Crunch time in Albany: Legislators facing hundreds of bills in just 13 session days

May 27-- May 27--ALBANY -- It's been a busy legislative session at the state Capitol.

Since convening in January, the Senate and Assembly have approved 185 "same as" bills.

That's twice as many bills that passed the Legislature, on average, over the past 10 years in the first five months of the session, according to a review of legislative records.

Now, though, the crunch time begins.

When lawmakers return Wednesday after a Memorial Day break, they will have just 13 session days before the 2019 legislative session is scheduled to end June 19.

By then, hundreds of bills -- major and minor ones -- will be pushed through at a briskly accelerated pace -- as presiding officers in the two chambers take on the role of auctioneer in pushing through dozens of bills in a single hour.

It's a diverse agenda lawmakers still have on their minds, with the potential to affect the health care New Yorkers receive, the condition of the roads and bridges they travel on, how they legally spend their leisure time, what rights they do and don't have, and, for some, how their lives might end.

Here are some of the issues on the table in Albany.

Rent regulations

Longstanding laws aimed at controlling rental costs in nearly 1 million New York City apartments expire in a few weeks, so this issue is consuming the most oxygen in the Capitol. Democrats -- who now control both houses of the Legislature and are predominantly from the city and downstate suburbs where the rent laws apply -- are looking to enact stronger tenant protections.

Moreover, lawmakers are looking to take the law on the road: Upstate would be covered by a statewide rent control standard under one main version of various bills being considered. It would let local communities opt into rent control if existing rental vacancy rates are below 5%. If they're in the system, localities would have to create their own boards that would determine annual rent increases that landlords can levy.

Supporters say upstate tenants need to be protected as much as New York City ones and that rent control will also help stabilize some neighborhoods facing the loss of existing tenants to gentrification. Critics say the idea has a chief fault: Upstate localities do not face the same housing challenges as New York City. The main bill under consideration would apply only to apartment buildings with six or more units that were built prior to 1974, though another measure would give tenants protection against eviction on a statewide basis.

Marijuana legalization

Kicking around for years, the idea of legalizing the cultivation, distribution and use of marijuana got a jolt this year when Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo proposed it in his budget. Cuomo offered a sweeping system to tax the drug, regulate its potency and price and called for a new state office that would vest the power to oversee a new marijuana marketplace to just one person: someone he would appoint.

The idea died in budget talks. On one side were lawmakers who insisted that a portion of the revenues be specifically directed each year to low-income, minority urban communities whose residents have been arrested for marijuana crimes in disproportionate numbers over the years. Cuomo did not want the state's fiscal hands tied to such set amounts.

Failure to strike a quick deal earlier this year gave an opportunity for opponents to mobilize. Their ranks grew to include law enforcement officials, physicians, county health officials, the New York State PTA and others. They raised concerns about the effect on traffic safety and on health, as well as about the way a state-sanctioned marijuana effort would send a signal to young people that marijuana is acceptable.

Lawmakers are making some amendments to an earlier marijuana legalization effort to try to lure Cuomo back to the negotiating table, but senators say the vote -- if held today -- would fail.

Medically assisted suicide

Backers call it medical aid in dying and death with dignity. Opponents call it assisted suicide. It's another issue that has been around for years: whether to give those with terminally ill diagnoses the right to have a physician prescribe medication to end their lives.

Cuomo recently said he believes such rights should exist, though it is uncertain if he is pushing for the actual legislation. The effort has gotten a bit of a bump after New Jersey recently became the eighth state to legalize the practice.

The measure carries with it consent requirements to ensure the patient is of sound mind when deciding to obtain a life-ending prescription and states that a patient must have a prognosis that they are expected to die within six months or less. Backers say the idea is about compassion for those who might suffer a painful or debilitating death, while opponents -- from the Catholic Church to the Medical Society of New York -- say it would turn on its head the practice of a doctor's duty to heal while raising numerous moral concerns.

Prevailing wage

Unions, buoyed by the new all-Democratic Albany, are making a serious effort to require all projects receiving any sort of government assistance or incentives to pay construction workers union-based wages called prevailing wages.

Unions say that developers should not be able to get government-backed assistance for projects and then not pay construction workers prevailing wages as are required for direct government projects, such as road construction. Do that, developers say, and it will cost thousands of future construction jobs on projects that will never happen because they would cost too much.

Sexual harassment

There are nearly a dozen bills dealing with workplace sexual harassment. They come as lawmakers held their first hearing on the topic in three decades. Former legislative aides who were sexually assaulted on the job have been among the leaders in pressing for Albany to enact stronger sexual harassment protections for workers in the public and private sectors.

