New year brings boating law pushed by Long Island mother, new minimum wage
Gina Lieneck, of Deer Park, whose daughter Brianna died in a boating accident, at the 2019 signing of Brianna’s Law. The law, which requires motorobat operators to take boating safety classes, will complete its phasing-in period in 2025. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
ALBANY — New laws effective Wednesday in New York State will bolster a boating safety law born of a Long Island mother's anguish, require health insurers to end co-pays for insulin and mandate that all employers provide 20 hours of paid time off for prenatal care.
Other measures will increase the minimum wage and improve reimbursements for ambulance squads. The measures were passed by the State Legislature during the 2024 session, signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul and become effective in 2025.
Brianna's Law is among them.
The boater safety law is named for Brianna Lieneck, of St. James. The 11-year-old was killed when a large boat crashed into her family’s boat while they were returning from Fire Island in 2005.
Brianna's mother, Gina Lieneck, fought for years to strengthen boater safety laws and Brianna's Law passed in 2019. The law, which requires operators of motorized boats to complete boating safety classes, had been phased in by age, starting with young operators in 2020. In 2024, all boaters under 45 years old were required to earn a class certificate.
With the new year, the law applies to all operators of motorized boats and personal watercraft.
The law has required nearly 1 million boaters to take the course over the five years of phasing in the requirement by age, according to the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Failure to comply could bring fines of $100 and $250. The law does not apply to operators of sailboats, kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, rowboats or canoes.
"It feels so good," Lieneck told Newsday about the final phase-in of the law. "I think it’s important for everybody to be educated ... it’s bittersweet that in my daughter’s memory we got this passed through.
"I feel that having this law is going to save lives," she said.
The law increasing the state's minimum wage on Wednesday will add 50 cents an hour to the basic minimum wage of $16 for Long Island, New York City and Westchester; and will be added to the minimum wage for the rest of the state, which was $15.
The minimum wage will rise again by 50 cents on Jan. 1, 2026. Beginning in 2027, the minimum wage will be increased annually to the three-year average increase in the consumer price index. The law that enacts those increases also includes an "off ramp" that would freeze the wage for even modest increases in unemployment or drops in employment.
"Every little bit helps, but this is ‘a little bit,’ " said Michael Kink, executive director at Strong Economy for All Coalition, which advocates for working- and middle-class New Yorkers. "The public is demanding bigger solutions that make a bigger difference in their lives."
"Increasing the minimum wage does travel up the pay scale for folks making an hourly wage and it’s going to have a positive impact up the line," Kink said in an interview. "But low-wage workers need a hell of a lot more than 50 cents more an hour."
The minimum wage increases have been criticized and often opposed by business groups that argue in times of inflation, such state-mandated increase in wages can force employers to cut staffing or force small businesses to go out of business.
State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon, however, said, "Multiyear changes allow businesses time to adjust while providing low-wage workers the ability to better support themselves and their families." She called the minimum wage "a lifeline for New Yorkers struggling to make ends meet as costs rise."
A minimum wage worker who doesn’t see the increase may file a wage complaint with the state Labor Department at dol.ny.gov/filing-labor-standards-complaint-fare-grant.
New York’s basic minimum wage is already among the top state rates in the nation, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Other states with the same or higher minimum wages than New York’s rate before Wednesday include California’s $16; Connecticut’s $15.69; the District of Columbia’s $17.50; Massachusetts and Maryland's $15; New Jersey’s $15.13; Oregon’s $15.95; and Washington state’s $16.28.
In addition, several policy measures included in the state budget adopted in April take effect Wednesday. They include:
[object Object], All employers will be required to provide 20 hours of paid time off for women employees for prenatal care, under the first such program in the nation, The leave must be allowed for physical exams, medical procedures and testing, and discussion with a health provider related to the pregnancy, according to the legislation, The leave may be taken in hourly increments and paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay or a minimum wage, whichever is greater, The benefit is available once in any 52-week period, but ends if the employee leaves the job, [object Object], Health insurers will not be able to charge "a deductible, co-payment, coinsurance or any other sharing requirement" for insulin drugs commonly prescribed for diabetes, About 1,8 million New Yorkers or 11,7% of the adult population have been diagnosed with diabetes, and those numbers grow by 92,000 per year, according to the American Diabetes Association, Previous federal and state laws capped the price at $35 per vial, with a patient’s cost dependent on the prescribed dosage, [object Object], Pregnant women will be able to enroll in the state health insurance exchange at any time without penalty, [object Object], The law will require "fair and direct reimbursement" for ambulance and emergency medical services, The law changes a long-standing measure in which insurance companies could pay for ambulance service through the patient — their customer — unless the ambulance company is one of the insurer’s "preferred providers," Under that law, ambulance companies had to try to recover that payment from the person they transported,.
The result is that ambulance and EMT services "routinely are not paid by the patient for ambulance services, even though the patient receives payment from the insurance company," the law states. "Especially as the financial crisis we are currently facing deepens, more and more patients are pocketing these funds."
Under the new law, insurance companies must send their reimbursement to ambulance and EMT services, not the company’s customers who called them.
Assemb. Bill Magnarelli (D-Syracuse) has been the prime sponsor of the bill since 2015. The bill passed with the Senate sponsorship by the chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee, Sen. Neil Breslin (D-Delmar).
"No longer will ambulance providers have to wonder if they will be paid for the services they are mandated to provide," Magnarelli said when the Assembly approved the bill.
ALBANY — New laws effective Wednesday in New York State will bolster a boating safety law born of a Long Island mother's anguish, require health insurers to end co-pays for insulin and mandate that all employers provide 20 hours of paid time off for prenatal care.
