CityAndStateNY.com
June 6, 2022
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins addressed reporters as the session drew to a close.
LAWMAKERS APPROVE GUN SAFETY MEASURES
As they wrapped up legislating for the year, lawmakers in Albany agreed on a package of 10 bills meant to strengthen the state’s already tight gun laws and address
violent extremism online. Perhaps most significantly, the state Legislature approved a bill that would require licensing to purchase and use a semiautomatic rifle, effectively raising the age to buy one from 18 to 21. When signed into law, New York will join only a handful of states that have placed
a higher age requirement on the AR-15-style weapons, though other states have faced issues over the constitutionality of their laws. Another bill will, in most cases, prevent the sale to civilians of body vests – the type like the alleged Buffalo shooter wore that protected him from a retired police officer who was guarding the supermarket. Lawmakers also passed bills to strengthen the state’s Red Flag Law, which permits the confiscation of a person’s gun if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others by requiring law enforcement to file for an extreme risk protection order in those instances. Another piece of legislation will create a task force focused on violent extremist domestic terrorism fueled by racist ideology, with another making public threats of mass violence a crime.
“Not germane, Tito, Michael or any other Jackson.”
– state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, ruling on an off-topic GOP amendment to a bill, via Gothamist’s Jon Campbell
STRENGTHENING ABORTION ACCESS TOPS PRIORITIES
State lawmakers tackled another national issue in abortion rights, as the U.S.
VOTING RIGHTS COME TO NEW YORK
DNC IN NYC? Mayor Eric Adams is hellbent on boosting the New York City’s economy, and what better way to do that than hosting the Democratic National Convention in one of the country’s bluest cities? At the launch of the city’s bid to host the 2024 DNC, keen observers noted that Adams was the only one out of the many distinguished guests to not don shoe coverings in the gleaming One Vanderbilt skyscraper. These, apparently, are the privileges afforded to mayors – and potential presidential candidates?
Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. New York had already codified the right to an abortion in state law in 2019, but the state Legislature approved several new bills that would protect abortion providers against miscondunct allegations and out-of-state legal action in cases where they offer care to out-of-state patients coming from areas where abortion may become illegal. Lawmakers also voted on other bills meant to strengthen the protections in the state, which were already among the strongest in the nation. However, a state constitutional amendment that would have codified various equality rights, including against discrimination based on pregnancy status and reproductive care choices, did not make it over the finish line despite strong pushes from advocates to get the ball rolling on the multiyear process to amend the state constitution.
“No. No. No. No. No. No.” – Rep. Jerry Nadler, who will face Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a primary, on whether he planned to retire, via The New York Times
Rounding out the national topics that lawmakers took up was voting rights as they approved the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York, named for its federal counterpart that so far has failed to pass in the U.S. Senate. The landmark bill would codify a series of voting rights protections into state law in the wake of the recent gutting of
SENATE MEDIA SERVICES; U.S. HOUSE OFFICE OF PHOTOGRAPHY; SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
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