Gender Recognition Act passes State Legislature

ALBANY — The State Legislature has approved a bill to allow nonbinary, intersex or undesignated gender New Yorkers to use an "X" for their sex on driver’s licenses rather than identifying themselves as male or female.

The Gender Recognition Act and another bill raising the minimum age that children can be tried for crimes as juvenile offenders were among bills passed in a last-minute rush Thursday night as the legislative session closed.

Lawmakers and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo also agreed to postpone measures that would change the leadership of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and give most offenders who served their sentences and parole a "clean slate" by allowing them to expunge their criminal records.

The two measures had been linked, but a deal to pass them fell apart late Thursday.

Now, the Legislature plans to take up Cuomo’s request to separate the two top MTA posts before MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick Foye leaves the job July 31.

The Clean Slate Bill, which is popular with progressive legislators and would affect 2 million New Yorkers, is expected to be enacted at the same time.

Cuomo had proposed separating the two top MTA posts, changing the way the agency has operated for most of its history.

The Legislature initially rejected the idea, but relented when Cuomo agreed to make both the CEO and the board chairman subject to Senate confirmation votes.

Other major bills failed to pass in the last hours of the session.

Among them was the popular but temporary practice of allowing restaurants to sell wine and alcohol with pickup orders of food.

The effort was aimed at helping restaurants weather the economic shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Melissa Fleischut, president and CEO of the New York State Restaurant Association, said the industry was, "frustrated by the inaction from the State Legislature," and would not "be deterred by this setback."

Fleischut said the restaurant group would ask Cuomo to revive his expired executive order that had allowed alcohol-to-go sales by restaurants.

Restaurants had faced opposition from another powerful lobbying force in Albany, the liquor store associations, which said restaurant sales were cutting into the liquor and wine market created under state law.

Another major bill that failed to pass was the Adult Victims Act. The measure would create a one-year window beyond the statute of limitations for survivors of sex crimes aged 18 years or older at the time of the crimes.

Backers said the measure would allow them more time to bring lawsuits against abusers and any organizations that allowed the abuse to occur.

Supporters of the Gender Identification Act said the measure’s impact would extend beyond driver’s licenses.

Backers said the measure would help transgender people and others correct many other forms of essential identification. They noted that driver's licenses are key to getting other government documents changed.

Under the legislation, nonbinary, intersex or undesignated gender New Yorkers who change their names no longer would be required to publish their new name, previous name and birth date in legal notices in newspapers.

Supporters of the bill say this traditional public posting could subject people to harassment and assault.

The measure also allows judges to consider the risk of violence when deciding whether to approve requests to seal name-change documents.

"The provisions in this bill will make life safer, reduce the stigma and affirm the identities for so many of our friends and neighbors," said Assemb. Daniel O’Donnell (D-Manhattan).

Following sometimes tense exchanges on another major bill, state legislators agreed to raise the minimum age of juvenile delinquency.

The change would mean no child younger than 12 years old could be tried for most crimes as a juvenile delinquent. The minimum age for a juvenile delinquent is 7.

However, the bill would allow children 7 to 12 years old charged with manslaughter or murder to be tried as juvenile delinquents.

Crimes committed by younger children would be subject to a "differential response program" instead of being tried in court.

Sen. Jamaal Bailey (D-Bronx) and Assemb. Andrew Hevesi (D-Queens), co-sponsors of the bill, said children 7 to 12 years old are too young to understand court proceedings.

Also, detention among older juvenile delinquents could contribute to putting them on a path of crime, backers said.

In 2019, more than 800 children 12 years old and younger were arrested in New York, and a disproportionate number were Black or Brown, according to the Legal Aid Society of New York, which has urged Cuomo to sign the measure.

"New York state is just a pen stroke away from abolishing its long-standing and appalling practice of arresting and prosecuting children who are under the age of 12," said Dawne Mitchell, of the Juvenile Rights Practice at The Legal Aid Society.

Several Republicans argued in floor debates that the measure could allow dangerous children to escape consequences for some serious offenses.

Children 7 to 12 years old "might be little guys and little gals … but these little guys and little gals are committing some really serious crimes," said Assemb. Mary Beth Walsh (R-Ballston), an attorney who works in Family Court on juvenile cases.

Meanwhile, a bill to authorize the Town of Oyster Bay to pass a local law to establish a Bureau of Administrative Adjudication got stuck in an Assembly committee after passing the Senate.

The bureau would have been a town court for the prosecution of certain code violation cases that have been tried in county District Court.

Two similar bills that would allow the towns of Babylon and East Hampton to pass local laws to establish their own bureaus did pass both houses of the Legislature.

With Ted Phillips and Yancey Roy

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.