Letters to the editor can be submitted by sending an email to tuletters@timesunion.com or completing this form. See our guidelines on letters.

The League of Women Voters’ support for Medical Aid in Dying resulted from a lengthy process of studying all sides of the issue. New Yorkers agree; 70% have emphatically declared their support according to public surveys. The New York State Bar Association agrees, the New York State Medical Society agrees, and a significant number of state clergy agree.

The impeccable safety controls in the bill require that the patient be mentally sound and physically competent to self-administer; only patients already assessed by their treating physician to have a terminal illness may request it; their approved application only allows patients to request the medication prospectively, not to receive it immediately.

MAID is not suicide, it grants compassionate relief, which treatment cannot provide. Relief at being recognized and provided some element of autonomy may be the greatest benefit. Medical aid in dying provides peace and comfort to the dying. It can also provide time: for loved ones to gather and for the dying to be surrounded by love and care, not alone with whirring machines as companions.

Ten years of denying this mercy to New Yorkers must come to a close. In a moral universe, compassionate care must take precedence.

Owens is the President of the League of Women Voters of Albany County.

Vastola is the MAID Advocate of the League of Women Voters of Albany County.

Published May 5, 2025

I am a concerned student and teen driver, and I believe that reinstating driver's education in schools is an urgent necessity.

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of accidental deaths for teens aged 16 to 17 in New York. Drivers aged 16 to 24 represent 12% of licensed drivers in the state but, notably, account for 20% of drivers involved in crashes. Studies have demonstrated that formal driver's education significantly reduces crashes and traffic violations among teens. Young drivers without such education are 75% more likely to receive a traffic ticket and 24% more likely to be involved in accidents.

Yet, many schools in our area have had to discontinue driver's education programs due to budget constraints and administrative challenges. This leaves teenagers at a higher risk to be involved in accidents.

Recognizing this issue, legislative efforts are underway to improve access to driver's education. Senate bill S8667, introduced by Sen. Andrew Gounardes, aims to require all driver's license applicants in New York to take at least six hours of supervised in-car instruction with a licensed driving instructor. This initiative seeks to provide high school students, especially those whose schools do not offer driver education programs, with vital access to driver safety training.

Reintroducing comprehensive driver's education in schools would equip young drivers with essential skills and knowledge, potentially reducing accidents and saving lives. Policymakers should prioritize safer roads for our communities.

Published May 5, 2025

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch of over 90% plastic in the North Pacific Ocean covers about 620,000 square miles, more than twice the area of Texas. A similar patch extends for hundreds of miles in the North Atlantic.

Continued breakdown of today’s plastic trash will result in increased levels of plastic micro- and nano-particles far into the future even if we were to cease production of plastics today.

Microplastics contain and transport toxic compounds. There is growing evidence that plastic micro- and nano-particles affect human health. The sheer enormity and ubiquity of the plastic problem necessitate that we reduce plastic production worldwide.

We can begin to reduce plastic use and waste in New York state by passing the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S1464/A1749). This bill would require large companies selling products in the state to reduce plastic packaging by 30% over the next 12 years. It would also ban 14 highly toxic chemicals used in the production of plastics.

Public support for this bill is essential for its passage. We need to tell our state Assembly members and senators as well as Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, and Gov. Kathy Hochul that it is time for the state to do something about plastic pollution that for too long has threatened our health and despoiled our environment.

The writer is with the Capital Region Interfaith Creation Care Coalition, Albany.

Published May 5, 2025

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

With the recent story of Lavender, the abandoned dog rescued in Schenectady, and the abused dog found by Rensselaer Police, it is time to have a serious discussion about animal cruelty. Recently, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law that seeks to shut down “puppy mills” in New York as it has been proven that many of these facilities are inhumane and are simply using dogs as cash grabs. Unfortunately, like most legislation, this does not apply to bad actors who continue to break the rules. We are blessed in the Capital Region to have multiple rescue organizations who are often short-staffed taking care of these otherwise neglected and abused animals. Sadly, they cannot take all of our four-legged friends who need help. That is why we need to have a serious discussion about making animal cruelty a felony instead of a misdemeanor crime. The offenders continue to get away with their actions with little to no jail time and little consequences. Animals cannot call 911, they cannot ask for help, and they cannot drive themselves to the doctor. If there is one thing we can all agree on these days, I would hope it would be protecting the rights of our four-legged friends.

