Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz Digest: Budget Agreement, Justice Jackson, & More

 

• GET VACCINATED AND BOOSTED! •

What's Happening in the 81st Assembly District?

Congratulations to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson State Budget Agreement Reached, Votes Pending April 18 Tax Deadline Approaches, Free Help Still Available Local Update: Pushing for Bathroom Facilities to Replace Van Cortlandt Stadium Albany Update: Two Dinowitz Bills Pass Assembly to Protect Workers Poll of the Week: Affordable Housing Tax Incentives REMINDER: MetroCard Van Services in Woodlawn and Central Riverdale Next on Friday, April 29 Updates from Government & Community Partners

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Congratulations to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

First, she is one of the most qualified candidates for Supreme Court that our country has ever seen. She is currently a Judge on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, after being appointed in 2021 following eight years serving as a Judge on the US District Court for the District of Columbia. Prior to that, she served as the Vice Chair of the US Sentencing Commission for three years, and before that she worked as a public defender. Judge Jackson will be the first former federal public defender to serve on the Supreme Court. Judge Jackson also served as a law clerk to Justice Breyer after graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University, cum laude from Harvard Law School, and serving as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Second, she is the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court in our nation's history. Despite all of the progress on civil rights that has been made, it is very clear that there is a significant segment of our country that still hold bigoted viewpoints. This could not have been made more clear by the obvious double standard that Senate Republicans held for Judge Jackson as compared to Trump nominees Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. However, we should take this moment to celebrate a significant achievement which will undoubtedly inspire generations of young women who dream of serving our nation on the highest court — just as the confirmation of Justice Sotomayor did for kids from the Bronx. Congratulations again to Ketanji Brown Jackson on her confirmation!

State Budget Agreement Reached, Votes Pending

As this newsletter is being written, the Assembly is debating and voting on a set of ten budget bills that constitute our state budget. By the time you read this email, it is likely that the votes will have concluded. I will share details of what is in the budget next week. As I have said many times over the years, the state budget is a messy, ugly process that often results in the enactment of some things that I like and other things that I don't like. However, I think my job as your state representative is to deliver as many resources to help the people of my district and the state as I can in the budget, and that's what all of my colleagues are doing too. There are 150 members of the Assembly, two-thirds of whom are in the Majority Conference, and there are invariably different opinions on almost every issue. Budgets are compromises, and I think it is important that legislators are able to step back from our personal ideologies in order to get a budget done that best serves the people of New York. With respect to this year's budget, I will say that this may be the best budget we have ever enacted during my time in the Assembly. There are certainly things that I wish we would have included funding for, such as funding for childcare for undocumented immigrants or additional funding to combat climate change. There are certainly things that I wish we would have left out, such as funding for the billionaire owners of the Buffalo Bills to build a new stadium. However, on the whole, we have invested huge amounts of money in a number of excellent areas: additional financial relief for tenants and certain landlords, generational investments in universal childcare, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and much more. I am also proud that two of my bills will be functionally enacted as part of the state budget. One bill which will be accomplished in the budget is to require that Boards of Elections include postage paid return envelopes with absentee ballots. This will help alleviate what has been a de facto poll tax, and is especially important as we work to ensure that all New Yorkers are able to safely and comfortably submit ballots in elections during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another bill which will be accomplished in the budget would require the Welfare Management System to provide a gender-neutral marker option on applications, materials, public guidance, and other related items to the benefits application process. This will bring our social services system into line with the rest of New York, especially as New Yorkers are legally allowed to note their official gender as male, female, or X on their birth certificate. I will go into more detail next week once the bills have been passed and we have had more time to distill them into a digestible format for you to peruse.

April 18 Tax Deadline Approaches, Free Help Still Available

As you hopefully are aware, the annual deadline to file your income taxes is coming up soon. This year, taxes are due on Monday, April 18 (it is typically April 15, but that coincides with Good Friday and Passover so the deadline was pushed back). Please remember that if you intend to file for an extension, you need to do that by April 18 as well. If you need help filing your taxes, there are resources available from the City to assist low and middle income New Yorkers with tax preparation. More information on those resources can be found here: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dca/consumers/file-your-taxes.page

Local Update: Pushing for Bathroom Facilities to Replace Van Cortlandt Stadium

As we get closer to the summer, many of you may be looking forward to spending beautiful and warm days in the best park in our City — Van Cortlandt Park. Some of you may have already noticed that the bathrooms which have typically been available at Van Cortlandt Stadium have been closed. The whole Stadium is in dire need of capital repairs, which includes the bathroom facilities. There are nearby bathrooms near Van Cortlandt Pool along Broadway, at the Nature Center, at Van Cortlandt Golf House, and at Classic Playground — however people who are using the tennis courts or Southwest Playground area may not want to walk that far. My office has communicated with the Parks Department at Van Cortlandt Park to ask that they install some form of temporary bathroom facility to replace the Stadium bathrooms while that facility awaits a much-needed capital repair. Additionally, we have asked if they can install additional signage so that park users can more easily know where the closest bathrooms are. I am encouraged by my office's conversations with the Parks Department here, and I am hopeful that there will be sufficient bathroom access in Van Cortlandt Park in time for the summer.

