RAISING THE UPSTATE MINIMUM WAGE: The Senate and Assembly Labor Committee chairs, state Sen. Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Harry Bronson, are advocating to raise upstate New York’s minimum wage to match downstate’s threshold. “The average rent in Brooklyn is the same as the Hudson Valley,” Bronson, a Rochester Democrat, said. “$2,170 a month. It is cheaper to buy groceries on Long Island than it is in Ithaca… It is not true [that] cost of living is substantially lower in upstate than it is in New York City.” The minimum wage in New York City is $16 an hour, the rest of the state is at $15 an hour, up from $14.20 an hour last year. “What we need is for parents to make a living wage,” Ramos said at a news conference at the Capitol. “It used to be that all these… minimum wage jobs were supposedly for high school and college students. And that couldn’t be further from the truth in this day and age… people who are serving us in stores and fast food restaurants who don’t make a living wage are raising families.” The Upstate Parity and Minimum Wage Protection Act would also remove a loophole that allows employers to not give their employees raises in years of increased unemployment. “While the final [2023] legislation was extremely important, there were loopholes… which is why we had to come back,” Theo Moore, executive director of the labor group Align, said. — Shawn Ness NYC BACKS WASTE REDUCTION: New York City continues to push lawmakers to tackle packaging and plastic trash clogging the city’s waste stream. Adams’ office recently circulated a memo largely backing the extended producer responsibility measure sponsored by Environmental Conservation Committee chairs Sen. Pete Harckham and Assemblymember Deborah Glick. “The bill provides much-needed reimbursement to local governments to help offset some of their solid waste costs, which only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the memo states. “For the City alone, the potential savings could be $150 million or more annually.” But there is one caveat: The city wants paper products included in the definition of packaging material. Paper products comprise about 8 percent of the city’s waste stream and only 28 percent are recycled. “Including paper products in this bill would allow DSNY to significantly increase the amount of paper products that are being recycled,” the memo states. — Marie J. French SUMMER LEARNING SIGN UP: Families can now sign their kids up for the city’s popular summer learning and enrichment program. The city Department of Education and the Department of Youth and Community Development today kicked off the application process for Summer Rising, which serves up to 110,000 elementary and middle school students. The summer school and camp starts in July. “Applications are going live today, just in time for families to plan their summer months,” Adams said in a statement. The city is also rolling out a new enrollment process within MySchools, an online directory of public schools and programs and application system for families. Last year, officials made several changes to ameliorate the admission procedure — it is no longer on a first come, first serve basis. Families can apply at any time during the application window. That will continue this year. And similar to last year, some students will have priority, including pupils with disabilities and those in temporary housing and foster care. The portal will close on March 25. Families will be notified of placement confirmations via their MySchools account and schools in mid-April. — Madina Touré BOOSTING BUILDERS OF COLOR: Adams unveiled a $50 million initiative today to help developers of color obtain construction loans. Under the program, the city will back financing deals pursued by minority builders in an effort to help overcome racial barriers in construction lending. The initiative will allow builders classified as Minority Business Enterprises to access as much as $500 million in private lending. — Janaki Chadha ANOTHER CANNABIS LAWSUIT: New York’s cannabis regulators have been hit with another lawsuit — this time over their enforcement of hemp regulations. It’s not the first time hemp companies have sued over the rules. Regulations aimed at clamping down on intoxicating hemp products first made their way into emergency regulations last year. In November, a state court enjoined regulators from enforcing those rules. But the state went on to make those rules permanent. Hemp companies are now suing regulators in the Southern District of New York, arguing that the rules are arbitrary and capricious and that their constitutional rights were violated when the state attempted to enforce them. More than 75 percent of the hemp companies’ previously compliant products would violate the new regulations, and the state has so far failed to give any basis for why those rules are needed for public health, the hemp companies allege in the lawsuit. A spokesperson for the Office of Cannabis Management said it doesn't comment on pending litigation. New York hemp businesses are asking the court to enjoin the state from its “unconstitutional enforcement” of hemp regulations. — Mona Zhang CONSUMER COMPLAINTS: Attorney General Tish James released her list of the most common complaints that her office received in 2023. In order from most common to least common complaints:
- Retail sales (5,569 complaints)
- Landlord/tenant
- Automobile
- Credit, banking and mortgages
- Consumer services
- Internet
- Utilities
- Home repair and improvement
- Travel
- Entertainment (533 complaints)
“With families struggling to make ends meet, consumers expect and deserve quality products and services for their hard-earned money,” James said in a statement. “When New Yorkers raise concerns and file complaints with my office, we take action and work to hold bad actors accountable.”
New Yorkers who experience deceptive or fraudulent consumer practices can submit a complaint form with James’ office. — Shawn Ness
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