Senator Catherine Young (R-Olean)
ALBANY – As the New York State Assembly worked to appoint a new speaker and act on legislation that’s been at a log-jam since the Sheldon Silver Corruption case was first announced, the State Senate has already been busy working on and passing legislation.
Senator Cathy Young (R-Olean), who represents Chautauqua County in the state’s upper chamber, is announcing two pieces of legislation that have been passed this week.
Young says the senate passed legislation to increase community safety and empower school districts against gang activity. Under the programs established by the legislation, new training would be developed to help educators deal with gang related activity in schools and prevent at-risk youth from joining criminal enterprises. The legislation also includes tough new penalties for gang-related crimes.
Young says the legislation is the latest effort by the Senate to keep New York’s families and children safe from violence.
Young also announced the Senate has passed a package of legislation to protect communities from sexual predators by promoting greater public access to information and awareness.
The package prevents dangerous sex offenders from being granted custody or unsupervised visitations with children, bars sex offenders from residing in college housing, strengthens residency reporting requirements, increases penalties for someone who helps a sex offender evade registration requirements, and creates a public awareness program to educate schools, community groups, and clergy on issues related to sex offenders.
Both pieces of legislation have now been sent to the Assembly for its consideration.
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