GOVERNOR SPITZER HIGHLIGHTS NEW LAWS BECOMING EFFECTIVE ON NEW YEAR'S DAY

Governor Eliot Spitzer announced today that significant legislation addressing human rights, healthcare, workers. compensation and consumer protection will become law tomorrow on New Year's Day.

"The laws that become effective tomorrow demonstrate what we can accomplish in Albany when we work together for the public good," said Governor Spitzer. "I applaud the legislature and thank the sponsors of the legislation for their efforts to pass these measures. While there is still much to be done, these laws are an important first step."

Human Rights

Legislation (S. 5902/A. 8679) to strengthen penalties against human trafficking was signed by Governor Spitzer on June 6, 2007. The bill was sponsored by Senator Frank Padavan and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz. Both Senator Padavan and Assemblyman Dinowitz worked tirelessly for passage of this important bill.

In 2003, the United States Department of State estimated that approximately 18,000 to 20,000 people are trafficked into the United States each year for forced labor, involuntary domestic servitude, or sexual exploitation. Unfortunately, New York is a frequent hub of such activity. Trafficking also originates on the domestic level and frequently involves children. In fact, the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) recently estimated that over 2,500 children in New York State are exploited for purposes of commercial sexual activity each year.

This bill addresses human trafficking in three important ways: it creates new felony crime designations that specifically target the methods used by traffickers to exploit their victims; establishes mechanisms to facilitate the delivery of social services to trafficking victims who are currently ineligible to receive such services; and forms a task force to coordinate implementation of the new laws and to ensure that the state's efforts are effective in fighting trafficking and protecting victims.

A bill (S. 5670-B/A. 4932-B) to clarify the scope of protections against discrimination on the basis of disability in areas of public accommodation was signed by Governor Spitzer on August 1, 2007. The legislation was sponsored by Senator Stephen Saland and Assemblywoman Amy Paulin.

Specifically, the new statute would make it a discriminatory practice under New York law for places of public accommodation to refuse to make reasonable modifications in policies, practices, or procedures necessary to afford access to facilities, privileges, or advantages to individuals with disabilities. Ultimately, this law will bring New York State law in alignment with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, and thus will not present businesses or government agencies with a new or unfamiliar set of rules to follow.

The new law also will allow persons with disabilities the ability to file certain complaints related to discriminatory practices through the State Division of Human Rights (DHR) rather than pursuing costly litigation in federal court. Individuals can bring their complaints to one of the numerous DHR centers around the State.

Healthcare

Significant health-related legislation to ensure comprehensiveness of services, promote efficiency and better serve the public will also take effect January 1. Legislation (S. 3982-A/A. 8097-A) to require that hospitals report a suspected or confirmed HAI associated with another hospital to the originating hospital and to extend the State Immunization Information System to prevent a gap in reporting was signed on June 29, 2007 by Governor Spitzer. The legislation was sponsored by the Chairs of the Health Committees in the legislature, Senator Kemp Hannon and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried. Both Hannon and Gottfried strongly advocated for this noteworthy legislation.

In order to ensure complete and accurate reporting of HAIs, health care facilities and providers must be able to notify each other of patients that are seen in more than one facility. This legislation provides facilities with the authority to share information in order to identify all sources of infection and to ensure appropriate care of individual patients. The legislation also promotes increased active surveillance, by requiring the collection of monthly infection data to provide immediate feedback to the reporting hospital.

The State Immunization Information System is a demonstration program that has been continued for a number of years. The system collects information provided by health care providers on a voluntary basis in order to track and monitor the immunization of children. Continuation of the voluntary immunization registry through today enabled the comprehensive collection of vaccination data until the mandated registry becomes effective tomorrow.

Workers' Compensation

Legislation (A. 6163/S. 3322) reforming the state's archaic workers' compensation law was also passed earlier this year. Governor Spitzer signed this bill into law on March 13, 2007. This legislation was sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Speaker Sheldon Silver. The Chairs of the Labor Committees in the Legislature, Senator George Maziarz and Assemblywoman Susan John, were also critically helpful in passage of this reform package. A collective effort on the part of government, business and labor was essential to passage of this bill, which will ultimately save businesses over $1 billion each year. Under the new system, benefits to injured workers have increased while we significantly reduced premiums to employers by about 20.5 percent.

Certain sections of the law will become effective on January 1, 2008. The sections include:

Consumer Protection

The airline Bill of Rights was passed into law earlier this year. The legislation (S. 5050-C/A. 8406-B) creates a first in the nation consumer Bill of Rights for airline passengers, which requires carriers to provide passengers with food, water, fresh air, power, and working restrooms on any flight on which passengers have boarded the plane and the flight has been delayed for more than three hours. The bill was sponsored by Senator Charles Fuschillo, Chair of the Senate Consumer Protection Committee and Assemblyman Michael Gianaris. Governor Spitzer signed this bill into law on August 1, 2007.

This bill also creates an Office of the Airline Consumer Advocate within the Consumer Protection Board. The Consumer Advocate will oversee compliance with the airline passenger Bill of Rights. In winter 2007, interminable weather delays at New York City area airports received national attention for poor consumer treatment as airline passengers were stuck on grounded flights, in one case for nearly 14 hours, without fresh air, food, water or access to lavatories. New York is the first state in the nation to pass an airline passenger consumer Bill of Rights.

Legislation (S. 4415/A. 7380) to conform New York's standards for the licensing and certification of real estate appraisers to new federal education standards will also become effective tomorrow. The bill, which initially was proposed by the Department of State, was sponsored by Senator Owen Johnson and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries. Governor Spitzer signed this bill into law on July 18, 2007.