2024-2025 CSEA Legislative Report

S.7599 (Gonzalez) / A.8295 (Otis)

This bill builds upon last year’s legislative success, the LOADing Act, which protected employees of state agencies and public authorities from displacement due to AI. This bill expands these protections to local governments, school districts, and SUNY, ensuring that employees are protected from layoffs, terminations, or reductions in hours/salary due to AI. The bill also provides transparency by requiring employers to report their use of AI systems.

S.7680 (Serrano) / A.6634 (Kim)

This legislation requires the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to develop operational safety plans prior to sending employees into hazardous conditions. CSEA took action after the tragic death Daniel Vasquez, who died responding to a wildfire in Sterling Forest State Park in 2024. Now, before parks employees are deployed into severe weather, wildfires, or other dangerous situations, the state must fully assess the hazards and ensure that all staff assigned are properly trained, equipped, and supported for all the roles that they are expected to perform.

S.4929 (Brouk) / A.4003 (Clark)

This bill aligns infant supervision standards for home-based childcare providers, many of whom are represented by CSEA, with what is already done for childcare centers. This will reduce the burden of excessive staffing requirements on home-based providers and will improve access to infant care across the state.

S.5760 (Jackson) / A.6624 (Pheffer Amato)

This legislation requires that when a public employer offers someone a job or promotion, they must provide specific information about the position, including terms of employment, salary, and benefits. This is a common-sense measure that ensures that current and prospective employees have access to all of the job-related information that they are entitled to.

S.5294 (Sepulveda) / A.203 (Cruz)

This legislation requires all hospitals to develop violence prevention programs. The legislation would require hospitals to provide security personnel in hospital emergency departments to protect healthcare staff from violence, verbal, and physical abuse.

S.5997 (Gallivan) / A.6969 (DiPietro) 

S.7706 (Harckham) / A.7843 (Slater)

These bills dedicate portions of the state highway system to Jake Arcara and Stephen Ebling. In 2022, CSEA member and Machine Equipment Operator for the Yorktown Highway Department, Jake Arcara, was tragically killed on the job by a motorist who sped through a construction zone. In 2024, NYS Thruway Maintenance Supervisor and CSEA member, Stephen Ebling, was struck and killed by a car that crossed over hazard markings on the highway. CSEA is proud to support these bills as a tribute to these fallen workers. However, more needs to be done. We will continue to advocate for proactive measures that protect highway workers before tragedy strikes again.

S.5254 (Chris Ryan) / A.6612 (Bronson)

This legislation clarifies that time spent by a public employee on an inspection, including a risk evaluation and determination inspection, or annual program review is paid time. Since the creation of this law 20 years ago, time spent by employees on inspections and program reviews has always been treated as compensable time. However, this law has recently been misinterpreted by some employers as to not require the time to be paid. This bill preserves a long-standing practice that encourages employee participation in the enforcement and review of these plans and inspections by ensuring that they are paid while participating.

S.12 (Jackson) / A.779 (Pheffer Amato)

This legislation would clarify that CBAs remain valid and enforceable when they contain layoff provisions that exceed what is mandated by law. In 2023, a law was enacted to grant layoff rights to all classified employees. However, the Department of Civil Service has interpreted the provisions of this law as a ceiling, rendering any CBAs with more protective layoff procedures unenforceable. This legislation allows CBAs with more protective layoff procedures to remain in effect.

S.7143 (Sean Ryan) / A.7861 (Peoples-Stokes)

This legislation provides peace officers employed by Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) with a pension equal to 50 percent of their final average salary after 25 years of service. ECMC peace officers provide critical protection for patients, employees, and the public at the hospital. They graduate from the police academy, carry firearms, and respond to emergencies and serious criminal activity, like other officers. However, they don’t receive the same pension. This bill provides these officers with a pension commensurate with their service.

S.550 (Brisport) / A.66 (Hevesi)

This legislation requires individuals who report suspected child abuse or maltreatment to provide their name and contact information. Anonymous reports of child abuse and neglect are sometimes weaponized to harass individuals, often in the context of personal disputes such as custody battles or neighbor conflicts. These unfounded reports contribute to inflated caseloads for child protective services. Requiring contact information will help reduce baseless claims, curb the misuse of the reporting system, and allow caseworkers to focus on families who truly need help. 

