Social Services committee advances four bills on rent arrears, adult protective services, training, and a domestic-violence study

The Senate Social Services Standing Committee on an abbreviated morning agenda on an unspecified date voted to advance four bills: one was reported to the Committee on Finance and three were sent to first reading.

The bills moved were: Senate Bill 913 (Kavanaugh) to clarify eligibility for rent-arrears grants without requiring court filings; Senate Bill 2396 (Prasad) to create casework standards for adult protective services workers; Senate Bill 5505 (Salazar) on mental-illness training and temporary housing, which the committee sent to finance; and Senate Bill 6133 (Parker) to require the New York Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence to study domestic violence in the transgender community, which carries a $250,000 fiscal estimate for the study and was sent to first reading.

Senator Kavanaugh described the intent behind SB 913 as making payments to property owners “more efficient,” saying the bill would remove a requirement in some jurisdictions that court papers be filed before a renter’s arrears can be paid. “There is currently a situation where a landlord may be demanding rent… but in many jurisdictions in New York, the social service agency will require that court papers actually be filed,” Kavanaugh said. The bill’s change would allow agencies to make payments before court filings are initiated in those situations.

SB 2396, the Prasad bill to create casework standards for adult protective services workers, was supported in the meeting by a member of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), and was moved and seconded for advancement to first reading.

SB 5505 by Salazar — described at the meeting as relating to mental-illness training tied to temporary housing — was noted by the committee chair to have prior committee activity and prior passage history in 2021 and 2023; the committee reported it to Finance.

SB 6133, the Parker bill to direct the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence to study domestic violence in the transgender community, was noted as having been vetoed in 2024 when last considered. The meeting record includes a fiscal figure for the bill: $250,000, which was raised during the discussion prior to the committee’s voice vote to send the bill to first reading.

All four items were advanced by voice votes with no recorded roll-call opposition in the public record of the meeting. One bill’s record included a note of a single “without record” vote by Senator Wike. The committee chair said there would be one more meeting before the end of the session and that members would be notified when that meeting was scheduled.

The meeting was brief, with limited floor discussion beyond the explanatory remarks and motions to advance the bills.