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Part 7: Continuing to Lead on LGBTQ Rights. 251Proposal. Eliminate Discriminatory Policing ofTransgender New Yorkers . 252Proposal. Include a Third Gender Marker onIdentity Documents . 254Proposal. Expanding Access to Fertility Coveragefor Same-Sex Couples . 257Proposal. LGBTQ Fairness in Child Custody. 259Part 8: Supporting New York Veterans . 260Proposal. Connect Underserved Veterans to TheirBenefits. 261Proposal. Expand Veterans Treatment Courts. 264Part 9: Protecting Immigrants’ Rights . 267Proposal. Provide Legal Services to Immigrants. 267Proposal. Outlaw Discrimination on the Basis ofCitizenship or Immigration Status . 269Part 10: A Fair and Supportive Start forVulnerable Children. 271Proposal. Create A More Just and Safe Child WelfareSystem. 271Proposal. Make it Easier for Parents to Find andCollect Unclaimed Child Support . 274Part 11: Facilitating Policing Reform. 277Proposal. Strengthen New York’s PolicingProfession . 279Proposal. Promote Diversity in Public SafetyCareers. 284Proposal. Make Safer and More Efficient VirtualArraignments Permanent. 28711

Part 12: Keeping Illegal Guns off the Street. 289Proposal. Close the Federal Loophole PermittingIndividuals with Active Warrants to PurchaseGuns . 289Proposal. Enhance the Sharing of Crime GunData . 2906. Protecting Our Democracy. 292Proposal. Reform Election Administration andSpeed up Canvassing of Ballots . 294Proposal. Open and Modernize Absentee Voting 295Proposal. Expand Access to Early Voting . 298Proposal. Protect Judges and their Families fromThreats . 300ENDNOTES . 30212

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1.CONQUERING COVIDAND REIMAGINING PUBLICHEALTHCOVID-19 ambushed New York — as flights fromEurope imported the virus to the Empire State, we wereleft virtually on our own while the federal governmentfocused on China and President Trump claimed isappear.” But, as New Yorkers always do in times ofcrisis, we rose to the occasion. We wore masks, stayedhome, and saved lives — bringing New York from thehighest infection rate to one of the lowest. New Yorkerswere tough, smart, united, disciplined, and loving.Whether they were serving on the front linestreating patients in our hospitals, stocking grocery storeshelves to feed our neighbors, or simply staying home tostop the spread, New Yorkers showed the nation how tobend the curve. Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, wedemonstrated how adapting to the facts, trusting science,and putting people above politics can save lives.14

Because of the federal government’s failure, atowering wave of COVID-19 cases threatened todecimate hospitals in hard-hit New York City. UnderGovernor Cuomo, the State mobilized to createthousands of beds at the Javits Center and other keylocations across Downstate. New York overcame an allbut frozen supply chain to secure PPE for health care andother essential workers.When staffing was an issue, more than 30,000retired doctors and nurses responded to GovernorCuomo’s call and returned to save lives on the front linesof this battle. When the federal government failed toestablish a comprehensive testing program, GovernorCuomo cleared red tape to allow an unprecedentedexpansion of testing, allowing the State to manage thecrisis with data and facts. To date, the state hasconducted more than 27 million tests.Now we focus on a major challenge of our time:quickly vaccinating nearly 20 million people. New Yorkwill meet the challenge. On December 14, 2020, SandraLindsay, an ICU Nurse at Long Island Jewish MedicalCenter in Queens, New York, received the first COVID-19vaccine in the nation. 1 In the following weeks, hundreds15

of thousands of essential health care workers andnursing home residents in New York have receivedvaccines.As we march toward defeating the virus, NewYorkers will not forget what they saw or learned. In 2021,we must — and will — become better prepared andmore resilient for the next crisis.New York will not go back to the way things were.Instead, we will take what we learned from thisexperience and build back better, with a stronger, andmore equitable health care system.Part 1: Leading the Nation in Fighting InfectiousDiseasesFrom the moment New York was ambushed byCOVID-19 and became the first national epicenter of thevirus, the state has acted quickly and aggressively basedon data and science.New York built a new in-state medical supplymanufacturing industry and designed new protocols tomitigate overcrowding at hospitals. Pfizer, a New Yorkcompany, co-created the first approved vaccine, and aNew York academic researcher led Pfizer’s clinical trials16

globally. Another New York company, Regeneron,created one of the first antibody treatments. Corning, oneof New York’s earliest corporate success stories, and stillone of our strongest companies, produces the speciallyengineered glass vials needed for the vaccine requiringsub-freezing storage. More than 250 labs — both big andsmall — across the state processed COVID-19 tests.New York is proud of its medical researchers,scientists, doctors, and nurses, and will capitalize ontheir experience, ingenuity, and creativity to build apublic health system that is better prepared to handle thenext health emergency.Proposal. Secure In-State PPE Supply Chain and Passthe Medical Supply ActThe United States was ill-prepared for a globalpandemic when it came to our shores in 2020. At theoutset of the COVID-19 crisis, New York State, along withthe rest of the country, faced a severe shortage of basicPersonal Protective Equipment (PPE), leaving ourfrontline health care professionals vulnerable tocontracting the disease that we so desperately neededthem to fight. U.S. reliance on foreign PPE suppliers17

meant great disruption when China shut down, and theEuropean outbreak just ahead of us compounded thescarcity, resulting in high prices, delayed shipments, andquality control issues. To ensure that hospitals had thesupplies needed to protect their patients and workers,New York was forced to compete with other countries —and even states — to secure critical products fromoverseas.Seeing these challenges firsthand, GovernorCuomo decided, amidst the crisis, to immediately startinvesting in an in-state supply chain to help New Yorkbecome self-sufficient. By April 2020, Empire StateDevelopment (ESD) had launched a program to helpcompanies across New York State ramp up or retool theiroperations to manufacture critical PPE, including N95respirators, surgical masks, face shields, gowns, test kits,and ventilators, among other vital supplies. 2To date, ESD has awarded more than 20 millionto 36 New York companies as part of this initiative. Thesegrants have not only enabled New York Statemanufacturers to create and retain a combined 3,500jobs, but they have also put the state on track to meetdemand for the production of several critical supplies.18

