NEW YORK, NY — Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-88) is pleased to announce that three bills she authored were signed into law Monday evening by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The first bill (A.7793/S.6749) enables victims of domestic violence to vote safely by making it less burdensome to apply for a court order to keep their voter registration records confidential. The law also expands the scope of the court order to include other records with respect to an individual in addition to the registration record itself. This will ensure that any records containing the voter’s address will not be made available to the public. Diane Savino (D-23) sponsored the bill in the Senate.
“Survivors of domestic violence shouldn’t be put in a position where they could be harmed simply because they exercise their right to vote,” Paulin said. “This measure will help ensure that they can safely remain engaged in civic life.”
The second bill (A.288/S.3745) requires utilities to offer customers the option to purchase electricity solely for the purpose of charging an electric vehicle. This would enable the utility to offer cheaper time-of-day or off-peak rates for charging, encouraging customers to charge their vehicles at times that are most beneficial for the grid.
“People purchase electric vehicles to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but they may be inadvertently charging their vehicles at peak times when coal and fossil fuel plants are running to meet the demand,” Paulin said. “By offering a separate charging tariff, with lower rates for off-peak times when renewables like wind are abundant, customers can significantly decrease their carbon footprint while encouraging renewable energy production.”
Finally, A.260/S.4069 makes micro-hydroelectric energy systems, fuel cell electric generating systems, micro-combined heat and power generating equipment systems, and electric energy storage equipment and systems eligible for the real property tax exemption that is currently available only to solar, wind and farm waste energy systems.
Joseph Griffo (R-47) sponsored the two latter bills in the Senate.
