Welcome to the April edition of our newsletter, Policy Matters. This month, we include budget and legislative updates, important information on cases we are working on, and community progress report on racial justice. More below!
New York State Budget Update
Policymakers in Albany continue to negotiate a final budget, so things remain in flux with the state budget at this time. Be sure to be on the lookout for a comprehensive summary of our Policy Priorities as soon as the budget is finalized. More to come!
Legislative Advocacy Updates
While we were waiting on the budget, we were moving with some of our non-budget priorities.
Empire Justice Center advocates alongside statewide nonprofits
Contracting
As readers of Policy Matters know, addressing delays and inconsistencies in New York State nonprofit contracting has been a long-standing priority. Following the veto of the nonprofit contracting bill in December, we have been working with our champions Senator Mayer and Assemblymember Paulin on the next steps.
They are introducing two streamlined bills responsive to the Governor’s veto message with a goal of passing them before the end of this session. The first is (S.9761 Mayer/A.10741 Paulin) and includes expanding definition of renewal contracts, requiring written directives to have payment schedules, and changes to the Not For Profit Contracting Advisory Committee language, designed to strengthen the committee’s work, such as adding evaluating and giving feedback. This bill moved through the Assembly Government Operations committee in April.
They are also introducing another bill, (S.9855 Mayer), which includes provisions for advance payments and stronger comptroller oversight and establishes clear guidelines for contract modifications.
Together, the recently introduced bills would go a long way to helping address the challenges of nonprofit organizations face with contracting delays and inconsistencies and would help build stability for nonprofits, allowing them to continue providing the essential-to-life services that millions of New Yorkers rely on.
Organized by the New York Council of Nonprofits (NYCON), with the New York Legal Services Coalition and our other nonprofit coalition partners, Nonprofit NY, Nonprofit Westchester and Human Services Council, Empire Justice Center staff rallied in Albany this month to advocate for the bills, calling on state leaders to pass them and fix the state’s broken contracting system and ensure nonprofits are paid on time for the services they deliver.
Safe and Fair Traffic Enforcement
The Safe and Fair Traffic Enforcement (SAFTE) bill has a Senate sponsor! Codes Chair Senator Myrie has introduced the Senate version (S.9840). This bill aims to reduce incidences of “pretext” or “secondary” stops by law enforcement. Low-level, non-safety traffic violations, often referred to as “pretext stops” or “secondary stops,” cause harm to individuals and communities of color, with Black and brown people being stopped far more often than white people. These stops do not lead to greater road or public safety and reduce availability of police for efforts to enhance road and public safety. Reducing pretext stops may also serve to decrease harm to citizens and non-citizens who increasingly face aggressive traffic policing by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Rochester City Council recently supported SAFTE as part of the Rochester-Monroe Antipoverty Initiative’s (RMAPI) Policy Agenda. The Assembly version is being carried by Assemblymember Jackson (A.6631).
Privacy in court-ordered name changes
We continue to advocate for Privacy in Name Changes (S.XXXX /A.3925 Lavine). While all other types of name changes – such as marriage, divorce, immigration, or adoption – have categorical privacy, court-ordered name changes do not. This poses a safety and privacy concern for all petitioners, and particularly for transgender, and nonbinary people, and those who are victims of domestic violence. There is no reason for New York state to make confidential information – including home addresses, birth certificates, birth dates and medical records – available to the public. Especially considering that online filings are scraped, and data is re-published online, and proposed changes at the federal level, this is urgent. We are asking for individuals and organizations to sign on to our sign on letter no later than May 8.
SNAP for All
SNAP for All, also called SNAP4All, (S.9033 Rivera/A.6632 Gonzalez-Rojas) establishes a state-funded food assistance program, similar to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for those who are excluded from the SNAP program due to their immigration status. With rising costs of living, including food costs, food insecurity continues to increase. This bill helps reduce food insecurity for New Yorkers, including children, who are not eligible for federal food assistance, and also supports local economies that rely on people who use SNAP assistance.
Skimming
This bill (S.403 Myrie/A.3578 Mitaynes) establishes a compensation fund for those whose SNAP and cash benefits have been stolen through “skimming.” Skimming theft occurs when people steal benefit card information from recipients, causing loss of food and cash benefits through no fault of the beneficiary. This bill would help to recover those benefits for these victims, helping to remove some of the burden placed on them from the theft.
Advocates Fight for Labor and Disability Rights
This month, with the National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ), we argued our labor and disability rights lawsuit, Andersen v. Roberts, against the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) in the New York State Court of Appeals. The case involves Supplemental Security (SSI) income, a federal program that provides monthly cash benefits to older adults and people with disabilities.
The appeal asks whether the NYS OTDA violates federal wage and hour laws when it takes back public assistance payments from SSI recipients without accounting for work that they were required to perform as a condition of receiving that assistance.
The Plaintiff class in this case are disabled New Yorkers who are required to work as a condition of receiving public assistance while waiting for a determination on their applications for federal SSI benefits from the Social Security Administration. When these workers are awarded SSI, the state intercepts their retroactive benefits to recover the amount of public assistance paid to them while their SSI application was pending. In the brief, the Plaintiffs argue that the amount recovered should be reduced by the value of the work they did, because they are protected by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The Social Services Law permits the State to recover the value of assistance paid to any person who later receives a “windfall” such as a lottery prize, inheritance, or certain lawsuit settlements. However, for all these other recoveries, the State provides credit for the value of work when calculating the amount it takes. The Andersen case challenges the fact that the State does not apply the work credit to recoveries of retroactive SSI benefits.