S.1515 (May) / A.2177 (Lupardo)

This legislation removes emergency medical services (EMS) from the limit on real property tax levied by local governments. Under the current property tax cap, local governments face strict limits on how much they can increase their property tax levies each year. This restriction has created significant budgetary challenges for funding vital emergency services. By exempting EMS expenditures from the real property tax levy limit, this bill gives municipalities the ability to better staff, equip, and maintain their emergency medical services.

S.8415 (Salazar) / A.8871 (Dilan)

The murder of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility and the wildcat strike that followed prompted a package of reforms to improve safety, oversight, and accountability in state prisons. This legislation includes several changes to the way correctional facilities operate, including: 

• Requiring correctional facilities to share video footage related to the death of an inmate within 72 hours. 

• Requiring correctional facilities to install cameras with complete coverage in all areas aside from interior cells, bathrooms/showers, and medical treatment areas.  

• Requiring DOCCS to promptly notify next-of-kin and other designees about the death of an inmate and the surrounding circumstances.  

• Requiring DOCCS to conduct a study on deaths in correctional facilities and issue a report one year after commission. 

• Increasing the number of appointees to the State Commission of Correction from 3 to 9. 

• Allowing the correctional association to visit all state correctional facilities on any day at any time with 24-hour notice. 

• Pausing the statute of limitations for an incarcerated individual to file a civil claim for damages until they are released from custody.

S.7672 (Martinez) / A.6769 (Jones)

This legislation requires employees of state agencies, public benefit corporations, counties, cities, towns, villages, and districts who use technology as a part of their official job duties to take annual cybersecurity awareness training beginning January 1, 2026. These trainings will take place during an employee’s regular working hours and will be paid time.

S.8034 (Ramos) / A.8590 (Bronson)

The bill allows the state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to certify unions as exclusive bargaining representatives when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) fails to act. The bill is necessary in light of recent dysfunction at the NLRB, when appointments and vacancies have left the NLRB unable or unwilling to carry out its duty to protect organizing workers. This ensures that PERB can step in to maintain workers’ rights and uphold existing collective bargaining agreements.

S.8207 (Jackson) / A.8801 (Pheffer Amato)

This bill would allow any Tier 6 member who is a uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the Unified Court System to retire without an early age reduction at age 62 or upon attaining age 55 with 30 years of creditable service. It would also reduce the normal retirement age from 63 to 62 and lessen the reductions in benefits for those who retire prior to normal retirement age.

S.7237 (May) / A.8023 (Kassay)

This legislation allows local governments to post their civil service job openings on the state’s centralized jobs website. Currently, municipal job seekers must navigate a patchwork of local sites. By expanding access to a centralized job board, this bill will allow local governments to better publicize job openings, which will help recruit new employees into local government positions.

S.2295 (Bailey) / A.5206 (Reyes)

This legislation requires the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) to establish a training curriculum for child protective services workers, which teaches appropriate investigatory techniques for reports of sexual abuse. All child protective services workers will be required to take these trainings.

S.3318 (Scarcella-Spanton) / A.8822 (Kay)

This legislation increases the amount of paid military leave available to public employees who serve in the reserves or National Guard from 30 to 60 days. It ensures that no public servant is financially penalized for answering the call to duty. As reserve deployments grow more frequent and extended, this bill helps support those who serve our nation while also serving our communities.

S.4685 (Stavisky) / A.5979 (Bronson)

This legislation adds a non-voting faculty or staff representative to each community college board of trustees. Employees bring invaluable on-the-ground perspectives to governance decisions that affect campus operations, student success, and institutional priorities. Their presence on the board promotes transparency, collaboration, and more effective decision-making.

S.8418 (Gianaris) / A.8883 (Rivera)

This legislation reorganizes judicial districts across the state, creates two new districts, and changes the number of justices in each district. Notably, Onondaga and Erie Counties will now comprise their own judicial districts.

S.1099 (May) / A.7777 (Simone)

This bill protects the rights of school library employees to curate materials without political interference and ensures that communities maintain access to diverse viewpoints. It prohibits censorship of library materials based on political or ideological disagreement and affirms that reading choices belong to individuals, not to government bodies or vocal minorities.

