NEW YORK - New year, new laws — many long in the making.
The year 2020 sees the next phase of the successful fight for a $15 minimum wage implemented. Fifteen is now also the floor for small-business employees in the city, thanks to a state schedule passed in 2016.
A state bail reform law ends cash bail for nearly all misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.
And a state discovery law requires prosecutors to open their evidence to the defense earlier in case proceedings.
As of New Year’s Day, teens 16 and older can pre-register to vote and large-group insurers must cover three cycles of in-vitro fertilization. Later this month, adoptees can begin getting their birth certificates at age 18.
Beginning in March, single-use plastic bags are banned in the state – and stores in the city will impose a five-cent fee per paper bag.
There was no shortage of key legislation passed in 2019. Some, like tenant protections and drivers’ licenses for the undocumented, are already in effect.
Others, like the city’s approval of a plan to close Rikers by 2026, have a longer timeline.