Today, Assemblyman Joseph Angelino (R,C-Norwich) reacted to two of his bills being voted down in theAssembly Committee on Labor. In a party-line vote, every Majority lawmaker voted down this common-sense legislation. The first bill (A.2471) would require a comprehensive study on the wages of direct-care workers, who take care of the elderly and disabled. Following the study, a report sent to the governor and Legislature would determine an appropriate base wage for these important workers. 

The second bill (A.2520) would prohibit an employer from terminating an employee who is a volunteer firefighter or a volunteer EMT when that employee misses or is late to work because of an emergency to which the employee was dispatched.

“I am really disappointed in what happened at this week’s Labor committee meeting. Instead of working to help the people of New York, my Majority colleagues have decided to play politics and hold these bills in committee where they will die. These are not political bills; they are common-sense legislation that would show our front-line workers that we have their backs. Unfortunately, this happens all too often in Albany, where politics are prioritized over people, in fact those who voted against these bills struggled to come up with any good reasoning for voting how they did” Angelino said.