Voice of Business Blog

The New York State Legislature formally closed this year’s session in the early hours of June 8th, 2024. The focus of this brief is on the status of end-of-session legislation most pertinent to Greater Rochester Chamber members as a whole. This brief does not include all bills on which Greater Rochester Chamber advocated, nor does it include items already addressed in our FY2025 Enacted Budget Brief.

Notably passed this session was the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act and the New York Child Data Protection Act which aims to reduce adverse impacts of social media on kids including by regulating how social media feeds are presented to young users, preventing notifications between 12:00am and 6:00am, and strengthening age verification measures.

Also passed was the $75 Billion Climate Change Superfund Act which will force fossil-fuel companies to pay for environmental remediation.

At the very end of session Governor Hochul suspended the Congestion Pricing Plan for New York City which caused frustration within the Legislature, forcing them to focus mainly on addressing anticipated MTA funding issues which remain unaddressed for the time being).

This session Greater Rochester Chamber successfully opposed the passage of the following legislation which, as written, would have adversely impacted our members:

- A10134/S9326 which would have enacted the “Bank of Rochester.”
- A6353A/S237C which would have enacted an expanded “Bottle Bill.”
- A373B/S5457B which would have included off-site custom fabrication as public work for the purposes of payment of prevailing wage. (Passed in the Assembly)
- A5322D/S4246D which would have enacted the "Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act" (EPR). (Passed in the Senate)
- A4592A/S2016A which would have enacted the “NY HEAT Act.” (Passed in the Senate)
- A1718C/S2127C which would have established an indirect source review for heavy distribution warehouse operations and require the department of environmental conservation to conduct a study regarding zero-emissions zones. (Passed in the Senate)

The following pieces of legislation that Greater Rochester Chamber supported did not pass this session:

- A8299/S8635 which would have allowed for certified medication aides to administer certain
medications in residential health care facilities.
- A10155A/S8374A which would have increased the federal poverty level requirement for recipients where it concerns the one-time disregard of earned income. (Passed in the Senate)
- A8981A/S8413A which would have established the crime of staging a construction site accident.
- S9811 which would have addressed the “pay frequency” issue (Labor Law §191) in New York State

Greater Rochester Chamber remains dedicated to advocating for legislation that benefits our members and the Greater Rochester community. While we achieved significant victories this session, there is always more work to be done. We will continue to push for the passage of essential legislation in future sessions and ensure the voice of our members is heard in Albany.