The legislature has given final approval to several bills that were priorities for lawmakers and Governor Cuomo this year.
- One bill ends the so-called "gay panic" defense in criminal cases.
- Another bill updates workplace sexual harassment laws to lower the legal standard needed to submit a claim and establish more protections for employees.
- Another guarantees overtime pay and unemployment benefits for farm workers.
- Another bill protects jobs at call centers woth more than 50 full-time workers by denying tax breaks to companies that move jobs out of state.
Some of the Governor Cuomo's legislative priorities this year may have to wait until next year. Lawmakers haven't left Albany yet, but his proposal to legalize contracts with surrogate mothers appears dead in the Assembly.
The bill legalizing the sale of marijuana has died in the Senate, but lawmakers still hope to pass a decriminalization bill. The legislature has given him a big win, though, on a bill nearly eliminating greenhouse gas emissions in the state over the next 30 years.