Mark Grisanti's Press releases

Senator Mark Grisanti (R-60) today announced that  Governor Cuomo has signed into law Grisanti’s legislation which extends for two years the provision of the environmental conservation law that allows merchants in the State of New York to implement a “minor repair program” for damaged pesticide containers and lawn fertilizers containing pesticides.

This act will bring New York State in line with the national program implemented by the EPA in 2009 to address concerns of the unnecessary disposal of consumer pesticide products such as lawn fertilizers.

The New York State Senate today passed legislation that givesjudges the ability to consider well-established risk factors in determiningbail or recognizance in domestic violence cases so that a victim and theirfamily can be further protected from an assailant.

       The bill (S.1414A), sponsored by Senator Stephen Saland (R-I-C,Poughkeepsie), would allow the history of violence or threats of violence,prior orders of protection, and the accused’s access to guns to beconsidered by a judge, potentially affecting their release conditions andsparing many victims and their children additional harm or even death.

Senator Mark Grisanti (R-60) announced that the New York Senate passed three bills to combat auto insurance fraud which costs New Yorkers more than $1 billion a year, as well as legislation that would impose stronger criminal penalties for staging auto accidents.

Recently, high profile cases have uncovered massive crime rings incorporating doctors, lawyers, and scam artists who stage accidents and use New York’s no-fault insurance program as their own personal ATM machine.

In Brooklyn, 16 people were arrested and charged with intentionally causing a dozen accidents involving unsuspecting motorists between 2009 and 2011 and then submitting fraudulent insurance claims that defrauded insurance companies for $400,000.

Senator Mark Grisanti recently passed the Senate version of an Assembly bill that will change the labor law to make it an authorized absence for members of the volunteer fire department and volunteer ambulance squads when they respond to a state of emergency declared by the federal or state government.

Employers will not be able to charge the time to vacation, sick leave or other excused absences. The employee must provide the employer with a statement from the head of the volunteer firefighter department or volunteer ambulance squad defining the applicable period of time that the employee was called on to respond to the state of emergency.

Senator Mark Grisanti recently sponsored a bill that will reduce the amount of pesticides that are unnecessarily released into the environment. The bill also has environmental and economic benefits by reducing the amount of pesticides needing to be applied or disposed of as hazardous waste.

Senator Grisanti’s bill (S.6401A), which has also been approved by the state Assembly, allows New York’s retailers to continue repairing minor damage to containers, under proper conditions, so that the product can be sold and used as intended.

The measure helps alleviate concerns with the unnecessary disposal of pesticide products and will continue to significantly reduce the amount of pesticides that are disposed of as hazardous waste.

Throughout 2011, I partnered successfully with Governor Cuomo to reduce state spending, cut income taxes for the middle class and cap local property taxes.

In 2012, we need to keep New York moving forward by overcoming the most critical challenge we face – creating new jobs.

Senator Mark Grisanti (R-60) sponsored and passed a bill that is designed to change the makeup of the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to include a resident of Niagara County.  The Bill, co-sponsored by Senator Maziarz, amends the public authorities’ law to provide that the NYPA Board of Trustees appointed by the Governor with the approval of the Senate must contain one trustee who is from Niagara County and one who is from St. Lawrence County.  Presently, there are seven trustees appointed by the Governor for terms of up to five years and not one is from Niagara County. 

The New York State Association of Nurse Anesthetists (NYSANA), the statewide professional association representing over 1200 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA)  and students, announced today their support and honor of Senator Mark Grisanti (R-60) for his work in the New York State Senate.  The mission of NYSANA  is to promote and protect the scope of practice of Nurse Anesthetists through advocacy and education.   The group met with the Senator at the Fort Orange Club where they made the presentation during a morning breakfast.

Senator Mark Grisanti is co-sponsoring legislation to amend the public service law in relation to requiring negotiation of fair terms between cable television franchisees and competing independent cable channel.

“In Western New York we are not able to watch Buffalo Sabres hockey games on television if you have Time Warner Cable due to these unfair negotiations,” said Senator Grisanti. “Since terms cannot be reached we want the public service commission to amend the law so that the parties must conduct an arbitration.”

Time Warner Cable has been negotiating with MSG for over a year, but no deal has been reached to bring MSG’s networks and the Sabres game back to Time Warner Cable customers.