Towards the end of the New York legislative session, important bills on social media and plastic packaging are blocked

May 24, 2024 —

When New York state lawmakers return from Memorial Day, they will have just seven session days scheduled to complete their work in 2024.

A number of key initiatives, including climate change legislation, could be left on the table.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said that at the end of the session, she was focused on one thing: regulating social media companies, which she says are harming children through addictive algorithms and harvesting their personal data.

“These toxic influences could be absolutely devastating,” Hochul said. “And now we have a mountain of data that confirms what many of us intuitively knew all along, that social media is harming our children. »

Hochul says the U.S. Surgeon General reported that teens who use social media more than three hours a day are twice as likely to develop symptoms of depression and anxiety.

One of two bills that would address these concerns is the SAFE Act for Kids, which would prevent companies from using algorithms on minors' social media feeds without parental consent. The Children's Data Protection Act would prohibit online platforms from collecting and sharing personal data about children.

There are currently not enough votes in the Senate and Assembly for the bills to pass, and big tech companies are lobbying heavily against them.

The governor says she carried out most of her program within the framework of the state budget, adopted in early May, and that she will not defend any other point, although she says she is ready to discuss it with Parliament.

Environmentalists are pushing for several bills, including expanding the bottle law by doubling the deposit to 10 cents and adding containers of wine and hard cider. They also want to end the practice of allowing utilities to charge ratepayers to install new gas lines, known as the NY HEAT-Act. A third would reduce plastic packaging by 50% over a dozen years.

The plastics bill has advanced in the Assembly but is stalled in the state Senate.

Activists in favor of the bill recently demonstrated near Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins' district office in Yonkers.

“We urge you to put people above plastics,” they chanted.

The Senate approved the HEAT-Act, but the Assembly did not. Both houses are led by Democrats.

There is also support for a bill that would close the so-called Weinstein loophole. In April, the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, overturned the rape conviction of former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. He ruled that the prosecution improperly allowed testimony from other women about Weinstein's alleged bad behavior, even though those accusations did not lead to charges against him.

The bill's sponsor, Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris, says federal law already allows the practice and New York state law needs to change. He spoke on the Senate floor as the bill to close the loophole was approved.

“What we are doing today is addressing a persistent injustice in our criminal justice system,” Gianaris said.

The bill faces backlash from criminal defense attorneys. The Legal Aid Society says the bill's wording is too broad and could lead to wrongful convictions.

The measure is blocked in the National Assembly.

The session is scheduled to end June 6, but lawmakers could stay a few more days if they believe agreement on any of the items is close.