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Newsletter: January 2003: Legislative News
New York Outlaws Anti-Gay Discrimination
The Alliance is happy to applaud the passage of the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act. Thirty-one years in the making, the Act was overwhelmingly passed by the Assembly last January, and passed by the State Senate on December 17, 2002. Governor Pataki signed it into law three hours later. The Act bars discrimination against gays and lesbians in housing, employment, public accommodation, education and credit throughout New York State. Kudos to Matt Foreman and Ross Levi of Empire State Pride Agenda for their commitment and effort.
Critical Issues for the Upcoming Legislative Session
Legislative Day is coming up (see Alliance Events), and the 2003 state and federal legislative sessions will be opening soon. Here’s a roundup of just some of the critical issues facing sexual assault prevention and service provision efforts, and some related bills that could come into play this year.
- Sexual Assault Reform Act Amendments
When the Sexual Assault Reform Act (SARA) passed the Legislature in 2000, a clause was included acknowledging that several changes had not yet been made. Without these changes, survivors of sexual violence are still required to use re-victimizing language terms such as “sodomy” and “deviate sexual intercourse” to describe their experiences, to name just one example. The Senate, Assembly and Governor committed to making the changes before the law took effect on February 1, 2001 -- we are well beyond that date and no action has been taken. All parties must fulfill their promise and finish the Sexual Assault Reform Act. [NY State Senate S.5653 (Volker)]
- Forensic Payment Act
The forensic healthcare exam is an essential community health service as critical as a Burn Unit or cancer care center, and medical institutions that use their resources to provide them should receive fiscal support. The New York State Crime Victims Board may cover these expenses, but it is not empowered to directly reimburse hospitals. The bill would prevent survivors from being billed for services following a rape, and ensure cash-strapped hospitals receive payment. [NY State Assembly A.7306 (John), NY State Senate S.2914 (Nozzolio)]
- Dignity for All Students Act
Rape crisis programs’ efforts to provide school-based education on sexual harassment could be bolstered by state support for anti-bullying and harassment education. This act would support the creation of safe, harassment-free school environments for all students, regardless of their actual or perceived race, national origin, ethnic group, religion, gender, gender identity, disability and sexual orientation. [NY State Senate S.1628 (Duane), New York State Assembly A.2634 (Sanders)]
- Emergency Contraception
Not all NYC hospitals routinely offer or provide emergency contraception to rape survivors in their emergency departments. Many of these survivors are not aware that emergency contraception should be made available to them, and they may not obtain it within the critical 12-24 hour period; this could result in an unwanted pregnancy. This bill would require all hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape survivors. [NY State Assembly A.2214 (John), NY State Senate S.2347 (Spano)]
- Protection in the Workplace Act
Rape is not an “accidental job related injury.” This bill would confirm that the Workers’ Compensation law was never intended to bar employees who have been sexually assaulted in the work place from pursuing legal action against and seeking damages from a negligent employer. This bill would not, however, prevent a victim who wants to use Workers Compensation from doing so. [NY State Senate S.4177 (Spano), New York State Assembly A.2930 (Stringer)]
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