ARTICLE
2016 NY Legislative Session Comes to a Close The 2016 NY Legislative Session officially came to a close at the end of last week, finishing in the early hours of Saturday, June 18. ECA was successful in its efforts regarding notice provisions in public works contracts and changes to the workers' compensation law. We are happy to report that S6906 and A10136, an act to amend the public authorities law, the general municipal law, the public service law and the state finance law, in relation to notice provisions in public works contracts, passed both the Senate and Assembly. ECA believes this bill will regulate arbitrary and unfair notice requirements in public construction contracts and wrote a letter of support for the passage of Senator Michael Ranzenhofer's bill. We will now write to urge the Governor to sign the legislation. Our conversations last week with the Senate Majority's office regarding extending paid family leave benefits to construction workers appear to have been educational, as the Senate's bill (S7994) remained in committee. While the Assembly bill (A10680) was brought to the floor for a vote and passed, as a one house bill, it won't go any further at this time. The Senate measure will have to be reintroduced next session, and if it is, we expect there to be several changes made to the original bill in order to make it realistic for the construction industry. Senator John DeFrancisco's debarment bill (S5695) did not go forward, as he introduced a separate bill (S8127), which directs that a work group be formed to study and make recommendations to the legislature regarding annualization for benefit plan contributions. ECA was not in support of the Senator's original debarment bill because of the annualization piece. However, we continue to support Senator Jack Martin's debarment bill (S3995). While that bill was not voted on, its counterpart, A5414, did pass. We will wait to see if these issues move forward during the next legislative session. Please contact Todd Helfrich (toddh@ecainc.org / 518-869-0961) with any questions you may have regarding ECA's positions on NY legislative actions.
The 2016 NY Legislative Session officially came to a close at the end of last week, finishing in the early hours of Saturday, June 18. ECA was successful in its efforts regarding notice provisions in public works contracts and changes to the workers' compensation law. We are happy to report that S6906 and A10136, an act to amend the public authorities law, the general municipal law, the public service law and the state finance law, in relation to notice provisions in public works contracts, passed both the Senate and Assembly. ECA believes this bill will regulate arbitrary and unfair notice requirements in public construction contracts and wrote a letter of support for the passage of Senator Michael Ranzenhofer's bill. We will now write to urge the Governor to sign the legislation. Our conversations last week with the Senate Majority's office regarding extending paid family leave benefits to construction workers appear to have been educational, as the Senate's bill (S7994) remained in committee. While the Assembly bill (A10680) was brought to the floor for a vote and passed, as a one house bill, it won't go any further at this time. The Senate measure will have to be reintroduced next session, and if it is, we expect there to be several changes made to the original bill in order to make it realistic for the construction industry. Senator John DeFrancisco's debarment bill (S5695) did not go forward, as he introduced a separate bill (S8127), which directs that a work group be formed to study and make recommendations to the legislature regarding annualization for benefit plan contributions. ECA was not in support of the Senator's original debarment bill because of the annualization piece. However, we continue to support Senator Jack Martin's debarment bill (S3995). While that bill was not voted on, its counterpart, A5414, did pass. We will wait to see if these issues move forward during the next legislative session. Please contact Todd Helfrich (toddh@ecainc.org / 518-869-0961) with any questions you may have regarding ECA's positions on NY legislative actions.