S.5539 (Baskin) / A.785 (Solages)

This bill requires school districts and BOCES to develop and implement a cardiac emergency response plan that sets standards for responding to a person experiencing sudden cardiac arrest or a similar life-threatening emergency at school. School staff can access voluntary training on first aid, CPR, and defibrillators to learn how to assist individuals experiencing these emergencies.

S.4906 (Fahy) / A.6055 (Woerner)

When the police are called to respond to an assault in a healthcare facility, they generally ask the victim to come to the police station for an interview. This discourages reporting workplace crimes since many health care workers, who have stressful jobs with long hours, decide not to follow up if an assault did not result in a serious injury. This bill allows an employee of a hospital, emergency medical facility, nursing home, or residential health care facility to make a statement to police at the workplace, rather than at the police station.

S.8047 (Stec) / A.3628 (Jones)

This constitutional amendment would authorize the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex to use forest preserve land for the construction of Nordic skiing and biathlon trails. Equivalent land would be preserved to replace the land being constructed on. This is the second year of this amendment’s passage through the State Legislature. It now heads to the voters, who will vote on the amendment in this year’s general elections.

S.138 (Hoylman-Sigal) / A.136 (Paulin)

This legislation allows a mentally competent, terminally ill patient to request medication to be self-administered to hasten their death. To qualify, the patient must be 18 years of age or older and have an incurable illness or condition that gives them six or fewer months to live. The patient would have to make a voluntary oral and written request, signed and dated by the patient and witnessed by at least two adults who are not relatives, beneficiaries, healthcare proxies/powers of attorney, or employees of the healthcare facility. This bill does not require any healthcare worker to participate in the provision of the medication to a patient if they are unwilling.

S.7543 (Gonzalez) / A.9430 (Otis)
Signed, Chapter 674 of the Laws of 2024

This first of its kind legislation aims to regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) within the public sector. Specifically, this bill includes groundbreaking employee protection language that will prohibit the displacement of state employees when a state agency uses an AI program or system. No other state has similar protections. In addition, this legislation would ban the use of AI for the delivery of public assistance benefits, which ensures that the delivery of these benefits remains subject to human review and oversight. The bill also requires impact studies be conducted before AI systems can be used to make consequential decisions.

S.8557 (Jackson) / A.9386 (Pheffer Amato)
Signed, Chapter 307 of the Laws of 2024

This legislation allows time spent by an employee in provisional status to count towards time required for a promotional exam if the employee becomes competitive in the same title without a break. This legislation will give CSEA members who were provisional the ability to take promotional examinations faster than they currently are able and grow their career in the public sector.

S.8216 (Jackson) / A.8876 (Pheffer Amato)
Signed, Chapter 303 of the Laws of 2024

This legislation allows individuals who are within 12 months of meeting the age or education requirements of a given civil service job to take an exam for that position. Current law requires a person to be within 6 months of meeting the age requirement. This legislation will allow prospective employees to get their foot in the door early, reducing the time they need to wait between meeting the job requirements and beginning a career in the public sector. Public employers will better be able to recruit students who are in their final year of a degree or education program and help fill the pipeline for critical public sector jobs.

S.8551 (Jackson) / A.9349 (Pheffer Amato)
Signed, Chapter 305 of the Laws of 2024

This legislation requires the New York State Department of Civil Service to review and update civil service exams every five years. This will help ensure that exams remain relevant to the jobs for which they are seeking candidates.

S.8960 (Jackson) / A.9932 (Pheffer Amato)
Vetoed

This legislation requires that the decision issued by an independent hearing officer for section 72 hearings be binding on the employer and employee. Section 72 hearings determine whether an employee can perform their job duties due to a physical or mental disability, not including one resulting from an occupational injury or disease. Current law allows an independent hearing officer to issue an opinion, but it does not require the employer to abide by the decision. This legislation will ensure that employers cannot cherry pick favorable decisions and follow all decisions from an independent hearing officer.

S.8948 (Jackson) / A.9935 (Pheffer Amato)
Signed, Chapter 306 of the Laws of 2024

This legislation requires that any communications from an employer to a medical officer conducting a §72 medical examination be provided to the employee and the employee’s authorized representative. Current law requires that employees receive written notice of the facts outlining the basis that the employee is deemed physically or mentally unfit for service by their employer. However, they are not required to be provided with any records sent by the employer to the medical officer charged with evaluating the disability claim against the employee.

