New York lawmakers were busy in 2022, passing almost 200 new laws that will go into effect in 2023.
Some of the most significant laws are aimed at protecting the environment, making it easier to vote, improving public safety, helping consumers, and increasing transparency from nursing homes.
Here’s a quick look at some of the changes required by those laws:
New restrictions on space heaters
Electric space heaters sold in New York must be equipped with thermostats and automatic shut-off switches under a new statewide law.
The heaters also must be certified by a testing and certification body approved by the U.S. Department of Labor and Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The law was passed in response to a January fire in the Bronx that killed 19 people. A space heater was found to be the cause of the fire.
Nursing home transparency
Nursing homes and other residential care providers will be required to notify residents and their families or guardians any time an infection is confirmed within a facility.
The law also requires nursing homes to have a plan to protect exposed residents during an infectious disease outbreak.
The new requirement is a result of the state’s examination of failures in nursing home safety during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cracking down on robocalls
A new law targeting telemarketers makes it easier for consumers to opt out of receiving robocalls in the future.
Telemarketers will be required to give consumers the option to be added to a do-not-call list at the beginning of any telemarketing call.
The option to be placed on the do-not-call list must be offered to consumers immediately after the telemarketer or solicitor provides their name.
Telemarketers had been required under existing law to inform consumers that they could be added to the do-not-call list. But that option often wasn’t offered until the end of the call.
Voting reforms
Some voters who cast their ballots at the wrong polling place will see their votes counted under a law that begins with the state’s 2023 elections.
The new law requires election officials to count the ballot of any registered voter who is in the correct county and state Assembly district, even if they’re at the incorrect polling place.
Protection against domestic violence
A package of five new laws are aimed at protecting and supporting survivors of domestic and gender-based violence.
One of the laws will make it easier to seize firearms from people who are the subject of a protective order. Judges will determine if the firearm owner remains a danger.
Separately, criminal or family court judges will be required to ask whether someone who is the subject of an order of protection possesses any guns.
Under the new laws, survivors of sexual assault will be able to apply to the state to seal their voter registration information from the public and opt out of shared contracts without penalty.
Health insurance providers will be required to give domestic violence survivors the option of providing alternative contact information to access claims and benefits.
Raising the minimum wage
The minimum wage in Upstate New York increases Dec. 31, 2022, the seventh consecutive year of a phased-in wage hike.
In Upstate New York and areas outside of New York City and its suburbs, the minimum wage will go from $13.20 per to $14.20 per hour.
The 7.5% increase means that a person working full time in a minimum wage job will be paid an additional $40 per week.
Fast food workers were placed in a separate category and now are paid at least $15 per hour across the state.
Cryptomining moratorium
In the new year, New York will become the first state in the nation to temporarily halt the development of new cryptomining operations.
The law places a two-year moratorium on the issue or new or renewed air permits for fossil fuel plants that power industrial-sized computer farms used to create new cryptocurrency.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the law amid pressure to stop a cryptomining operation in the Finger Lakes.
Preventing opioid overdoses on college campuses
All public colleges and universities in New York state will be required to carry life-saving medications such as Narcan in their dormitories to counter the effects of an opioid overdose.
Under the new law, resident assistants and other trained staff in college dorms will be trained to administer the overdose medications.
State officials said the law is in response to a national crisis. In 2019, 2,939 people died in New York from fatal overdoses.
Breastfeeding in the workplace
All New York employers will be required to provide private and convenience spaces for breastfeeding in the workplace.
Employers will have to provide private pumping spaces that includes seating, access to running water and electricity.
The law also requires employers to come up with a written policy outlining employee rights when breastfeeding in the workplace.
Rights for people with disabilities
A package of five new laws will strengthen rights for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
One of the laws gives a legal right for those with intellectual disabilities to have an active role in making decisions about their lives, giving the disabled more autonomy.
Under the law, intellectually disabled people will be able to make legal decisions with the assistance of a trusted person in their life.
Cracking down on hate crimes
A new law will require individuals convicted of hate crimes to undergo training or counseling in hate crime prevention and education.
The training and counseling are in addition to other criminal penalties that offenders may face.
The training or counseling sessions must be authorized by a court or local agencies in cooperation with organizations that serve an affected community.
Electric vehicle charging stations
State lawmakers removed barriers to the installation of electric vehicle charging stations on private property.
The law prohibits homeowners’ associations from imposing sweeping restrictions that would prohibit homeowners from installing charging station on their property.
The law gives associations the right to provide input on the installation process.
Salary transparency required for NY companies
A law that takes effect in September 2023 will require New York companies to publicly list salaries in job postings.
New York companies with four or more employees must list the hourly or annual salary in job ads or list a range with the minimum and maximum pay.
New York will be the fourth state in the nation that requires companies to be more transparent about worker compensation.
Financial aid for organ donors
The New York State Living Donors Support Act will be the first in the nation to reimburse organ donors for the financial costs of kidney and liver donations.
A new state program aimed at eliminating barriers for organ donations will cover extra expenses and lost income that aren’t reimbursed by health insurance or other sources.
State officials say 8,569 people are on waiting lists in New York for organ transplants, including 7,234 who need a kidney.
More time for voter registration
New Yorkers will have more time to register to vote under a bill signed into law by Hochul in late December.
Starting in 2023, state residents will be able to register in person up until 10 days before an election, or 15 days in advance if registering by mail.
Under the old law, the registration deadline was 25 days before an election.
Protecting warehouse workers
The Warehouse Worker Protection Act will offer new protections for warehouse distribution workers who fail to meet undisclosed or illegal employer quotas for work speed.
Distribution centers will be required to disclose work-speed data to existing and former employees, including information about their performance and rights in the workplace.
Workers will be protected from disciplinary action or firing based exclusively on failure to meet undisclosed speed quotas that do not allow for proper breaks.