Welcome to the February edition of our newsletter, Policy Matters. This month, we bring you updates on our budget advocacy and testimony, news about priority bills, information on the Community Summit hosted by the State Office of the Attorney General in Rochester, and Staff Recognition. We are also continuing our work to respond to policy changes and to shore up and expand safeguards for New Yorkers who need the laws’ protections the most. Updates below!
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Budget and Testimony Updates
We are fully immersed in budget season! As a reminder, Governor Hochul released the Executive Budget last month and Empire Justice has been hard at work alongside our colleagues across the state pushing to achieve our policy goals. Thirty-day amendments were released February 20 with some big news to help student loan borrowers – the funding for the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program (EDCAP) was restored! The Legislature’s one house budget proposals are expected to be released mid-March. One-house budgets – presented by the Assembly and Senate – represent each chamber’s priorities for the upcoming year. These proposals are starting points for the negotiations between the legislature and the governor. As part of our advocacy process, our team participates in lobby days throughout the budget session and submits joint budget testimony for our campaigns.
Public Protection
President and CEO, Kristin Brown provided testimony at the Joint Legislative Hearing on Public Protection this month on the significance of civil legal services to New York’s communities. In her testimony, we requested support for:
- Pay parity for civil legal service providers to address the recruitment and retention crisis – more information on the pay parity crisis can be found in the white paper by New York Legal Services Coalition (NYLSC), of which Kristin Brown is the President of the Board;
- Support of the Office of Court Administration budget as proposed, including the increase to civil legal services, targeted to address recruitment and retention challenges;
- The need to protect the Interest on Lawyer’s Account;
- Reforming New York’s contracting and payment processes through uniformity, streamlined systems, identifying best practices and efficiencies to be implemented across contracts and agencies;
- Continue to ensure support for Victims of Crime and privacy for people with court-ordered name changes.
You can also watch the testimony on YouTube.
Programmatic Testimony
In addition to our oral testimony at the Public Protection hearing, we provided written testimony for other programs in support of our work in service to New Yorkers:
- Health – supports our Community Health Advocates program, serving those often having been denied by their insurance company to care to which they are entitled;
- Human Services – our largest piece of testimony – requests funding to support the most vulnerable in our communities, including our Disability Advocacy Program (DAP). New York has long been a national leader in the DAP program, and the funds allow advocates to assist disabled New Yorkers with their SSI/SSD appeals, while generating additional cost savings for the state and local municipalities. This testimony also includes funding to improve public assistance programs that would assist those in poverty, including those who are affected by theft of SNAP benefits.
- Higher Education – EDCAP (Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program) testimony advocates to the Legislature to ensure a fully-funded program in the final budget to help student loan borrowers navigate their repayment options at no cost. In last month’s issue of Policy Matters, EDCAP was not included in Governor Hochul’s budget. We were glad to see it included in the 30-day amendments. Empire Justice Center will continue to advocate to ensure this is included in the final budget.
- Housing – includes the request for formal codification for the Homeowner Protection Program (S.2627 Kavanagh/A.1625 Solages), in addition to ensuring that the $40 m allocated in the governor’s budget is preserved in the final budget. The testimony also called for funding Office for Temporary and Disability Assistance Programs that impact housing access, which we also covered in our Human Services testimony: Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) program which provides essential funding to support legal services and representation for eviction cases primarily outside of New York City to ensure housing for our clients; Shelter Allowance, requesting an Increase of Benefits for Housing Expenses for Households Eligible for Public Assistance (S.1454 Kavanagh / A.1507 Rosenthal); and support for establishing a state-wide housing voucher program (S.72 Kavanagh /A.1704 Rosenthal).
- Taxes – advocates for expanding and strengthening tax credits to reduce poverty, particularly through the passing of the Working Families Tax Credit (S.2082 Gounardes/A.3474 Hevesi).
Strengthening Protections for Consumers
The Consumer and Small Business Protection Act, CSPA, has been introduced in the Assembly, with Assemblymember Lasher signing as the new Assembly sponsor for the bill. We are thrilled to have his support (S. 105 Comrie/A.5287 Lasher). This legislation modernizes New York State law by prohibiting unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices in business transactions. Changes at the federal level make protections in New York even more imperative. New White House budget director and acting Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) director, Russell Vought, has closed the CFPB office and instructed all workers to cease work. With this critical agency shut down, unscrupulous businesses will be able to run amok. New York urgently needs to strengthen our state consumer protection law by passing CSPA now.
