State laws OK’d on sex harass & climate but not pot or wages

ALBANY — So much to do and so little time.

With just three days left in the legislative session, Gov. Cuomo and state lawmakers have reached agreements on a host of big ticket items — including climate change legislation and sexual harassment — but questions remain about pot, prevailing wage and paid surrogacy.

Cuomo said Monday that he’s happily hammered out deals with lawmakers over the weekend that will lead to redefining sexual harassment, ending the so-called “gay panic” defense and doing away with the statute of limitations for second and third-degree rape cases.

“We go through stages of the legislative process and you advocate aggressively for everything you can and I feel very good about my advocacy efforts after Memorial Day basically,” the governor told WAMC. “We communicated to the entire state the pressing issues and I think we’re making phenomenal progress.”

The Democrat-led Senate also announced Monday they will vote on legislation granting driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. Cuomo, who previously said he would sign the bill, expressed last minute reservations about the measure and has asked the state’s solicitor general to review whether it would enable the federal government to access information about non-citizens.

“You create a driver’s license for undocumented people, you just have to make sure you do it in a way that the feds don’t come in the next day and access that database with the exact opposite intention,” Cuomo said.

The Assembly already passed the bill last week.

Several amended bills were introduced over the weekend, making them eligible for a vote by the end of session on Wednesday.

A new version of a bill that would broaden the definition of sexual harassment from “severe or pervasive,” which Cuomo supports, and a bill that would not legalize recreational pot, but instead decriminalize it further were both introduced.

The governor shot down the idea of a separate measure decriminalizing cannabis.

“We should do it all together,” he said. “I don’t think we should do one component now and then come back and do another component. Let’s just do it. We’ve talked about it, let’s make the hard decisions and let’s make them now.”

An amended version of the Climate Change and Community Protection Act, which lawmakers made a priority even though the governor expressed doubts about the bill, was unveiled.

Agreements were also reached on extending the state’s minority and women owned business program, expanding labor rights for farm workers and a bill that would legalize e-bikes and scooters.

The governor said he’s pleased with where things stand at the end of the session despite the uncertain fate of other items like legalizing marijuana and paid surrogacy and a measure that would require higher wages at state-funded projects remaining up in the air.

Cuomo spent recent weeks daring the Senate to pass progressive measures as they negotiated a rent reform package without him.

He has also been lobbying lawmakers to take up measures predominantly related to the rights of women and the LGBTQ community, while taking grief for not using his political weight to help push for recreational marijuana or the so-called “Green Light” bill that would allow non-citizens to get driver’s licenses.

A measure legalizing paid surrogacy, in which a woman is compensated for carrying a child for another couple or individual, has yet to pass the Assembly amid pushback over the consequences on poorer women and legal issues.

Sources said there are also several sticking points with the pot bill as Cuomo and lawmakers attempt to reach a deal.