Andrea Stewart-Cousins's Blog entries

A bill designed to close a loophole in the sentencing law for persistent sexual abusers has passed the senate. Sexual abuse is a serious crime that deserves serious consequences. When persistent sexual abusers fall through criminal loopholes it puts all New Yorkers at risk for harm and this bill was created to prevent that.

A legislation was announced today allowing all veterans to pay the lower in-state tuition rates offered at state funded universities and community colleges regardless of their official state of residence. Senate Bill S.1978 would entitle all eligible veterans of the Armed Forces to pay the reduced college tuition fees that are already available to New York residents only.

The Senate Democratic Conference supported legislation allowing local governments to grant a 5% tax reduction to long-term veterans of the National Guard or any of the reserve branches of the United States Military. 

Specifically, this bill (S.553B) gives any municipality in the state the authority to create a 5% local property tax exemption for all Reservists and National Guard members who have received their standard “20-year letter,” which informs them of their eligibility for military retirement benefits.

June is Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month. New York has a proud tradition of bringing social issues to the forefront and leading the nation on progressive, civil rights initiatives, and let us all rededicate ourselves to ensure full equality for all of our state’s residents as part of celebrating LGBT Pride Month.

Twenty-five years ago, Kawasaki built its first passenger rail car in downtown Yonkers, and has since supplied trains to various transit systems in surrounding cities including New York City, New Jersey and Boston. Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins commemorated this milestone and said at the 25th Anniversary Celebration, “I’m pleased to congratulate Kawasaki Rail Car on their 25th Anniversary in the City of Yonkers. This is a significant accomplishment which underscores what Kawasaki means to our City. Lead by CEO Hiroji Iwasaki, the company has created and sustained hundreds of jobs, boosted economic activity in the downtown and developed leading innovations that have changed the industry.

On Friday, April 19th, Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and other local elected officials gathered at the Greenburgh Town Hall to announce the introduction of the Fair Local Election Act, a bill, which would fall under the umbrella of the Fair Election Act, that would allow for local municipalities and counties to opt-in for campaign finance. Sponsored by Leader Stewart-Cousins, the Fair Election Act would provide for optional partial public financing of certain election campaigns in the state and identifies the source of certain political contributions.

On Thursday, April 11th, Westchester for Change hosted an open community forum at the Greenburgh Town Hall in White Plains, NY to discuss campaign finance reform in New York State. Forum participants included Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, Jessica Wisneski, Campaigns Director of Citizen Action of New York, and Ian Vandewalker, Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, NYU School of Law, and was moderated by Elizabeth Saenger, co-organizer of Westchester for Change.

Citing "serious issues", Leader Stewart-Cousins released a statement expressing her disappointment with the minimum wage proposal being put forth in the State budget agreement.

"While increasing the minimum wage to $9.00 is something that the Senate Democrats have long supported, we are disappointed that the current proposal doesn't reach this level for three years, is not indexed to the rate of inflation and does not raise the wages of certain service workers," the Leader commented.

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a celebration recognizing the social and economic achievements of American workers. Labor Day is a annual national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well being of our Country and our State. Now that Labor Day has passed, I would like to share with you some of the recent achievements that have been made to both expand and protect our workforce.