{"id":6378,"date":"2024-12-17T10:10:35","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T15:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=6378"},"modified":"2025-01-08T15:29:36","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T20:29:36","slug":"legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislative update: Bills passed, bills vetoed, bills still outstanding"},"content":{"rendered":"

December 17, 2024 —<\/em> Four PEF priority bills were submitted to Gov. Hochul on Dec. 2, having passed both houses of the State Legislature. The governor signed two of those bills into law and vetoed two of them. Two additional PEF priorities remain outstanding.<\/p>\n

\"passed\"<\/p>\n

Bills passed: DOCCS heat and death benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n

With Governor Hochul\u2019s signature, the commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) is now responsible for identifying workable solutions to regulate the temperature inside correctional facilities.<\/p>\n

PEF supported the bill as a health and safety initiative. Many of the state\u2019s facilities were built more than 100 years ago, before air conditioning was even an option.<\/p>\n

In signing the bill, Governor Hochul recognized issues related to extreme heat in DOCCS facilities but said that much of the state is already implementing the measures contained in the legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnical changes are also necessary to address certain security and feasibility challenges associated with the required measure and eliminate the requirement to adopt certain technology that is unsuitable for New York\u2019s climate,\u201d Hochul wrote in her approval memo that accompanied the legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPEF is grateful to its members for mobilizing to care of their union siblings who work at DOCCS,\u201d said PEF President Wayne Spence.<\/p>\n

The other bill signed into law by the Governor focuses on the benefits awarded to families of employees who pass away during the time between filing for retirement and their final day of work.\u00a0Though such timing is rare, PEF members and other State employees do sometimes die during that time period, and the toll it can take on families of the deceased can add to the pain of losing a loved one.<\/p>\n

Beneficiaries will now receive a lifetime monthly benefit if a retirement application has already been filed before a loved one passes away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is heartening to know that PEF members supported this law not for themselves, but for the family and loved ones of their fellow members, should the unthinkable happen and they pass away during this period of time,\u201d said President Spence.<\/p>\n

\"veto\"<\/p>\n

Bills vetoed: Section 72 recommendation unchanged, no new hospital closure notifications<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under current Section 72 law, if an employer believes that an employee is unable to perform duties due to a physical or mental disability, they may request a medical review. The employee then requests a hearing subject to Section 72 of the Civil Service Law and an independent hearing officer makes a recommendation. However, the officer\u2019s recommendation is not binding. The employer has the\u00a0right to reject it.<\/p>\n

A bill that would make an officer\u2019s recommendation permanent and legally binding was vetoed by Governor Hochul. Had she signed it, it would have helped State employees like\u00a0 PEF member Natasha Pecue<\/strong><\/a>, who had her Section 72 recommendation overturned by her employer last year and was told\u2014again, by the employer\u2014that she had to pay the employer for time spent on the hearing process. PEF was able to appeal the decision, but Pecue was unable to keep her job.<\/p>\n

And finally, Governor Hochul vetoed a measure that would have required the State to alert the public at least nine months in advance of any decision to close a general hospital or a unit that provides emergency, maternity, mental health or substance use care.<\/p>\n

PEF members argued in their letters to the Governor that what happened last year at SUNY Downstate \u2013 when the chancellor abruptly announced plans to transfer critical services to nearby Kings County Hospital \u2013 should not be allowed to happen again because it is so disruptive to underserved communities. PEF and the \u201cBrooklyn Needs Downstate\u201d coalition successfully stopped the effort at Downstate, and will closely monitor any changes to the State\u2019s healthcare delivery system to prevent it from happening again, at Downstate or elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\"active\"<\/p>\n

Bills still in waiting<\/strong><\/p>\n

In what\u2019s left of 2024, Governor Hochul may still consider two additional PEF priorities \u2013 a bill to regulate Artificial Intelligence and one to train employers and employees about bullying in the workplace. Members can read more about each bill and take action by sending a letter to the Governor via a form on her website, on PEF\u2019s Political Action page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 17, 2024 — Four PEF priority bills were submitted to Gov. Hochul on Dec. 2, having passed both houses of the State Legislature. The governor signed two of those…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"division":[],"allowed_regions":[],"allowed_divisions":[],"class_list":["post-6378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-42-no-9"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLegislative update: Bills passed, bills vetoed, bills still outstanding - PEF Communicator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legislative update: Bills passed, bills vetoed, bills still outstanding\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 17, 2024 — Four PEF priority bills were submitted to Gov. Hochul on Dec. 2, having passed both houses of the State Legislature. The governor signed two of those...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PEF Communicator\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-17T15:10:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-08T20:29:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Legislative-Post.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"435\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ksheehan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ksheehan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ksheehan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e\"},\"headline\":\"Legislative update: Bills passed, bills vetoed, bills still outstanding\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-17T15:10:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-08T20:29:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":698,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/Legislative-Post.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\\\/\",\"name\":\"Legislative update: Bills passed, bills vetoed, bills still outstanding - PEF Communicator\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/Legislative-Post.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-17T15:10:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-08T20:29:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/Legislative-Post.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/Legislative-Post.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":435,\"caption\":\"Legislative update\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Volume 42. No. 9\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-42-no-9\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Legislative update: Bills passed, bills vetoed, bills still outstanding\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"PEF Communicator\",\"description\":\"NYS PEF Communicator\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e\",\"name\":\"ksheehan\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/author\\\/ksheehan\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Legislative update: Bills passed, bills vetoed, bills still outstanding - PEF Communicator","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Legislative update: Bills passed, bills vetoed, bills still outstanding","og_description":"December 17, 2024 — Four PEF priority bills were submitted to Gov. Hochul on Dec. 2, having passed both houses of the State Legislature. The governor signed two of those...","og_url":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/","og_site_name":"PEF Communicator","article_published_time":"2024-12-17T15:10:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-08T20:29:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":435,"url":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Legislative-Post.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ksheehan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ksheehan","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/"},"author":{"name":"ksheehan","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e"},"headline":"Legislative update: Bills passed, bills vetoed, bills still outstanding","datePublished":"2024-12-17T15:10:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-08T20:29:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/"},"wordCount":698,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Legislative-Post.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/","url":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/","name":"Legislative update: Bills passed, bills vetoed, bills still outstanding - PEF Communicator","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Legislative-Post.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-17T15:10:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-08T20:29:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Legislative-Post.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Legislative-Post.jpg","width":640,"height":435,"caption":"Legislative update"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/legislative-update-bills-passed-bills-vetoed-bills-still-outstanding\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Volume 42. No. 9","item":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-9\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Legislative update: Bills passed, bills vetoed, bills still outstanding"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/","name":"PEF Communicator","description":"NYS PEF Communicator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e","name":"ksheehan","url":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/author\/ksheehan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6378"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6388,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6378\/revisions\/6388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/media\/6386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6378"},{"taxonomy":"division","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/division?post=6378"},{"taxonomy":"allowed_regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/allowed_regions?post=6378"},{"taxonomy":"allowed_divisions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/allowed_divisions?post=6378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}