S.5653 (Jackson) / A.5679 (Pheffer Amato)
Vetoed

This legislation would authorize Tier 6 peace officers employed by the Unified Court System to retire after 30 years of service if they are at least 55 years of age. This legislation has been vetoed previously.

S.6357B (Mannion) / A.7341B (Hevesi)
Signed, Chapter 470 of the Laws of 2024

This legislation allows Child Protective Services caseworkers to complete certain training requirements, excluding the annual in-service training requirement, virtually, rather than in-person. This removes a costly and time-consuming burden on both case workers and their employers. In addition, permitting virtual trainings increases flexibility for caseworkers, allowing them to complete training at a time and pace that fits their demanding schedules.

S.3397A(Skoufis) / A.9011A (Eachus)
Signed, Chapter 596 of the Laws of 2024

This legislation sets maximum temperature thresholds in K-12 classrooms. Under this legislation, if a classroom reaches 82 degrees, school administration must reduce the room temperature by turning on fans, windows, and doors to increase circulation, and turning off unused electronics and lights, among other actions. If a classroom reaches 88 degrees, the room can no longer be occupied for educational and support services.

S.3065B (Ramos) / A.8934A (Bronson)
Vetoed

This legislation amends the state’s workplace violence prevention law to require a risk evaluation and determination for abusive conduct and bullying in the workplace. In addition, it would require employees to receive training on how to identify and report workplace bullying and abusive conduct.

S.5500B (Skoufis) / A.6146B (Buttenschon)
Signed Chapter 302 of the Laws of 2024

This legislation requires that public employers notify an employee if they receive a request for the employee’s disciplinary record pursuant to the state’s freedom of information act law (FOIL). While this legislation does not alter what documents are subject to a FOIL request, it will ensure that employees are at least aware when an employer is responding to such a request.

S.6635 (Ramos) / A.5745 (Reyes)
Signed Chapter 546 of the Laws of 2024

This legislation allows an employee to file a Workers’ Compensation claim if they are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), acute stress disorder, or major depressive disorder and if the disorder arose out of extraordinary work-related stress attributable to a distinct work-related event or events directly related to a person’s employment and occurring during the performance of the employees’ job duties.  Previous claims under Workers’ Compensation Board for stress were denied.  This bill expands coverage, recognizing extraordinary job-related stress, including PTSD that employees may face. While this law has been signed, we expect additional guidance to be issued by the Workers’ Compensation Board in 2025.

S.4040 (Mayer) / A.7532 (Solages)
Vetoed

This legislation requires that every Industrial Development Agency (IDA) board include at least one representative of a local labor organization and one member of the local school board. This bill aims to make IDAs more transparent and responsive to the needs of the local community and workers.

A.6914 (Fitzpatrick)

This legislation would require all non-civil service appointed employees of the state or any public employer to participate in a defined contribution pension fund. Currently, these employees are eligible for a defined benefit pension plan.

A.1780 (Fitzpatrick)

This legislation would exclude overtime earnings from an employee’s final average salary in pension calculations. This would drastically reduce the final average salary for many employees, diminishing their retirement benefit.

S.1671 (Salazar) / A.5355 (Tapia)

This bill removes disciplinary procedures from being a mandatory subject of negotiation for all employees of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) who are accused of “serious misconduct.” The bill would also allow the Commissioner to terminate an employee for any criminal conviction, meaning an employee could lose their career over a decades-old shoplifting charge, a misdemeanor DUI that occurred off duty, or other minor offenses unrelated to their work.

S.448-A (Hoylman-Sigal) / A.4278-A (Simon)

This legislation outsources wage theft enforcement actions to private organizations. This work is performed by staff at the Department of Labor (DOL). Advocates of this legislation claim that it is necessary because the DOL does not have sufficient staff. We agree that staffing levels must increase. However, the solution is not the privatization of this function, rather, it is for the state to hire additional staff to enforce these laws.

S.3913 (Sean Ryan) / A.3553 (Burke)

This legislation caps caseloads for preventative services caseworkers at no more than 12 families per month. These caps will ensure that preventative services caseworkers can give families the proper amount of time and attention that they need and will improve the recruitment and retention of these caseworkers.

