The 2024 Session In Review: Proclaiming Justice and Mercy
Written by on January 4, 2025
[[{“value”:”
New York Families Foundation’s work covers four different broad areas of public policy: Protecting human life, promoting strong families, preserving religious liberty, and proclaiming justice and mercy. This article will summarize the events of the 2024 legislative session as they relate to proclaiming the biblical concepts of justice and mercy.
Two NYFF-supported bills in the justice and mercy category were enacted in 2024. First, the Warnings in Gambling Advertisements Act (Bill S.1550-Comrie/A.1118-Vanel) was enacted as Chapter 423 of the Laws of 2024. This legislation mandates that warnings about gambling addiction and other harms that can arise from gambling be contained within all advertisements for gambling and sports betting. In recent years, New York has licensed four full-fledged Vegas-style casinos and has legalized mobile sports betting. Furthermore, the state is expected to license up to three new licenses in the New York City metropolitan area in the coming years. Given our state government’s ill-advised embrace of the gambling industry, it is more important than ever for New Yorkers to be informed about the dangers of gambling. Providing that information to gamblers and potential gamblers is an act of mercy.
Another merciful law, the Nourish New York Expansion Act (Bill S.8690-Hinchey/A.9259-Lupardo), was enacted as Chapter 632 of the Laws of 2024. The Nourish New York Expansion Act is an anti-hunger, pro-farm measure that adds whole milk, two percent milk, and other non-alcoholic beverages produced on New York farms to the list of products offered by the Nourish New York program. The Nourish New York program came into existence during the COVID-19 pandemic; it was designed to connect New York agricultural products with New York homeless shelters and food banks for the purpose of addressing COVID-era supply chain problems that harmed people in need. NYFF has supported Nourish New York for years and is pleased that this law has been passed.
Unfortunately, the Legislature passed unjust laws in 2024 as well. Bill S.940-Bailey/A.6637-Septimo, a crime-related law enacted as Chapter 501 of the Laws of 2024, bans many prospective employers (including private colleges and universities) from requiring applicants to provide their criminal history records. This new law—like the Clean Slate Act of 2023, which automatically sealed parts of people’s criminal records—allows people to hide parts of their personal histories. Laws like this endanger Christian organizations and other employers by preventing them from obtaining full and accurate information about job applicants. When it comes to criminal records, transparency is the best policy.
In addition, the Legislature passed the Christopher Street Station Renaming Act (Bill S.7974-A-Hoylman-Sigal/A.8970-A-Glick, enacted as Chapter 127 of the Laws of 2024). This wrong-headed law renamed the Christopher Street-Sheridan Square subway station in lower Manhattan; it is now known as the Christopher Street-Stonewall National Monument Station. The purpose of the law is to commemorate the Stonewall Rebellion, a 1969 riot at a Manhattan homosexual bar that is regarded as a turning point in the gay liberation movement. While mistreatment and abuse of persons with LGBT identities is unChristian and unacceptable, so are violence and lawlessness. Violence and lawlessness should not be celebrated, and neither should homosexual behavior.
On a positive note, two unjust bills were vetoed by Gov. Hochul in 2024. Bill S.9673-A-Addabbo/A.10572-Rules (Pretlow) would have expedited the application process for downstate casino licenses. In her veto message (Veto No. 72), Gov. Hochul asserted that the bill was unfair because it would have changed the rules of the license application and review process midstream. Furthermore, Bill S.5532-May/A.1273-Kelles, which would have established a state LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, was vetoed by the Governor (Veto No. 20) because of its budgetary impact.
The State Senate passed a problematic bill in the justice and mercy category in 2024. Bill S.4880-C-Fernandez/A.7487-B-Kelles would establish a government program to check users’ illicit drugs for the presence of fentanyl and other contaminants. While this legislation may seem merciful, it would place state government in the position of enabling and facilitating the use of illegal drugs. NYFF will monitor this bill carefully in 2025. On the other hand, the State Senate also passed Bill S.1605-Serrano, a laudable bill that would provide free criminal background checks to nonprofit organizations’ mentoring programs. NYFF supports mentoring programs and supports legislation that would strengthen them.
NYFF is pleased to report that several unjust and dangerous bills failed to receive votes on the floor of either house of the New York State Legislature in 2024. The New York Health Act (Bill S.7590-Rivera/A.7897-Paulin), which would establish a state-run health insurance system for all New Yorkers without disclosing the cost to taxpayers, is one such bill. Others include the Gender Identity Respect, Dignity and Safety Act (GIRDSA) (Bill S.2860-Salazar; Bill A.709-A-Rozic), which would give “transgender” inmates of state and local correctional facilities the option of being placed in opposite-sex facilities; the Stop Violence in the Sex Trades Act (Bill S.4396-Salazar/A.8605-A-Forrest), which would fully legalize prostitution and would cause records of past prostitution-related offenses to be expunged; the Sex Trade Survivors Justice and Equity Act (Bill S.1352-Krueger/A.3386-Hunter), which would bar the prosecution of prostitutes, but would maintain and expand existing laws against sex trafficking, pimping, and paying for sex; an online casino gambling legalization bill (Bill S.8185-A-Addabbo/A.9198-Pretlow); an online poker legalization bill (Bill A.1380-Pretlow); tax breaks for mobile sports gambling operators (Bill S.1962-Addabbo/A.3666-Pretlow); and the Supervised Opioid Injection Sites Bills (Bill S.399-B-Rivera; Bill A.338-A-Rosenthal), which would create a pilot program to oversee so-called safe injection sites for drug users. However, a series of bills that would advance justice and mercy principles also failed to receive votes in 2024. Those bills include the Protect Girls’ Sports Act (Bill S.6259-Borrello/A.6124-Goodell), which would disallow male participation in interscholastic girls’ sports in grades seven through 12; the COVID-19 Study Commission Act (Bill S.5718-A-Walczyk/A.7102-Lemondes); Bill A.3183-A-Reilly, a bill defeated in the Assembly Codes Committee that would allow pretrial detention of an arrestee based upon a finding of dangerousness; the Grand Jury Transparency Act (Bill S.963-Bailey/A.3177-O’Donnell), which would allow judges to make some information from grand jury deliberations publicly available in certain cases, including in cases where an indictment has been dismissed; Laken’s Law (Bill S.8533-Lanza; Bill A.9167-A-Gandolfo), a bill defeated in the Assembly Codes Committee which would require courts and law enforcement officials to inform the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) when a defendant or an arrestee is not a citizen of the United States; Bill S.3171-Cleare/A.2528-Hevesi, which would establish the crime of sex trafficking of a vulnerable person; and Bill A.1336-Clark, which would create a tax credit for grocery store donations to food pantries.
The post The 2024 Session In Review: Proclaiming Justice and Mercy appeared first on New York Families Foundation.
“}]]
