Albany – Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi announced that two pieces of legislation he authored advanced in the New York State Legislature this past week – the SAFE Shelter Act (A.3264B), which passed both houses, and A.8248, legislation to strengthen oversight of New York City’s child welfare system. The latter passed the Assembly unanimously, Hevesi discussed the bill on NY1 with Annika Pergament this past Friday.

SAFE Shelter – which passed the Senate on May 13 and the Assembly on May 14 – represents the top concern that had been raised by domestic violence shelter providers with Hevesi’s office. The bill was the primary topic of a hearing Hevesi held in October to identify how the state can better support survivors and keep providers sustained financially.As a result of the hearing, SAFE has been amended to phase in the smoothing over of the payment differential to address Governor Hochul’s concerns in her veto message.

Once signed, SAFE would require that New York reimburse DV shelter providers for payment differentials when a single adult is housed in a shelter room designed for double occupancy. The current structure does not allow for this – which advocates argue creates a financial penalty for serving single survivors – limiting available placements for tens of thousands of survivors, with serious financial impacts placed on providers as well.

Hevesi’s other bill – A.8248 – passed the Assembly unanimously after Hevesi had elaborated on the bill during an Assembly floor debate. The bill will authorize the New York City Department of Investigation to access child welfare records held by the Administration for Children’s Services – with the goal of increasing interagency transparency, accountability, and ensuring best practices are used when protecting children and families.

“SAFE reflects years of advocacy from providers and survivors. I am also incredibly grateful to my Senate counterpart Andrew Gounardes for ushering the bill through his chamber. This had been vetoed by the Governor previously, but we think we’ve been able to address those prior concerns, and should be in a good position to have this signed into law,” said Hevesi, Chair, Committee on Children & Families. “I am extremely grateful to our partners at DOI as well who not only raised the premise for A.8248, but have remained instrumental in its drafting and advocacy. We have encountered no opposition from either side of the aisle and expect this bill will be signed into law.”