIMINAL AND CIVIL PROCEDURE
- S8415/A10446C (Bailey/Quart): This Bill repeals Penal Law section 230.45 which prohibited being masked or disguised by unusual or unnatural attire for facial alteration in a public place, unless it occurs in connection with a masquerade party or city-sanctioned event. As a result, the use of a mask in public would no longer be considered a violation of the Penal Law.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately.
- S7082/A9036 (Hoylman/Rosenthal): This legislation extends the time for alleged victims of child sexual abuse to file claims under the Child Victims Act. Executive Order 202.29 extended the statute of limitations from August 14, 2020 until January 14, 2021 to file a claim for child sexual abuse that had been previously time barred. This legislation would extend the statute of limitations would be extended February 13, 2022.
- If signed by Governor Cuomo, this law will take effect immediately.