There are measures to change the constitution to specifically ban sex discrimination, along with statutory efforts aimed at extending the statute of limitations in sexual harassment cases and to un-do the state's "severe or pervasive" standard by which sexual harassment is deemed to have been committed against a worker. New punitive damage awards would also be permitted in sexual harassment cases, and use of confidentiality agreements would be limited.

Something getting done on the issue seems likely this session. The question is: How comprehensive will it be?

Capital spending

Thought the state budget was completed April 1? Legally, it was. But a huge component was punted for another day: a multibillion-dollar capital spending bill. Lawmakers believe Cuomo is using the bill as leverage in upcoming end-of-session talks over unrelated, sticky items. What those sticky items might be is to be determined. The capital bill will, if things go as lawmakers want, include billions in old and new spending, including $100 million pushed by Sen. Tim Kennedy, a Buffalo Democrat, for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority's deteriorating light rail system, along with $6 million to study extending the system to the University at Buffalo's North Campus.

There could also be money for an array of capital efforts sought by Democrats who run the Assembly and Senate, as well as Cuomo, for economic development work, higher education construction projects, the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, and to help pay localities for road repairs due to "extreme" winter weather conditions.

Sports betting

There are four land-based casinos that later this summer are expected to begin offering in-person wagers on college and pro sports contests. Due to compact or treaty rights, the same wagering will be allowed at Indian casinos, such as the three Seneca Nation casinos. What's not allowed is the big money-maker in sports gambling: online betting.

Lawmakers are trying to permit such internet wagering, but they face concerns about everything from whether the idea violates the constitution to push-back from segments of the gambling industry cut out from plans to offer online bets. There are also opponents within the Democratic conferences in the two houses to what would be a dramatic expansion of gambling in a state that has seen dramatic gambling expansions the past couple decades.

Farm worker rights

A mid-level appeals court last week struck down a state law that prevents farmworkers from organizing and collectively bargaining with farm owners. The ruling will be appealed. In the meantime, there has been a growing push this session -- also years in the making -- to enact a bill called the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act.

That measure, opposed by farmers, would grant collective bargaining rights to farm laborers and require such things as at least 24 hours of consecutive rest each week and an 8-hour day for farm laborers before mandatory overtime pay of one and one-half times their normal rate kicks in. There are also provisions for new sanitary rules at laborer residences at farms and new workers compensation eligibility for farm workers.

Immigrant driver's licenses

In 2007, then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer issued an order to permit immigrants who were in the country illegally to be able to obtain a New York State driver's license. Under intense pressure, he backed down two months after unveiling his proposal.

Today, the effort is back. Supporters want the "Green Light" legislation added to a section to state law permitting those in the country illegally to obtain driver's licenses. Backers say many of them are already driving on the roads -- but without licenses or insurance. The bill would make roads safer, say supporters, who also call the bill a social justice issue for immigrants who are already living and working in New York.

Opponents say, among other things, that a state government should not be, in essence, setting its up immigration policy for a group of people who came to and are staying in the United States illegally. It is estimated 200,000 immigrants would obtain a state driver's license if the law is changed.

Limo safety

Following high-profile crashes, including the Schoharie County limo accident last year that killed 20 people, a push has been on to further regulate the limo industry. There are bills pending to expand limo driver training, require criminal background checks on limo drivers, impose new seatbelt rules and gives authorization the state DOT to impound stretch limos that have an "out of service" defect. There's also one that would create a hotline for consumers to call with complaints about stretch limos.

Consumer protections

There is a measure to address data breaches of individuals' personal information, putting new obligations on businesses to report such problems to consumers and applying new obligations to "any person or entity with private information of a New York resident" and not just to those that "conduct business" in the state.

There's a bill imposing new disclosure statements by cemeteries to better inform consumers about their fees as well as "options regarding how remains may be disposed." And there is a measure requiring used car dealers to check if a car for sale has a manufacturer's recall on it and, if so, to make the needed repairs or notify a buyer in advance.

Miscellaneous big and small

There are hundreds of bills that face life or death in the next several weeks on any assortment of issues. Will the state enact statewide regulations pertaining to short-term rental companies such as Airbnb? Will communities be permitted to let electric scooters and electric bikes on their streets or sidewalks? And will movie theaters be able to offer beer and wine sales through a new statewide licensing system?

The answers will come by June 19 for those and others, including measures on everything else from addressing climate change, improving what lawmakers say are poor building code enforcements in many localities, removing the religious exemption for otherwise mandatory vaccines of children, setting the presidential campaign's primary date in New York State for 2020 and implementing a new automatic voter registration system. New efforts are also on the table to do more about foreclosed but abandoned "zombie" properties, boost the amount of income a person with a public pension can earn without affecting their retirement checks, and outlaw discrimination based upon a person's natural hair or hair style.

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