In-state manufacturers can currently meet 100 percentof New York hospitals’ peak weekly demand for faceshields. In 2021, New York State manufacturers areprojected to have the capacity to produce up to twomillion N95 respirators, four million surgical masks, onemillion gowns, and 600,000 face shields per week.To promote domestic manufacturing of criticalmedical equipment and to reduce dependency onoverseas products, New York State will pass the MedicalSupplies Act to prioritize buying American-made PPEand medical supplies. As the Buy American Act did forAmerican-made structural iron and steel, this new policyensures domestic manufacturers have a ready marketand we maintain the gains we’ve made since April.Proposal. Make “Surge and Flex” RegulationsPermanentAs the COVID-19 crisis unfolded last spring, a newcoordinated approach to managing hospitalizations wascritical to ensure no one hospital was overwhelmed.Under the Governor’s leadership, the state coordinatedand organized all hospitals under the umbrella of oneunified system to efficiently use all the resources19

available in the state to meet the significant demands ofthe crisis. In August, this strategy was institutionalizedthrough the state’s “Surge and Flex” regulations, to allowthe state to quickly activate Surge and Flex in the eventof a resurgence of COVID-19. Under this coordinatedapproach, hospitals must have plans in place and beprepared to rapidly increase bed and staffing capacity,maintain and actively manage PPE, rapidly load balance,and report all information necessary for the state toimplement Surge and Flex.To ensure that the state’s hospital systems areprepared to face future surges and disasters, theDepartment of Health will make these emergency Surgeand Flex regulations permanent.Proposal. Create the Citizens Public Health Council toTrain Volunteers in Public Health PreparednessThroughout the COVID-19 crisis, New Yorkerswere asked to do their part to fight a virus in ways theyhad never done before. Everyone was given a crashcourse in virology, learning to properly wash their hands,sanitize their homes and businesses, and safely care fortheir family and neighbors. Thousands of New Yorkers20

signed up and were trained to be contract tracers,helping to track and mitigate the spread of the virus. 3When other states needed help, these New Yorkersheeded the call and brought their new public health skillsto the rest of the country.New Yorkers should have the tools to protectthemselves and help others against future healthemergencies. Governor Cuomo will launch a free citizenpublic health training program designed by CornellUniversity, offered online, to educate and certify tens ofthousands of citizens of New York all across the statewho will then be better prepared to help themselves,their families and co-workers and can be trained tovolunteer to help their community for the next healthemergency.Proposal. Launch a 40 Million New York StateBiodefense Commercialization FundNew York’s unparalleled scientific and medicalassets — particularly its wealth of biomedical researchcapacity — proved invaluable in enabling the state tolead the global fight against COVID-19. New York ranksthird among states in receiving National Institutes of21

Health (NIH) grant funding, a key indicator of the volumeof high-caliber research conducted at our world-classcolleges and universities. Of the nation’s 50 most highlyfunded biomedical research institutions, seven arelocated in New York, receiving nearly 2.9 billion inannual federal grants.Governor Cuomo has long4championed growth in this sector. He announced a 620million Life Sciences Initiative in 2016 to further thegrowth of the state’s world-class life science cluster andimprove the state’s ability to commercialize researchfindings into solutions that advance public health. 5While the development of vaccines for COVID-19has moved with unprecedented speed, thanks to manyworking in New York, there is still a pressing need ble not only to COVID-19 but also to otheremerging pathogens. Many entrepreneurs and rapeutics and technologies to control COVID-19.However, too many promising projects lack adequateventure funding in the current recession, and much of theexisting work remains independent and uncoordinated.22

Governor Cuomo will call on Empire StateDevelopment Corporation (ESD) to create a new 40million New York State Infectious Diseases ResiliencyCommercialization Fund advised by the New York StateDepartment of Health and other private experts. Thisinitiative will capitalize on New York’s substantialresearch and development assets and expertise in lifesciences, biotechnology, and biodefense.This fund will be designed to accelerate thegrowth of companies across New York State and to fasttrack the development of innovations that addressemerging infectious diseases and public health threats.This important and life-saving work will supporteconomic growth and keep New Yorkers safe. Grants ranging from 500,000 to 1 million willbe available to companies of all sizes, withinnovations ranging from early- to late-stage,with an emphasis on those with the highest potential for commercial viability.Until the end of the current public healthemergency, priority will be given to innovationswith the potential to directly mitigate the effectsoftheCOVID-1923pandemic.Promising

innovations that address other biological orinfectious disease threats will also be considered.Prior to making awards, the state will convene acommittee of public health experts in partnership withColumbia University and Mount Sinai Health System toreview and evaluate a

Legislature regarding the state of the state. Since taking office, Governor Cuomo has used this opportunity to update New Yorkers on the progress of the State, while laying out a series of priorities for the year. The State of the State proposals are the first step in defining the Governor's agenda in 2021.