Published May 5, 2025

The request for a delay in the income limitation law passed by the state Legislature in 2023 appears to have sparked some bipartisanship as Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat, seems to be siding with Republicans who have challenged the law and who seek at least a two-year delay in enforcement of a law that was scheduled to take affect on Jan. 1.

At the time the law was passed, legislators were also granted a $32,000 pay raise with the pending outside income limitation as the main justification. Amazingly (wink, wink), now that the law is past due to take effect, bipartisanship for fattening the wallets of legislators seems to be easy while bipartisanship on other issues facing residents seems impossible.

Heastie and the Republicans argue that up to 38 legislators may resign if the law is enforced, which they do not believe would be good for governing. That is a head-scratcher as good government is when you enforce laws that you have passed, not in allowing legislators to accept a $32,000 raise under false pretenses.

I have a potential solution to the ongoing problem. Either enforce the law and accept the resignations of those who choose to do so or rescind the law limiting outside income and have all legislators give back their $32,000 raises. I am guessing this proposal will also promote bipartisanship action, but I doubt the action will favor the taxpayer.

Published April 28, 2025

The New York state budget has been late four years in a row and multiple times since the year 2000. Yet, despite the Legislature’s failure to do its job by passing an on-time budget, nearly a dozen Republican lawmakers are involved in a lawsuit against the state to have the law restricting their outside income declared unconstitutional. Perhaps if our legislators spent more time doing their legislative work and less time in pursuit of outside income, the budget would actually be passed on time.

Published April 28, 2025

Passing the expanded Better Bottle Bill (S5684/A6543) would be a powerful step toward creating a circular economy, where waste is minimized, and materials are reused and recycled instead of being littered or landfilled in marginalized neighborhoods.

The legislation expands the law to a wider variety of containers, to teas, sports drinks, wine and liquor bottles. Keeping these bottles out of single-stream recycling and out of our landfills reduces municipal solid waste management costs.

The dime redeemable deposit (from the current nickel) will increase bottle redemption, improving the best recycling program in the state. This will especially help in the case of glass containers. When glass breaks in the single-stream recycling process, it contaminates everything and impacts its recyclability.

The handling fees increase from 3.5 to 5 cents per bottle for redemption centers. They have not had a raise since 2009, leading to more than 150 closing in the past two years. This is a needed raise for the canners and charities that depend on collecting cans from our neighborhoods and highways.

In addition, New York state will gain an additional $100 million, a significant help in these times.

The benefits are clear: a reduction in waste pollution, increased income for the people who rely on canning, and a reprieve for communities buried under the weight of our trash. The Legislature must pass and the governor must sign this bill in 2025.

The writer is a member of Zero Waste Capital District.

Published April 28, 2025

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Ashley Jeffrey Bouck is absolutely correct in her column, "To fight animal cruelty, New York needs stronger laws," April 9, that the state desperately needs stronger animal cruelty laws that both help to deter abusers and to hold them accountable in meaningful ways.

As she points out, animal abusers very often are also responsible for other violent crimes. Even if you are not an animal lover like me, surely no one with any respect for life or empathy wants to see innocent beings hurt or see the evolution from animal abuse to domestic abuse, murder, etc.

Perhaps we could address two of the issues here with one action: when an abuser is identified (as some, at least, are), that abuser's wages or public assistance should be garnished to help cover the costs of treatment and rehabilitation.

I am happy to donate to the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society and will do so as long as I can count on my Social Security. But abusers should at least bear some financial responsibility for their crimes as well as other penalties. Such vicious and depraved actions, moreover, should be felonies -- no question.

These measures might begin to address the unwarranted suffering of helpless creatures.

Published May 5, 2025

As articulated in James A. Lewis III’s commentary, "Lawmakers, do more to keep prescription prices in check," March 28, the rate of price increases of essential medications is alarming and often results in access to necessary treatments to stay healthy being unaffordable.

