de Blasio Announces Initiatives Mandating PTO and Guaranteeing Direct Access to Healthcare for Low Income and Undocumented Residents
On Thursday, January 10, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered his sixth State of the City address after a robust week of announcements on two significant city initiatives. In his speech, the Mayor prominently highlighted the new initiatives, as well as touched on other topics he anticipates to push forward in the year ahead. The first major initiative would mandate ten days of paid time off to full-and-part time employees throughout the five boroughs. The Mayor plans to achieve this goal by advocating for the City Council to pass legislation to require that private employers with five or more employees provide this benefit. The other major announcement would guarantee direct access to healthcare for low income or undocumented residents in a new program called NYC Care. The program would significantly allocate more city funding to the city's low and no cost insurance program MetroPlus to access services at the NYC Health + Hospitals system. In other announcements, the Mayor introduced a new office called the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants. This new office will be responsible for working across city agencies to provide engagement and outreach to tenants and landlords . The Mayor is also advocating for the City Council to introduce legislation to allow the city to seize upwards of 40 of the city's most distressed buildings annually. The Mayor is also seeking legislation to increase penalties and auto-convert judgements into tax liens if landlords fail to make repairs required by city regulations. For the press announcement highlighting the Mayor's entire speech, as well as a link to a video transcript, please click here.