Other measures will increase the minimum wage and improve reimbursements for ambulance squads. The measures were passed by the State Legislature during the 2024 session, signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul and become effective in 2025.
Brianna's Law is among them.
The boater safety law is named for Brianna Lieneck, of St. James. The 11-year-old was killed when a large boat crashed into her family’s boat while they were returning from Fire Island in 2005.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- A new law that requires operators of motorized boats to complete boating safety classes had been phased in by age, starting with young operators in 2020. With the new year, the law applies to all operators of motorized boats and personal watercraft.
- Another new law increasing the state's minimum wage on Wednesday will add 50 cents an hour to the basic minimum wage of $16 for Long Island, New York City and Westchester; and will be added to the minimum wage for the rest of the state, which was $15.
- A third measure effective Wednesday won't allow health insurers to charge "a deductible, co-payment, coinsurance or any other sharing requirement" for insulin drugs commonly prescribed for diabetes.
Brianna's mother, Gina Lieneck, fought for years to strengthen boater safety laws and Brianna's Law passed in 2019. The law, which requires operators of motorized boats to complete boating safety classes, had been phased in by age, starting with young operators in 2020. In 2024, all boaters under 45 years old were required to earn a class certificate.
With the new year, the law applies to all operators of motorized boats and personal watercraft.
The law has required nearly 1 million boaters to take the course over the five years of phasing in the requirement by age, according to the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Failure to comply could bring fines of $100 and $250. The law does not apply to operators of sailboats, kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, rowboats or canoes.
"It feels so good," Lieneck told Newsday about the final phase-in of the law. "I think it’s important for everybody to be educated ... it’s bittersweet that in my daughter’s memory we got this passed through.
"I feel that having this law is going to save lives," she said.
Minimum wage boost
The law increasing the state's minimum wage on Wednesday will add 50 cents an hour to the basic minimum wage of $16 for Long Island, New York City and Westchester; and will be added to the minimum wage for the rest of the state, which was $15.
The minimum wage will rise again by 50 cents on Jan. 1, 2026. Beginning in 2027, the minimum wage will be increased annually to the three-year average increase in the consumer price index. The law that enacts those increases also includes an "off ramp" that would freeze the wage for even modest increases in unemployment or drops in employment.
"Every little bit helps, but this is ‘a little bit,’ " said Michael Kink, executive director at Strong Economy for All Coalition, which advocates for working- and middle-class New Yorkers. "The public is demanding bigger solutions that make a bigger difference in their lives."
"Increasing the minimum wage does travel up the pay scale for folks making an hourly wage and it’s going to have a positive impact up the line," Kink said in an interview. "But low-wage workers need a hell of a lot more than 50 cents more an hour."
The minimum wage increases have been criticized and often opposed by business groups that argue in times of inflation, such state-mandated increase in wages can force employers to cut staffing or force small businesses to go out of business.
State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon, however, said, "Multiyear changes allow businesses time to adjust while providing low-wage workers the ability to better support themselves and their families." She called the minimum wage "a lifeline for New Yorkers struggling to make ends meet as costs rise."
A minimum wage worker who doesn’t see the increase may file a wage complaint with the state Labor Department at dol.ny.gov/filing-labor-standards-complaint-fare-grant.
New York’s basic minimum wage is already among the top state rates in the nation, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Other states with the same or higher minimum wages than New York’s rate before Wednesday include California’s $16; Connecticut’s $15.69; the District of Columbia’s $17.50; Massachusetts and Maryland's $15; New Jersey’s $15.13; Oregon’s $15.95; and Washington state’s $16.28.
Other changes
In addition, several policy measures included in the state budget adopted in April take effect Wednesday. They include:
- Paid prenatal sick leave. All employers will be required to provide 20 hours of paid time off for women employees for prenatal care, under the first such program in the nation. The leave must be allowed for physical exams, medical procedures and testing, and discussion with a health provider related to the pregnancy, according to the legislation. The leave may be taken in hourly increments and paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay or a minimum wage, whichever is greater. The benefit is available once in any 52-week period, but ends if the employee leaves the job.
- Insulin. Health insurers will not be able to charge "a deductible, co-payment, coinsurance or any other sharing requirement" for insulin drugs commonly prescribed for diabetes. About 1.8 million New Yorkers or 11.7% of the adult population have been diagnosed with diabetes, and those numbers grow by 92,000 per year, according to the American Diabetes Association. Previous federal and state laws capped the price at $35 per vial, with a patient’s cost dependent on the prescribed dosage.
- Health coverage. Pregnant women will be able to enroll in the state health insurance exchange at any time without penalty.
- Ambulance reimbursement. The law will require "fair and direct reimbursement" for ambulance and emergency medical services. The law changes a long-standing measure in which insurance companies could pay for ambulance service through the patient — their customer — unless the ambulance company is one of the insurer’s "preferred providers." Under that law, ambulance companies had to try to recover that payment from the person they transported.
The result is that ambulance and EMT services "routinely are not paid by the patient for ambulance services, even though the patient receives payment from the insurance company," the law states. "Especially as the financial crisis we are currently facing deepens, more and more patients are pocketing these funds."
Under the new law, insurance companies must send their reimbursement to ambulance and EMT services, not the company’s customers who called them.
Assemb. Bill Magnarelli (D-Syracuse) has been the prime sponsor of the bill since 2015. The bill passed with the Senate sponsorship by the chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee, Sen. Neil Breslin (D-Delmar).
"No longer will ambulance providers have to wonder if they will be paid for the services they are mandated to provide," Magnarelli said when the Assembly approved the bill.
Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.
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