There is a lot happening around the state right now with the Un-PAUSE plan being rolled out in various regions of New York and many cities and localities dealing with the protests in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week.
The Senate and Assembly have announced that they will convene via remote session at some point next week to pass criminal justice reform measures in response to the protests and calls for action. At this time, we do not have an agenda or details on timing of the session. We do know that it looks as though legislation dealing with 50-a, the provision dealing with the release of disciplinary action against police officers, will be on the agenda. The Governor has already announced that he will sign whatever the legislature sends him on this issue.
The Governor has announced that the Western New York region is entering Phase 2 today and the Capital Region will enter Phase 2 tomorrow. The New York City region is still on track to enter Phase 1 on Monday, June 8. The Governor also announced that summer day camps will be authorized to open beginning on Monday, June 29. He indicated that they are still reviewing sleep away camps and that there is no final decision on those yet.
Finally, for anyone in the New York City area, we received an email from the MTA regarding resources for MTA service region-based clients as they prepare to reopen the city during Phase 1. This is a list of available resources for businesses and employees in the MTA region:
- This is the link for the regional employer registration, which the MTA is using to build their list of direct contacts who are interested in receiving real-time information from the MTA. Businesses and employees can sign up here to receive up to date information, but the MTA also wants to hear directly from the business about how they can best serve the employees and MTA riders’ needs.
- This link explains the MTA overnight service changes, how riders can plan their trips and other coronavirus resources such as information on the cleaning and disinfecting of the MTA fleet.
- This link has specific information on Transit overnight service, information on express bus service, subway schedules and overnight enhanced bus maps.
- Finally, this link has all of the information on how to sign up for the MTA overnight essential connector service. The MTA invites riders to sign up for this service so they can determine how to best serve the riders overnight travel needs and evaluate if their commute makes them eligible for a one way for-hire ride overnight.
If you are in the New York City area, please review and share this information far and wide with any of your contacts, clients, members, etc. If you have additional questions about this update or any other developments that are happening as New York continues to Un-PAUSE, please reach out to a member of our Government Affairs practice group for assistance: