Bill Text: NY S05650 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Enacts the "New York city teleworking expansion act"; provides that each agency shall establish a policy and program to allow employees to perform all or a portion of their duties through teleworking to the maximum extent possible without diminished employee performance; defines the term "telework" to mean to perform normal and regular work functions on a workday that ordinarily would be performed at the agency's principal location at a different location, thereby eliminating or substantially reducing the physical commute to and from such agency's principal location.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - REFERRED TO CITIES [S05650 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S05650-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          5650

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                       May 9, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities

        AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the  city  of  New  York,  in
          relation to enacting the "New York city teleworking expansion act"

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Short title.  This act shall be known and may be  cited  as
     2  the "New York city teleworking expansion act".
     3    §  2. Legislative findings.  The legislature hereby finds and declares
     4  that the health and safety of the population living in  and  around  the
     5  densely populated New York city metropolitan region is a matter of state
     6  concern, as is the economic vitality and the effectiveness of mass tran-
     7  sit in that region, all of which are threatened by the amount of traffic
     8  congestion  inside  of,  and  into,  New  York city, and the overcrowded
     9  buses, subways and railroads within the region.  Traffic  congestion  is
    10  particularly  harmful  to the mass transit bus systems run by the Metro-
    11  politan Transportation Authority,  creating  delays  and  hindering  the
    12  growth  of essential surface mass transportation systems, and the entire
    13  mass transit system  suffers  from  severe  overcrowding.  The  negative
    14  impact of traffic congestion in New York city on the health, economy and
    15  mass  transit systems of the downstate region, as well as the overcrowd-
    16  ing of the region's mass transit systems, were established  at  legisla-
    17  tive  hearings in the spring of 2007, as well as during the hearings and
    18  reports of the legislatively created New York  City  Traffic  Mitigation
    19  Commission.  During these hearings, it was established that a very large
    20  number of New York city employees drive to work both from points  within
    21  New  York  city  and  without,  that  New  York city lacks a working and
    22  adequate telecommuting program for its employees, and that an  effective
    23  telecommuting  program  would  significantly  reduce  the number of such
    24  employees driving to work.  Likewise, a telecommuting  program  for  New
    25  York  city  employees would also allow employees who use mass transit to

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00799-01-9
        S. 5650                             2

     1  work from home, thereby alleviating  the  current  overcrowding  in  the
     2  region's  mass  transit  systems.  Such a program as established by this
     3  legislation would address the state's concern that the  health,  safety,
     4  economic vitality and mass transit operations of the downstate region be
     5  preserved and protected.
     6    §  3.  The  administrative  code of the city of New York is amended by
     7  adding a new section 12-140 to read as follows:
     8    § 12-140 Teleworking programs. a. Each agency shall establish a policy
     9  and program to allow employees to perform all  or  a  portion  of  their
    10  duties through teleworking to the maximum extent possible without dimin-
    11  ished  employee  performance.  Each  agency  shall designate a "telework
    12  coordinator" to be responsible  for  overseeing  the  implementation  of
    13  teleworking programs.
    14    b. For the purposes of this section, the term "telework" shall mean to
    15  perform  normal  and regular work functions on a workday that ordinarily
    16  would be performed at the agency's principal  location  at  a  different
    17  location,  thereby  eliminating  or  substantially reducing the physical
    18  commute to and from such agency's principal location.
    19    § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
    20  have become a law.