Dear Friends:

The state budget is due in less than a week, by April 1st, and my colleagues and I are working hard toward an on-time and balanced agreement between the Senate, Assembly, and the Governor's Office. As the Chair of the Committee on Education, my top priority is to ensure education funding that helps our schools build back stronger. Additionally, I am committed to helping our communities build back from COVID by supporting our small businesses & those hardest hit by the pandemic and making sure we protect our local property taxpayers.

On Wednesday, March 24th, I was pleased to vote for a package of legislation to further improve protections and transparency at nursing homes in New York State. We have learned hard and painful lessons over the past year, and I believe that now is the time to prospectively restore standards of liability to the healthcare profession. Read more about the package of legislation adopted this week in the section below. 

As of Tuesday, March 23rd, New Yorkers who are 50 years old and over are now eligible to receive the vaccine. I urge you to check back regularly for additional new appointments available through the Am I Eligible state website. Additional information about vaccine eligibility and resources are included below.

This week, I hosted my 5th Annual Women's History Month Celebration with Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins honoring outstanding women from the 37th District who helped our communities overcome the challenges of the pandemic. Click here to watch the recording of the event.

As always, if there is anything my office can assist you with, please don't hesitate to email me at [email protected] or call (914) 934-5250.

Warm regards,

As of Friday, March 26th, 5.6 million New Yorkers have received at least one vaccine dose, and 3 million have received both doses. Click here to track the status of the state's vaccine distribution.

As of Tuesday, March 23rd, New Yorkers 50 years old and over are eligible to receive the vaccine. As of Sunday, March 21st, pharmacies can vaccinate teachers and New Yorkers with comorbidities. Click here to look through the list of eligible categories for the vaccine including essential workers, those 50 years old and over, and which comorbidities are eligible.

A list of non-state-run vaccine providers in Westchester County is available here. Supply is limited and each site has its own protocols for signing up or registering for a waitlist. Many of these locations already have a long waitlist of eligible residents waiting to get the vaccine. Please continue to be patient and check back as often as possible for any new openings. Click here for the Westchester County COVID-19 Dashboard to track positive COVID-19 cases and vaccine allocations throughout the county. The mobile friendly version of the dashboard is available here.

New Yorkers can use the Am I Eligible website to determine if they are eligible and make an appointment at a New York State-run vaccination site. Please check back daily for new appointments. If you have made an appointment for the vaccine, please fill out the New York State COVID-19 Vaccine Form, available here, and bring it with you to your appointment.

We have learned many lessons during the past year--hard and painful lessons. Our hearts are broken for those whose loved ones died in nursing homes during the pandemic. Clearly we can do more to ensure all nursing home patients and their families get all the information they need about their loved ones. In addition, I believe we must strengthen the regulatory oversight over nursing homes. The Senate has already passed a number of bills to address nursing home issues, and several additional measures were adopted this week on this subject. 

These improvements are informed by lessons learned during the coronavirus crisis and build on reforms we adopted earlier this year. I am committed to working with my colleagues to find additional areas of improvement to protect vulnerable seniors.

On Tuesday, March 23rd, a bill that I am sponsoring, S.5576A, was advanced by the Senate Education Committee. The legislation recognizes the impact COVID-19 has had on students, teachers and administrators by excluding student performance on state exams during COVID years from being used to evaluate the granting of tenure.

A waiver was granted for the 2019-2020 school year allowing teachers who were in a probationary period to be granted tenure based on Annual Professional Performance Reviews (APPRs) from prior applicable years. S.5576A removes the requirement to complete an APPR for the 2020-2021 school year. The bill also allows administrators to grant tenure without needing an APPR score for the COVID school years.

On Tuesday, March 23rd, I hosted my 5th Annual Women's History Month Celebration with Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. Thank you to all who joined us as we recognized women who helped our communities overcome the challenges of the pandemic.

This year's honorees showed exemplary leadership during the worst crisis our nation has faced in 100 years. Click here to watch the recording, and click here to read more about the honorees.

On Monday, March 22nd, I joined Legislative colleagues and local community members for a rally in Albany urging to Stop Asian Hate. Thank you to my friend and colleague Senator John Liu and the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association for leading this powerful event.

On Sunday, March 21st, Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains hosted a moving Interfaith Day of Remembrance Service for the victims of COVID-19. I remember my brother-in-law, Jed Dannenbaum, who passed away this year due to COVID-19 along with the hundreds of thousands of others our communities have lost. May their memories be a blessing to all who knew them.

On Saturday, March 20th, the state hosted a pop-up vaccination site at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Mamaroneck. I visited the site right before it opened to thank all of the workers and partners who made it happen. Site hosts and community partners conducted outreach to identify eligible residents and schedule vaccine appointments.

On Friday, March 19th, I joined Attorney General Letitia James, Majority Leader Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, County Executive George Latimer, Mayor Mike Spano and Yonkers high school student Gregory Llamos at Roosevelt High School in Yonkers as she delivered a $150,000 grant to support homeless students with distance learning. Although we have all been struggling during the pandemic, it has been particularly challenging for homeless youth who lost an essential source of security and resources during the transition to distance learning. This $150,000 grant provides much needed resources to ensure students have sufficient internet access and the necessary devices to participate fully in the online classroom. Many thanks to Attorney General James for always thinking of our most vulnerable residents. Click here to read more about this grant.