The 2022 New York State Legislative session gaveled to a close this weekend. Building on the most favorable State budget for public employees in decades, state senators and members of the assembly delivered a raft of bills that will help thousands of PEF members provide more efficient and higher quality services to New Yorkers. PEF Legislative Director Patrick Lyons sent this memo to members of the Executive Board summarizing the session and the department put together this document detailing the bills passed that will most impact PEF members.
“I want to make one point very clear: PEF did this,” said PEF President Wayne Spence. “The Fund Our Future campaign conceived in the Spring of 2020 identified the issues addressed by these bills. Gov. Hochul adopted our language in her budget and lawmakers took it even further, drafting legislation that will improve the working lives of nurses, cut back on expensive contracting out, and bring transparency to staffing decisions at the OPWDD, to name a just a few. I’d like to thank all PEF members for their tireless work advocating on behalf of these priorities, from the Statewide Political Action Committee, chaired by PEF Vice President Randi DiAntonio, to members across the state who took the time to send letters and contact their lawmakers. This legislative cycle truly demonstrated PEF’s political power. I am more convinced than ever that when we work together to advance our common interests, we can do great things for the hard-working professionals of PEF.”