Local State Representatives Preview Their Agendas for Upcoming Legislative Session

By Mary Alice Miller
The 2025 legislative session convenes on January 8. With Trump being inaugurated for a second time, voters will be watching to see how New York legislators protect progressive values while maintaining advocacy for their constituents.

“My legislative priorities for the upcoming Session in Albany, as always, are focused on the most pressing issues facing Assembly District 42: including protecting immigration rights, improving equitable education, boosting economic development, increasing health care access, protecting public safety, and more,” said Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn.

Bichotte Hermelyn said, “While every issue is important, our City and State are facing several urgent, unprecedented crises that I’ve been laser-focused on addressing.”
As the MWBE Oversight Committee Chair, Bichotte Hermelyn’s major priority is extending the MWBE Program in 2025 (via Article 15-A) while continuously improving it through legislation.

“I’m working to ensure the MWBE Program is well-equipped to keep breaking barriers and building economic equality, following back-to-back, record-breaking Fiscal Years of MWBE success,” Bichotte Hermelyn said. “With recent court decisions dismantling DEI, we will keep strengthening the Program to safeguard New York and not go backward.”

New York is still facing a maternal mortality crisis, disproportionately affecting Black women, and it is a life-or-death epidemic. “Last year’s budget included several first-in-the-nation policies, like paid prenatal care leave, that I helped institute—and I will keep advancing new legislation to make motherhood safer alongside my colleagues in the Black Maternal Health Caucus,” said Bichotte Hermelyn.

Bichotte Hermelyn has sponsored legislation with Senator Leroy Comrie to address New York’s severe housing shortage and affordability issues in support of Mayor Adams’ “Axe the Tax for the Working Class” plan. It would eliminate city income taxes for more than 429,000 people and their dependents, while cutting taxes for another 152,000 more, to put 63 million dollars back in New Yorkers’ pockets.

As the NYS Assembly Majority Whip, Bichotte Hermelyn added that she is “responsible to ensure my colleagues are united on passing bills that are in our constituents’ best interests and uplift all New Yorkers.”

Senator Roxanne Persaud (19th Senatorial District) expressed three of her top priorities: Human Services COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment), a “new” year-round Youth Employment Immersion Program, and Right to Cancer Screening.

The Human Services COLA bill would cover a wider breadth of contracted human services workers eligible for the human Services Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) by adding previously missing programs to the eligibility. “Unfortunately, the current human services COLA leaves out many human services workers and has held them at wages not conducive to their own health and wellbeing,” said Persaud. “It is important that all human services workers receive fair wages, and the human services COLA would assist in this goal.”

Establishing a new year-round Youth Employment Immersion Program would give young New Yorkers ages 16-24 who have not completed high school or college (and not necessarily college-tracked) education and employment readiness services and pay them a close to living wage.

The Right to Cancer Screening bill would expand preventative health care to patients with a personal or family history of ovarian cancer. “It is essential that cancer survivors be given the right to preventative health screening, considering they can be more vulnerable to getting the disease again,” said Persaud.

Assemblywoman Latrice Walker (D-55) has a top ten list of priorities for the next legislative session.
Second Look authorizes certain persons confined in institutions operated by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to apply for a sentence reduction.
Bill A1088 Subtracts Election Day worker’s pay, any income earned by election inspectors, poll clerks, or election coordinators, from the federal adjusted gross income.
Walker proposes imposing an excise tax on the sale of ammunition to be deposited into the gun violence impact fund and establishes the fund.

The Fair College Admissions Act would prohibit degree-granting institutions of higher education from giving preference to applicants based on such applicant’s familial relationship to an alumni of such institution.

The Financial Literacy for Children Aging Out of Foster Care bill establishes a program for financial transitional living services for foster children, establishes independent development savings accounts for foster children over the age of 16, and requires foster children to attend financial literacy and independent living classes.

The Family Miranda Act requires child protective services to orally and in writing disclose certain information to parents and caretakers who are the subject of a child protective services investigation. Such oral and written disclosure must contain certain information regarding the rights of the person under investigation.
The Democracy Preservation Act prohibits contributions by foreign-influenced business entities; requires certification.

Bill A6739B would increase the amount of residential solar tax credits.
The Consumer Litigation Funding bill would promote consumer protections related to consumer litigation funding transactions; provides for contract requirements, including that the contract contain a no penalty provision for the prepayment of the funded amount prior to the settlement of his or her case; makes related provisions.

Walker’s Voting in Detention bill relates to voting rights and access for incarcerated individuals; authorizes polling places to be available at correctional facilities and local facilities; requires such facilities to provide persons detained or confined in such facilities access to register to vote or apply for an absentee ballot; requires voting information to be included in the inmate handbook.