S.7318 (Brisport) / A.456 (Hevesi)

This legislation requires OCFS to set caseload caps for Child Protective Services (CPS) caseworkers and sets limits at no more than two initial investigations, per caseworker, per week. Setting caseload caps for CPS workers, as well as limiting the number of initial investigations, will ensure that CPS caseworkers can give children and families the proper amount of time that they need and will improve the recruitment and retention of these caseworkers.

S.4647 (Cooney) / A.4015 (Magnarelli)

This legislation increases penalties for speeding in a work zone. Penalties for speeding in a work zone have not been updated since 2003. Under this proposal, penalties would be increased to the following.  

• Less than 10 MPH over: $90-$175 

• 10-30 MPH over: $180-$350 

• More than 30 MPH over: $360-$700 

This will more appropriately penalize drivers who speed in work zones and will help to deter these behaviors.

S.4649 (Cooney) / A.4016 (Magnarelli)

This legislation increases penalties for failing to comply with New York State’s Move Over Law. The Move Over Law requires drivers to slow down and move over when approaching a vehicle on the roadside. This law protects highway workers, first responders, and anyone stopped on the side of the road. However, many drivers fail to comply, putting lives at risk. Penalties would be increased to the following: 

• First conviction: $275   

• Second conviction within 18 months: $450 

• Third conviction within 18 months: $750 

This deters dangerous behaviors and protects highway workers, first responders, and any driver on the side of the road.

S.2396 (Persaud) / A.4035 (Eachus)

This legislation caps caseloads for Adult Protective Services (APS) caseworkers at no more than 30 total cases per month. These caps will protect at-risk adults by ensuring that APS workers have the time to conduct thorough investigations and intervene before situations escalate.

S.6753 (Brisport) / A.7596 (Rivera)

This legislation caps caseloads for foster caseworkers at no more than 16 cases per month. This cap will improve outcomes for children in foster care and strengthen New York’s child welfare system.

S.1538 (Gallivan) / A.2535 (Paulin)

This bill provides counties with the option to provide full pay and medical coverage to injured probation officers. Police officers and other law enforcement personnel are eligible to receive full pay and medical coverage when recovering from an injury. Probation officers, who face similar risks, are only eligible for workers’ compensation benefits.

S.6990 (Jackson) / A.5912 (Bores)

This bill requires state agencies to conduct exit interviews with employees who resign or retire. In the face of widespread recruitment and retention issues, this bill is a critically important step towards addressing common employee grievances and maintaining a skilled, efficient state workforce.

S.6987 (Harckham) / A.7833 (Levenberg)

This bill requires local social services districts to provide ‘panic buttons’ to social workers who interact with clients in external settings. When pressed, the panic buttons will contact 9-1-1 and provide first responders with the exact location of the employee. This bill would ensure that social workers are able to contact emergency services when they are in dangerous situations.

S.8184 (Cooney) / A.8854 (Dinowitz)

This bill increases criminal penalties for assaulting transportation workers, including Motor Vehicle License Examiners, Motor Vehicle Representatives, and highway workers (state, local government, or private sector). Increasing penalties for assaulting these workers will deter  future violence and help ensure employees can go to work without fear of being assaulted or killed.

S.6986 (Harckham) / A.7831 (Levenberg)

This bill increases criminal penalties for assaulting a Child Protective Services (CPS) worker. CPS workers face a non-fatal workplace injury rate five times the rate of all U.S. workers. These workers are often required to conduct home visits alone, where hostile clients may react aggressively to investigations. Increasing penalties for assaulting these workers will deter future violence and help ensure CPS employees can go to work without fear of being assaulted or killed.

S.4581 (Jackson) / A.5767 (Pheffer Amato)

This bill provides uniformed court officers employed by the Unified Court System with a pension equivalent to 50% of their final salary after twenty-five years of service. Uniformed court officers keep court facilities safe for judges, attorneys, defendants, and the public. Court officers face similar stressors as other law enforcement employees. However, while many law enforcement employees can retire after 20 years of service, tier 6 court officers must work until age 63. This makes these jobs difficult to recruit for and leads to high turnover of these employees.

S.7635-A (Chris Ryan) / A.8259-A (Jones)

This legislation provides an optional 25-year retirement plan for 911 operators and emergency dispatchers. 911 operators and emergency dispatchers are first responders who work in extremely fast-paced, stressful environments. The existing retirement plan makes it difficult to recruit and retain employees, as the cumulative stress and trauma of the job take a significant toll on their well-being.