Thousands of New York Workers to Receive Relief After Landmark Settlement in Pandemic Employment Case
Empire Justice Center, in partnership with the University at Buffalo School of Law’s Clinical Legal Education Program, has reached a major settlement in Inzinga v. New York State Department of Labor — a federal case filed in 2021 on behalf of non-professional school employees who were improperly denied unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The case challenged the New York State Department of Labor’s determination that bus drivers, aides, and other non-professional school employees were ineligible for unemployment benefits during summer 2020 because they allegedly had “reasonable assurance” of future employment — a determination made even as the pandemic upended normal employment expectations for workers across New York.
Under the settlement, the Department of Labor has agreed to sweeping relief for affected workers, including reversing findings that claimants made willful misrepresentations to obtain benefits, recognizing that benefits received during summer 2020 were obtained in good faith, eliminating repayment obligations, and confirming that workers’ future benefits will not be affected. The agreement is expected to benefit approximately 5,300 New Yorkers — both non-professional and professional educational employees — many of whom had faced significant financial hardship and potential collection actions after unexpectedly being asked to repay thousands of dollars.
The press release is available on our website.
Buffalo News: Law students help secure unemployment benefits for state employees
Melinda Fithen, Litigation Director and lead counsel at Empire Justice Center, led the case through years of complex federal litigation. “We are proud to have reached a resolution that provides meaningful relief to thousands of impacted workers,” said Fithen. “This settlement reflects years of persistent advocacy and underscores the importance of ensuring that unemployment systems operate fairly, especially in times of crisis.”
The case also highlights Empire Justice Center’s commitment to impact litigation that addresses systemic barriers to justice. This outcome is a powerful reminder of what sustained public interest advocacy can achieve: when workers were told they had to repay benefits they had rightly relied upon, Empire Justice Center stood with them — and won.
Disability Advocates Move to Hold Suffolk County in Contempt for Violating Settlement in Disability Rights Lawsuit
Empire Justice Center, along with partners the National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ) and Dentons US LLP have moved to hold the Suffolk County Department of Social Services (SCDSS) in contempt of a 2022 class action settlement order of the case Newkirk et al. v. Imhof due to the agency’s continued unlawful denials of reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to disabled individuals applying for and receiving public benefits, including Medicaid, SNAP, Temporary Assistance, and Temporary Housing Assistance. Reasonable accommodations are changes or modifications of rules, policies, or practices needed to allow individuals with disabilities to have equitable access to benefits and services to the same extent as people without disabilities.
The motion asks the Court to hold SCDSS in contempt for violating the 2022 order, order them into compliance, and order related sanctions and relief measures. Client stories from Sufolk County reveal that their behavior has worsened since the original order in 2022. The agency routinely offers unsuitable and unsafe housing placements to people experiencing homelessness despite granting reasonable accommodation requests, and relies on illegal bases to deny accommodation requests, demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of the ADA. SCDSS’s efforts and internal oversight mechanisms are inadequate to remedy these failures, necessitating greater intervention from the Court.
You can find more information in our press release, available on our website.
An Urgent Call for Immigration Services in New York
In March, the New York Legal Services Coalition released a white paper on the urgent need for immigration representation in New York State. Immigrant New Yorkers face increase risk, including judicial proceedings and deportation hearings, yet are not guaranteed legal counsel. New York State has historically funded free legal services for those who require assistance, including organizations such as Empire Justice Center; the increased demand for services has outpaced the available funding available to help. Changes coming from the federal government have cut funding available to states but have also expanded detention and deportation – tearing families apart, destabilizing communities, and overwhelming legal services beyond capacity. Those who secure legal representation in immigration court are more likely to be released from detention, appear in court, and avoid deportation than those who do not have an attorney, especially children who must represent themselves.
To ensure that families have adequate legal services for representation in immigration court, $175 m is needed to stabilize and expand legal representation. This would include the passage of the Access to Representation Act, establishing a statewide right to counsel in removal proceedings, as well as enactment of the BUILD Act to strengthen long-term capacity.
City & State NY: Report finds immigrant legal services under stress in New York – City & State New York
News 10: New York for All Act rally: ICE restrictions, legal fund, Buffalo refugee homicide
Queens Daily Eagle: State immigration legal services can’t keep up with demand, new report finds — Queens Daily Eagle
Queens Daily Eagle: Immigration legal groups stretched thin in Queens — Queens Daily Eagle
Report of the Commission on Racial and Structural Equity (RASE)
On April 15th, the Commission on Racial and Structural Equity (RASE) released its 6th annual community progress report. RASE is a community-led initiative launched in 2020 by the City of Rochester and Monroe County to identify areas of structural inequity and recommend ways to change those laws to achieve fair application for all citizens. Empire Justice has worked alongside community partners to advance this important effort, with our zoning and pretextual stops advocacy being integral pieces in the work.
In March 2021, the Commission delivered its initial report with 215 recommendations to address structural inequity, which included appointing a successor organization to track these recommendations. The Urban League of Rochester was later designated to lead the work. Implementation is carried out through “CARTs” –Community Advancing Recommendation Teams – which focus on specific subject areas.
Rochester City Mayor Malik Evans and Monroe County Executive Adam Bello celebrated RASE’s progress to date, noting that about 50% of the RASE Commission’s recommendations have been implemented to date.
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