On August 26th, our nation observed Women’s Equality Day. And while it’s important we celebrate the anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s final ratification – giving women the right to vote – the fight for full women’s equality continues. Here in New York, a State with a strong progressive history, the Assembly has long led the fight to pass legislation crucial to women. This past Legislative Session was no different.

One major highlight was the Assembly passing – for the seventh time – a measure to fund the mapping of breast cancer incidences to advance our understanding of why there are such geographic variations in breast cancer occurrence. The Senate joined us in passing the, and the Governor signed it into law earlier this month (Ch. 106 of 2013).

With so many women across New York falling victim to domestic violence every day, it’s critical that we protect victims who are looking to escape their attackers. That’s why the Assembly fought for a law requiring telephone service providers to give those domestic violence victims who want one a new telephone number free of charge, helping protect more victims from their abusers (Ch. 202 of 2013).

Child care is another issue in which the Assembly has taken a proactive approach. With local governments increasingly forced to do more with less, many social services districts do not have the funding to provide child care subsidies to everyone who needs them. That is why the Assembly fought to allow a 12-month work exemption for households receiving temporary assistance with a child under the age of 1, provided that the commissioner of a social services district is unable to provide all eligible working families with a child care subsidy. Had the budget measure been signed into law, eligible families would have been provided additional time to balance finding work and caring for their very young children.

Additionally, the Assembly formed a workgroup on child care issues in New York State to better understand the challenges faced by working parents. The workgroup will seek feedback from parents and representatives of the child care industry, including providers, advocates and researchers, to explore ways to increase availability and access to child care.

The Assembly also passed these crucial, pro-women measures to:

• remove the requirement that vaginal penetration be proven to establish a rape charge and add oral and anal sexual conduct to the current definition of rape so that these heinous acts are properly recognized by the law for what they are – rape (A.3339-A);
• require hospitals to establish and maintain policies to effectively treat victims of domestic violence (A.2562);
• provide adequate time for families to find alternative child care when a funding cut makes them ineligible to receive child care services (A.3498-A). Adequate notice will help prevent crisis situations for parents and unsafe child care arrangements for children; and
• develop guidelines for maternal depression screening and referrals, provide a referral list for treatment and enhance public awareness of maternal depression (A.7667-B).

In June, the Assembly passed vital legislation to help sexually exploited children. Under current law, when 16- and 17-year-old minors are found guilty of prostitution charges, they are treated like common criminals. The Assembly’s measure allows criminal court judges to offer counseling instead of jail time to 16 and 17 year olds (A.8071-A). With this measure, we can help save the lives of more troubled teens and encourage more young girls to get the help they need to start over.

Finally, the Assembly passed the governor’s full, 10-point Women’s Equality Act (WEA), which includes sweeping reforms to ensure greater fairness for the women of New York. The legislation protects women’s health and reproductive rights, ensures pay equity, combats sexual harassment, includes stronger penalties for human trafficking and increases protections for victims of domestic violence (A.8070). The Assembly passed the entire Women’s Equality Act because New York women deserve action on every single one of their rights – not just some of them.