Authorizes and empowers the College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF) to merge with the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) with CREF ceasing to be a corporate entity and TIAA as the surviving entity.
Establishes the crime of sexual abuse against a patient or client by a health care provider in the first and second degree; designates such crimes as being class B and E felonies, respectively.
Establishes the "Interstate insurance product regulation compact" to regulate certain insurance products among member states and to promote and protect the interest of consumers of individual and group annuity, life insurance, disability income and long-term care insurance products.
Establishes the office of the child welfare advocate to provide support to youth, biological parents, kinship caregivers and foster parents including prospective kinship caregivers or foster parents.
Relates to returnable bottles; adds noncarbonated soft drinks, certain noncarbonated fruit or vegetable juices, coffee and tea beverages, carbonated fruit beverages and cider to the definition of "beverage"; provides that beginning April 1, 2026, the handling fee will be six cents for each beverage container accepted by a deposit initiator from a dealer or operator of a redemption center.
Provides that absentee ballots for all elections shall be made available in Braille and large print, upon request of a blind or visually impaired voter no less than 30 days prior to each election day.
Affords uniformed personnel of the NYC department of correction and uniformed members of the NYC department of sanitation the option of taking a monetary payment in lieu of terminal leave at the rate applicable on the date of retirement.
Requires animal shelters to annually report on intake and disposition of animals and the number of animals turned away by such shelters; requires shelters to submit such reports to the department of agriculture and markets; requires such department to post the reports on their website.
Relates to intentional physical injuries to a police officer due to a belief or perception regarding such police officer's involvement in a previous arrest of such person constituting assault in the first and second degree.