Student model New York Senate approves wide slate of bills; three measures defeated

ALBANY — In a full-day undergraduate model session of the New York State Senate on April 21, student lawmakers advanced a large package of bills across criminal justice, public health, education, housing and agriculture while defeating three proposals.

The student-led session moved 33 calendar items. Lawmakers approved 30 bills, defeated three (including a repeal of concurrent sentencing proposals and two contested education/public-safety proposals) and adopted two ceremonial resolutions honoring program staff and family members of participants. Major topics that passed included a statewide police-misconduct database (s.2521), a requirement for infant CPR training associated with hospital births (s.2509), new standards for child forensic interviews (s.2517), pilot transit cards for CUNY students (s.2526), a tenant–landlord–contractor portal pilot to report housing repairs (s.2503), changes to qualified immunity standards in civil-rights suits (s.2522), and an antimicrobial-resistance measure for bovine farming (s.2516).

Why it matters: Although this was a mock/student model session, participants used authentic legislative procedure (calendar readings, sponsor explanations, Q&A and roll-call votes) to debate policy tradeoffs and fiscal implications. The package covered policies that, in a real legislative session, would touch policing oversight, K–12 and higher-education costs, public-health prevention programs and local housing enforcement.

Key votes and outcomes (selected highlights): - S.2521 (Lawson) — statewide law-enforcement misconduct database; passed, 24–5; effective 19 days after becoming law. The bill would make official misconduct and excessive-force findings available in a centralized state database. - S.2509 (Occhick/Siracek on the calendar) — infant CPR training requirement for first-time parents associated with hospital births; passed, 28–1; vote noted objections over regulatory enforcement and funding language. - S.2526 (Fernandez) — pilot transit card program for eligible CUNY students; passed, 27–2; fiscal impact discussed as $30,000,000 in a sponsor memo (projected MTA revenue implications and potential CUNY board contributions were mentioned). - S.2529 (Lupi) — agricultural anaerobic digestion program to generate farm biogas and local energy; passed, 29–0 (recorded as aye 29); took effect immediately…