Panelists included officials of the NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) and the City of Yonkers, Department of Planning and Development. The workshop was co-sponsored by the Jay Heritage Center, the Westchester Municipal Officers Association, Sustainable Westchester, Federated Conservationists of Westchester County, Save the Sound and the State Assembly Westchester Delegation.

Assemblyman Otis provided an overview of state funding sources available to municipalities for innovative green clean water infrastructure projects as well as an update of New York’s main water grant program, the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act (WIIA) that Otis helped create during the 2015-16 state budget. To date WIIA has provided over $750 million in grants statewide with almost $3 billion in grants projected through 2024.

EFC senior staff members from the Integrated Solutions Construction grants (ISC) and the Green Innovation Grant Program (GIGP), provided information on two clean water infrastructure programs offered to local governments for water infrastructure design and technology. The ISC program has $8 million in grants available. Applications are due June 28th. An additional $15 million is available under the GIGP, with applications being accepted through the Regional Economic Development Councils’ Consolidated Funding Application (CFA). GIGP applications are due July 26.

Additional information and the online grant application are available on the EFC website at https://www.efc.ny.gov/grant-programs .

Grant managers from the City of Yonkers Department of Planning and Development shared details of the Saw Mill River day lighting project that resulted in the creation of a natural habitat, job creation and economic revitalization of downtown Yonkers.

Assemblyman Otis stated, “We had a great turnout at the workshop where our focus was to bring more clean water grant dollars to Westchester municipalities. The Governor and the Legislature have demonstrated significant commitment to clean water with an additional $500 million added this year towards water quality programs in the state budget, the first installment of a new five-year, $2.5 billion program to address water quality issues proposed by the Governor. It is my hope that many Westchester communities will take advantage of these innovative green infrastructure grant programs to improve water quality.”

This legislation also allows for cities and counties to pass local laws imposing a 5 cent fee on paper bags and goes into effect March 1, 2020.

The Assemblyman works closely with state environmental agencies on topics from water quality, solid waste management, climate change and issues affecting parks.

1. Voting Reforms:
Seven new voting reforms were enacted to make it easier for all eligible voters to vote and to increase voter participation. New York currently ranks 47th out of 50 states in voter turnout. These new reforms will make it easier to register, vote and bring increased public participation in the election process at every level. The reforms include:

– Same-day voter registration
– Early voting within nine days of an election
– Expansion of access and use of absentee ballots
– Combining federal and state primaries to a single day
– Pre-registration of 16 and 17 year olds
– Streamlining the voter registration process.
– Closing the LLC campaign finance loophole

2.GENDA

Both houses of the Legislature also passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) to protect New Yorkers against discrimination based prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression.
Another bill was passed to prohibit a mental health professional from engaging in the fraudulent practice of trying to change or convert the sexual orientation of an individual under the age of 18.

3. Delay in Property Tax for Federal Employees

This legislation will allow local governments and school districts to give furloughed federal employees a temporary extension to pay their property taxes.

I was a co-sponsor of all of these measures. The Governor will act on these bills in the near future.

4. Water Infrastructure Grants

This week also brought the presentation and release of the Governor Cuomo’s 2019-20 State Budget proposal, which will also be a major part of the work of the legislature for the first three months of 2019. I am pleased to report that the Governor has proposed adding an additional $2.5 billion to water quality programs including the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act grant program that I helped initiate in 2015.