Albany Update: Two Dinowitz Bills Pass Assembly to Protect Workers

I am pleased to share that two more of my bills have passed the Assembly this past week, both pertaining to protections for employees. The first bill, A1514, prohibits employers from requiring certain conditions or preconditions of employment. Specifically, this legislation would prohibit the use of mandatory arbitration agreements in employment contracts. These clauses are typically used to deter employees from pursuing civil lawsuits against their employer, which would inhibit an employee's ability to pursue justice for alleged workplace harassment, discrimination, unsafe conditions, or other problematic circumstance. The bill will now move to the State Senate for their approval. The second bill, A1861C, prohibits an employer from requesting that an employee or applicant disclose any means for accessing an electronic personal account. In other words, this bill would mean that employers cannot require an employee or prospective employee to grant them access to their social media accounts (among other types of private digital spaces).This would not apply where such an account is used on a work device or if the account is used for work purposes, as well as if needed for certain background checks. The bill now moves to the State Senate for their approval, where it has never been brought to a vote despite passing the Assembly several times over the years. I am proud of these two bills, and I will continue to work hard to enact additional workplace protections such as my legislation (A2192) to restrict the use of non-compete agreements in low-wage industries (such as fast food workers). Please feel free to contact my office with any other suggestions on how we can best protect workers in our modern economy.

REMINDER: MetroCard Van Services in Woodlawn and Central Riverdale Next on Friday, April 29

At our request, the MTA has agreed to provide their MetroCard van in central Riverdale and in Woodlawn once again during the months of March, April, and May. This is an easy way for you to apply for a reduced-fare MetroCard, to refill a MetroCard (including reduced-fare MetroCards), or to deal with any other MetroCard-related issue you may be having. The MetroCard van will be available at West 235th Street and Johnson Avenue between 9:30am and 11:30am, and will be available at the Woodlawn Library (Katonah Avenue and East 239th Street) between 12:30pm and 2:30pm on the following dates: • Friday, April 29 • Tuesday, May 31 As a reminder, the MetroCard van is also available on a recurring basis at the following locations: • Riverdale at Skyview Shopping Center (Riverdale Avenue between West 256th Street and West 259th Street) on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month between 10:30am and 12:30pm • Kingsbridge at West 231st Street and Broadway on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month between 1:30pm and 3:30pm • Knolls Crescent Mall (11-21 Knolls Crescent) on the 2nd and 4th Friday between 10am and 12pm My office will continue to advocate for the restoration of MetroCard van service to the Van Cortlandt Senior Center as well as the permanent addition of the locations in central Riverdale and Woodlawn to their regular schedule. The MTA has also indicated that riders can refill their MetroCards at participating retailers throughout the city. For a list of these retailers, please visit: tripplanner.mta.info/metrocardmerchants/BoroughMetroCardMap.aspx?zone=BX. Additionally, for those who are comfortable with online payments, the MTA will continue rolling out OMNY (which is their new fare payment system to replace the MetroCard). Using OMNY, you can pay for your transit fare using you contactless card (check your credit or debit card for what looks like a series of increasingly large closed parentheses), your smart device (such as a smart phone or smart watch that has been set up as a digital wallet). You may also now get a physical OMNY card (available currently at several retailers in our community, shown here: omny.info/retail-locations). These physical OMNY cards are able to be connected to a debit or credit card as well as refilled using cash at participating retailers. Beginning on February 28, 2022, the MTA is launching their pilot program to offer customers a weekly fare cap option. Basically, if you participate in this program through OMNY, after 12 subway or local bus trips tapping with the same card or device, you will automatically ride free for the rest of the week (defined as Monday through Sunday). For more information, please see the MTA's website here: https://omny.info/ Additionally, you can also apply for EasyPay Express using traditional MetroCard technology. This option allows you to connect a credit or debit card to your MetroCard so that it automatically refills either a 30-day unlimited plan or to maintain a $20 minimum balance on your MetroCard. For more information, please see the MTA's website here: https://www.easypaymetrocard.com/vector/static/faq/XpressFaq.shtml

New York State Troopers — Police Exam Registration Deadline April 10 Starting salary is $58,443 and salary after one year is $82,677 Full benefits & retirement Minimum test requirements: US citizen, 20-29 years old, High School diploma/GED For more information: Joinstatepolice.ny.gov Exam is offered every couple years

Updates from Government & Community Partners