A recent op-ed in The Buffalo News discusses CSPA and how consumers can be left in the lurch without protections in New York State.
Legislative Updates
- SHIELD Law (S.4914 Hoylman-Sigal/A.5480A Bronson) We are happy to report that this bill has been updated with a number with Assemblymember Bronson putting his sponsoring this bill. The SHIELD Law aims to protect people who seek legally protected health services from criminal or civil liability and professional sanctions imposed by other jurisdictions. This bill would allow people from other states who are fleeing unsafe situations, such as domestic violence or child abuse, to seek safety in New York. Additionally, it would close loopholes in our existing law.
- We have an updated version of the Ensuring Safe and Fair Traffic Enforcement bill (S.3662A Hoylman-Sigal). This bill will reduce racial disparities in traffic enforcement while improving road and public safety. Studies show that there are racial disparities in who is stopped for low-level, non-safety traffic violations and who is searched. This bill will prevent police from stopping cyclists, pedestrians and motorists solely for these low-level stops, such as an item dangling from a rearview mirror or failure to have a bell on a bicycle. It will also prohibit racial profiling and provide a procedure in criminal cases in which defendants can contest admissibility of evidence seized as a result of racial profiling, require additional precautions to ensure that consent searches of vehicles are truly the product of consent, and require collection, analysis and transparency of data relating to traffic stops, including racial demographics.
- We also now have an Assembly number for the Privacy in Name Changes bill (S.2431 Hoylman-Sigal/A.3925 Lavine). This bill is important because while all other types of name changes – such as for 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. The Office of Court Administration recently implemented a new rule, which is a positive step, however, OCA can only go as far as the law allows. We must change the law to treat name changes in court the same way as all other name changes. There is no reason for New York state to allow 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 of utmost urgency.
Empire Justice Center strongly supports these bills, as referenced in our 2025 Policy Agenda.
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State Office of the Attorney General Hosts Community Partnership Summit
Empire Justice Center proudly co-sponsored a Community Partnership Summit in Rochester, hosted by State Office of the Attorney General (OAG) earlier this month. The Summit provided opportunities for the OAG to hear directly from community organizations about issue areas affecting Rochester communities, such as housing, health care, labor, LGBTQ+, policing, education, access to justice, and child poverty while organizations could learn more about the OAG’s work so that they can respond to the needs and priorities in Rochester. Empire Justice Center presented at the Summit, discussing our work in the community as well as how we collaborate with the Office of the Attorney General in accomplishing common goals.
Legislative Conference in Albany
The 54th Annual Legislative Conference of the New York State Association of Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislators took place earlier this month in Albany. Director of CASH and Strategic Partnerships, Yversha Roman co-presented at the conference with Peter Gannon – Executive Director of the United Way of the Capital District where they also host a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site. The presentation discussed exploring the financial challenges faced by underbanked minority communities, which highlighted the statistic that nearly 25% of Black and Latino households in the U.S. are either unbanked or underbanked. They focused on the role of VITA sites, such as CASH in our Rochester office, as a vital resource for bridging this gap. CASH (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) provides free tax preparation services while connecting individuals to critical financial resources such as banking services, credit-building tools, and government assistance programs. By leveraging VITA sites, communities can gain financial literacy and access essential services to improve their financial security and overall well-being. This event brings together elected officials, advocates, business leaders, and community members from across the state to engage in dialogue regarding issues and policies, attend workshops, and networking opportunities. This event plays a critical role in addressing challenges faced by communities in New York, encouraging meaningful discussions, helping to advance policy initiatives that focus on promoting equity and justice.
Staff Celebration!
Join us in celebrating Director of CASH and Strategic Partnerships, Yversha Roman, in her nomination for the Young Professional Athena Award! The Young Professional Athena Award recognizes young female leaders who demonstrates excellence, creativity and initiative in their business or profession; provides valuable service to improve the quality of life for others in their community; and clearly serve as a role model for women and girls, both personally and professionally. This is Yversha’s second time being honored with this nomination – a clear indication of her notable achievements in our community. Empire Justice Center co-sponsored the event this year as well! Please join us in commending Yversha in this honor!
Thank You For Reading
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