New York Legislative Update May 2023

The following report is from NRLA-NY Lobbyist, Todd Vandervort of The Vandervort Group.

Did You Know?

The lumber and building materials industry employs nearly 139,500 people in N.Y.

Lobby Day

NRLA-NY held its annual Lobby Day May 2nd. We will provide more details in our next report.

NRLA had a very successful Lobby Day on May 2nd.  We had approximately 25 meetings with legislators, many of whom were sponsors of our highest priority bills. As a result of the meetings, we were able to identify additional sponsors on some of our bills, and we provided valuable feedback on how our members would be impacted by the bills they have introduced. Overall, we were very pleased with the turnout and hope that next year more of our members will be able to attend.

The Legislature returned to “regular session” when the Budget was finally passed in early May. As you can see in the update below, some of the one-house bills we are watching got a companion bill introduced this month. As we head toward the end of session, expected to be on June 9th, there has been a flurry of activity with more than 1,800 bill introductions in May.

Legislative Update

  • Unemployment Amnesty Period for Employers – There has not been much of an appetite for this bill to be reintroduced as of yet. We were hopeful that the Budget would include a provision to give small businesses the relief they need that this bill offered. Last year it was introduced by Assemblyman Stirpe and was a NYS Department of Labor Departmental bill. We will engage with the Department to understand why they did not recommend introduction this year, and what their plans are for next session.
  • Retainage – On May 11th Senator Monica Martinez introduced S.6855 as a companion to Assemblyman Braunstein’s bill, A.1194. We advocated for its passage this session, but Senator Martinez wants to take the time necessary to ensure that all stakeholders come to agreement on the bill and ensure that it will pass both houses and get signed into law. We will work with the other interested parties as well as the Dormitory of the State of NY, who was directed to work with the stakeholders when the bill was vetoed in 2015.

There is another bill that was introduced to extend the substantial completion law to private contracts, S.3539/A.4167 (Breslin/Hunter). The bill is moving in both houses, and we have secured a commitment to work with the Subcontractors and the Governor’s Office to insert language exempting materials that are graded and have warrantees from retainage being held.

  • Workforce Development – On May 24th A.7481 was introduced by Assemblyman Conrad as a companion to Senator Mayer’s bill, S. 5024, which is the CTE bill we are supporting. The NYS Budget provided general funding for workforce development initiatives, and there are grants available through the new Office of Strategic and Workforce Development that we will explore further.
  • Deforestation S.4859-A/A. 5682-A (Krueger/Zebrowski) passed the Senate and is currently in the Assembly Rules Committee. NRLA has been focused on opposing this bill, that seems to have sway and an interest by the sponsors to seek passage in both houses. We updated our Memo in Opposition to reflect additional reasons why this bill should be opposed, and we educated legislators on our position during Lobby Day. Our industry partners, ESFPA, AFPA and AGC have also been lobbying against this bill. In the event that it passes both houses, we will work with the Governor’s Office to secure a veto, or to include Chapter Amendments that are more in our favor. 

We are working with the general business community on these additional bills:

  • OPPOSE:  S.6636/A.6698 (Hoylman-Sigal/Weinstein) Damages for wrongful death (On 3rd Reading in the Senate/Passed Assembly)
  • OPPOSE: S.1977-A/A.46-A (Ramos/L. Rosenthal) Creates an employee lien (In Senate Judiciary Committee/Assembly Rules Committee)
  • SUPPORT: S.7250/A.7549 (Cooney/McDonald) COVID sick-leave (Senate and Assembly Labor Committees)
  • SUPPORT: S.920/A.1684 (Cooney/Woerner) Additional notice prior to commencing an action in certain discrimination cases (Senate Investigations Committee/Assembly Codes Committee)
  • OPPOSE: S.6635/A.5745 (Ramos/Reyes) Work-related stress at work (Passed Senate/Assembly Labor Committee)
  • OPPOSE: S.562-A/A.920-A (Kavanagh/Gallagher) Enacts the All-Electric Building Act (Senate and Assembly Energy Committees)
Did You Know?

The lumber and building materials industry employs nearly 139,500 people in N.Y.

Lobby Day

NRLA-NY held its annual Lobby Day May 2nd. We will provide more details in our next report.