Final deals elusive as NY lawmakers aim for adjournment

And the Assembly again refined the bill Friday night in hopes of striking an accord.

The bill’s sponsors, Sen.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, vowed Thursday that the pension forfeiture bill would be adopted.

The restrictions on prescriptions are part of broader legislation meant to address heroin and opioid addiction that also includes expanded treatment programs and insurance reforms meant to make it easier for addicts get help.

NY state will limit opioid prescriptions for acute pain to seven days under a measure that has passed the state Senate.

The agreement will: impose a pre-foreclosure duty on banks and servicers to maintain vacant and abandoned properties; improve the efficiency and integrity of the mandatory settlement conferences to better protect homeowners facing foreclosure; create a toll-free hotline for people to report potentially vacant and abandoned properties; establish an electronic database of vacant and abandoned properties to be maintained by the State Department of Financial Services; create an expedited foreclosure process for vacant and abandoned properties; and establish a consumer bill of rights informing property owners of their rights in foreclosure proceedings to prevent people from losing their homes. The Republican-led Senate supports a one-year extension of the policy, first enacted in 2002, while Cuomo and the Assembly’s Democratic majority support a three-year continuation.

Several high-profile bills are not expected to get votes, including more significant ethics and campaign finance reforms. A proposal that was picking up momentum Wednesday is a proposed state Constitutional amendment that, if placed on the ballot by lawmakers and approved by voters, would allow judges to strip the pensions of lawmakers convicted of corruption.

The amendment also isn’t a done deal.

The agreement, not as sweeping as watchdog groups had hoped, lowers the threshold for how much organizations and individuals can spend to lobby before publicly disclosing their source of funding to a state ethics agency.

The agreement will make NY the first state in the nation to put a requirement in statute that mandates periodic testing of drinking water in schools, reporting to parents and local and state entities, and provides guidance for remediation to ensure availability of clean and safe drinking water in every school.

Other outstanding issues include ethics reform and lead testing at schools around the state.

Blair Horner, legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, said a pension forfeiture law would get a “1 out of 10” on his list of important anti-corruption measures. “He was thinking of public officials using their office for private gain, and that really isn’t addressed”, he said.

A bill to regulate online daily fantasy sports was also under consideration, while legislation allowing Uber to expand outside of New York City appeared to be faltering. The issue hit the Legislature after Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the industry’s two biggest players – DraftKings and FanDuel – agreed to halt litigation before a state court in order to see if the Legislature wanted to legalize the contests. The popular online games were thrown into turmoil previous year when Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said they amounted to illegal gambling.

The issue attracted enough lobbyists to fill a football team’s roster worth of players for fantasy sports fans to select. Bars and restaurants outside New York City could apply for special permits to open at 8 a.m. up to a dozen times a year, presumably for televised sporting events.