Although pharmaceutical companies invest significantly in research and development to produce medications, patents protect their intellectual rights for a long time before such patents expire and generic manufacturers may offer generic products. Unfortunately, brand-name manufacturers may threaten patent infringement lawsuits against the first generic drug manufacturers seeking federal approval for competing generic drugs. To avoid costly and uncertain litigation, the parties may enter a “pay-for-delay” agreement, where the brand-name manufacturer compensates/incentivizes the other to delay introducing their product. The adage “time is money” may clearly describe its impact on prescription pricing, but these arrangements are unbefitting and do nothing to help control drug prices.

Generic drugs have been recognized as a critical and compelling approach to controlling the rising cost of prescription drugs and are bioequivalent to reference-listed drugs with the same active ingredients but cost up to 85 percent less.

I echo Lewis’ call for action by the state Legislature. I believe it’s time for common sense to prevail and for the Legislature to enact the Manufacturer Disclosure and Transparency Act (S488/A2289) to bring disclosure/transparency to pay-for-delay generic deals that harm consumers. With appropriate disclosure, action must be considered to end these unscrupulous arrangements.

Published April 28, 2025

The sentiment among many New Yorkers is that our state’s government is broken, and our politics is divisive, uncivil, and overly controlled by two parties. We deserve a government that functions better, and one that is more representative of a majority of New Yorkers. We deserve a political system that allows the millions of independent voters to have a voice in primary elections, and one that incentivizes elected officials to collaborate and compromise on behalf of a broad swath of voters.

This is all possible if we change the way we elect representatives in our state.

To do this, we need lawmakers to embrace solutions that will give New Yorkers more voice and more democracy. Unite NY (https://uniteny.org/) is a non-partisan movement that is fighting to evolve our electoral system so that people matter more than political parties.

In order to achieve this goal, state leaders must pass legislation creating term limits, Ranked Choice Voting, and open primaries. These three specific reforms will give voters a greater say in government. This, in turn, will make our government work better.

There are two bills in the state Assembly right now that are aiming to make these changes. By urging our state representatives to support these bills, we will be helping to get New York on the right track. We need to tell our representatives that it is time to adopt policies that will give more choices to more voices. It is time to support bills A90 and A5785.

Published May 5, 2025

I’m not one for lawsuits but kudos to Attorney General Letitia James. James announced the state is suing 13 major e-cigarette manufacturers, distributors and retailers for illegally marketing and selling highly addictive candy- and fruit-flavored vapes. Since 2020, flavored nicotine e-cigarettes have been banned in New York, but these illegal products in flavors like “Blue Razz Slushy” and “Fruity Bears Freeze” continue to be sold in corner stores and smoke shops, including in the Capital Region.

According to our observations of tobacco retailers within 1,500 feet of schools, 37% of the stores in the city of Albany and 52% of stores in the city of Schenectady were still selling these flavored e-cigarettes in 2023. And that’s not all. There are now flavored e-cigarettes that look like toys, slushy cups, asthma inhalers, watches, and even “smart vapes” that include built-in video games and digital prizes as incentives depending on how much a person vapes.

It’s not just that these products are illegal. They are attracting and addicting young people to a substance that can negatively impact learning, memory, and impulse control and can prime them for future addictions. It’s time they are taken off the market for good.

The writer is the Director of the Capital District Tobacco-Free Communities.

Published May 5, 2025

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

New York’s current law allows offenders to evade accountability by excluding survivors of sexual assault incapacitated by ingesting drugs or alcohol. While the law rightly criminalizes sexual assault when someone is unknowingly drugged, it fails to protect survivors who reach the same incapacitated state voluntarily. How someone becomes intoxicated should not determine whether the assault is legally recognized.

A 2005 Department of Justice report found that sexual assaults involving voluntary intoxication are 8.5 times more common than those involving surreptitious drugging. Yet, current law denies these survivors equal protection.

My bill, S54, fixes this imbalance by clarifying that anyone too impaired to consent — regardless of how they became intoxicated — is legally a victim of sexual assault. It ensures that all survivors have a pathway to justice.

Opponents argue the bill could increase false accusations or wrongful convictions. However, that’s not how sexual assault cases are prosecuted. Charges require corroborating evidence, such as witness testimony, forensic proof, or self-incriminating statements. This bill does not change that standard. In fact, data from other states show that removing the exclusion decreases rates of sexual assault by up to 50%.

The New York Police........

© Times Union