Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D-Endwell) announced Thursday that Governor Cuomo has signed a bill expanding New York State's Move Over Law to include sanitation vehicles. Under the new law, which was signed Wednesday, vehicles would have to move over or slow down when approaching sanitation trucks on a public highway. Lupardo was the prime co-sponsor of the bill in the Assembly; Assemblymen Cliff Crouch and Chris Friend also co-sponsored the Assembly legislation, along with Senator Fred Akshar who co-sponsored the bill in the Senate. The group of legislators had coordinated efforts to see the bill through.

“Sanitation workers do a very difficult and dangerous job every day," said Lupardo. “This bill extends the same courtesy to sanitation trucks that is offered to emergency vehicles. This will save lives as people pay closer attention to these trucks and their workers."

In November 2015, Taylor Garbage employee Sean Tilghman was struck and killed while emptying a trash can on the side of the road. Shortly after his death, representatives from Taylor Garbage Services and Bert Adams Disposal met with Lupardo and other local officials to encourage their support for the bill that had previously passed the Senate, but had not advanced out of the Assembly’s Transportation Committee.

Following the meeting with Taylor Garbage and Bert Adams Disposal, Lupardo, a Transportation Committee member, worked with the bill's prime sponsor Assemblyman Michael DenDekker to move the bill out of committee and ultimately to the floor for a vote in the Assembly where it passed unanimously.

“This new law will give our employees and their families peace of mind knowing that they’ll be safe when they are out on the roadways for work,” said Jared Taylor, General Manager of Taylor Garbage Service, Inc. “Our local representatives were very receptive to our concerns and we would like to thank everybody that had a role in getting this passed for the benefit of our workers and industry as a whole.”

The law will go into effect on November 1st.