Assemblyman Joseph Angelino (R,C,I-Norwich) voted against legislation that would require private employers of all types to provide personal protection equipment and upgrade ventilation systems for buildings at great expense to the businesses (A.2681-B). The so-called “Hero’s Act” makes unfair presumptions that private employers are not keeping employees safe and dictates these mandates without providing any means of assistance to financially offset such a great cost. The bill also outlines heavy fines and penalties on employers for failure to comply.

“I am concerned that many of our small businesses and other employers are at the tipping point of what they can sustainably manage in New York. First, they contend with already existing burdensome regulations and taxes, and then they were forcibly shut down because of the pandemic. How can they endure yet another costly regulation at a time when the focus should be on economic recovery,” said Angelino. “Progressives will continue to use COVID-19 as an excuse to ram in more regulation, but we cannot allow that, or we risk our businesses shutting down or moving out of the state entirely.”

Angelino points out that the bill’s regulations would go in excess of the safety requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the state Department of Labor. Currently, the bill has been sent back to the Senate. Should it be passed, it would also require additional expenditure from the state in terms of staffing and bureaucracy to enforce the mandate. The assemblyman says the employers and the state just cannot afford such costly mandates.