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The concept that restrictive zoning and land-use regulations reduce the supply of housing, and in turn, increase the price of housing has been getting significantly more discussion in recent years by think tanks on all sides of spectrum, including the CATO and Brookings Institutes. Joining her colleagues in States like Arizona, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, as part of her 2023 Executive Budget, Governor Kathy Hochul announced a statewide strategy to build 800,000 new homes [...]

Effective April 12, 2019, all public and private New York State employers are now required to permit an employee up to three hours of paid time off (PTO) to vote in any public election, if the employee (1) is registered to vote, and (2) requests the time off at least two business days prior to the election.  An employee may request this PTO to vote regardless of the employee’s work schedules or working hours. However, employers have the option to designate when during the workday the [...]

On July 16, 2019, the Governor signed the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act into law.   When the Act becomes effective on January 1, 2020, it will provide the following labor protections for the first time to farm workers in New York State:  eligibility for overtime pay for any work over 60 hours per week, at an overtime rate of one and one-half times the laborer’s regular rate of pay; a full 24-hours day of rest each week; an 8-hour work day; disability [...]