Policy Bulletin
Latest Policy Actions and Developments
Immigration:
February 26, 2025
Her Justice and other groups in New York State joined an open letter led by NYCLU calling on State lawmakers to protect the rights of New Yorkers from erosion by federal policy changes without legal precedent.
February 15, 2025
As part of the NY Immigration Coalition, Her Justice signed a letter in support of the New York for All Act (S.2235/Gounardes, A.3506/Reyes), which would prohibit state and local officers and employees from, among other things, enforcing civil immigration law themselves; sharing sensitive information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Patrol (CBP); and allowing ICE or CBP to access public facilities without a judicial warrant.
February 12, 2025
Her Justice prepared a memorandum in support of A.270/Cruz, S.141/Hoylman-Sigal, the Access to Representation Act, which would create a right to counsel for New Yorkers facing deportation who cannot afford legal representation and provide much needed funding to build the supply of legal services, along with social services support, to meet the demand throughout the State.
January 24, 2025
Her Justice prepared a memorandum in support of A.325/Gonzalez-Rojas, S.710/Cleare, which would expand eligibility for public benefits to noncitizens with certain applications for immigration status, including VAWA self-petitions and battered spouse waivers, and U Visas.
September 25, 2024
Her Justice presented our policy report, Stories from Immigrant Survivors of Gender-Based Violence: The Impact of Work Authorization, in a plenary session at the 2024 New York State Bar Association Partnership Conference.
Intimate Partner Violence:
February 26, 2025
Her Justice supported a letter prepared by a statewide coalition of organizations dedicated to providing culturally specific services to immigrant survivors of gender-based violence. The letter calls on New York State legislators to allocate $23 million through the Office of Victim Services to ensure culturally and linguistically responsive services remain accessible to immigrant survivors in the face of potential cuts in federal funding.
February 12, 2025
Her Justice, along with a coalition of other advocates in New York City, issued a new memorandum in continued support of a State bill (S.1353/Cleare, A.3038/Rosenthal) designed to provide relief from “coerced debt” to survivors of domestic violence, elder abuse, human trafficking, and abuse by caretakers.
December 12, 2024
Her Justice worked with the NYC Supervised Visitation Working Group to prepare a letter advocating for increased funding for supervised visitation for New York Family-Court-involved children who have been exposed to family abuse.
September 30, 2024
Her Justice signed on to a letter spearheaded by the National Consumer Law Center and the Center for Survivor Agency and Justice petitioning the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to open rulemaking under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) during the 2024 calendar year to protect victims of coerced debt.
September 16, 2024
Her Justice testified at an inter-agency policy listening session held by the NYS Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, NYS Office of Children and Family Services, NYS Office for Victim Services, and NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services. In our written submission and oral remarks, Her Justice addressed (1) the need for improved transparency of Family Court data to better assess whether the courts are meeting the needs of survivors and (2) agency support for proposed legislation (S.2278/A.1309, 2023-24 session), that would provide relief from coerced debt to survivors of domestic violence, elder abuse, human trafficking, and abuse by caretakers.
Child Support
February 12, 2025
Her Justice continued our advocacy for a broader menu of options for parents seeking to establish child support. We prepared a memo in support of S.245/Persaud, A.3753/Reyes, which would pilot an expedited settlement conference process for families who can agree on child support rather than requiring them to engage in traditional litigation in the backlogged Family Courts.
June 3, 2024
Her Justice signed on to a letter spearheaded by the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence and joined by domestic violence providers, survivors, and attorneys, providing comments regarding the establishment of proposed statewide rules for the use of mental health professionals in child custody and visitation proceedings.
January 2023
Her Justice was joined by law firm partners and coalition partners in two letters to Governor Hochul urging support for developing and resourcing an expedited settlement process for child support in the Family Courts as an effective and achievable solution to improving access for families.
January 2023
Her Justice was joined by pro bono partner firms Fried Frank and Orrick in a letter to Governor Hochul advocating for reform to the New York child support system and the Family Courts. The letter urged the Governor to develop and resource an option for parents seeking agreement on undisputed child support to engage in an expedited settlement conference process in the Family Courts, rather than spending months or years litigating cases and clogging the courts unnecessarily.
October 31, 2022
Her Justice met with counsel and others in the New York State Governor’s office to discuss our legislative proposal to pilot an administrative conference process for straightforward, undisputed child support and the need for child support reform generally in the State. Her Justice continues to strategize about this advocacy and engage with coalition partners who have been supporters on the need for reform.
Divorce
Stay tuned for updates and developments in this area of our policy agenda!
Courts and Other Allyship:
January 28, 2025
Her Justice signed on to a letter from the National Women’s Law Center and other gender justice organizations responding to federal Executive Order 14166 issued on January 20, 2025. The letter condemned the Order’s claim to “defend[] women” while directing the federal government to regulate, control, and police gender in harmful ways.
December 10, 2024
Her Justice, as a member of the NY Legal Services Coalition, signed on to a letter in support of a New York State bill (S.7524/A.10350, 2023-24 session), which would authorize the Chief Administrative Judge to allow e-filing in local criminal and civil courts across the state where the option does not exist.
December 2, 2024
Her Justice signed on to a letter spearheaded by Lawyers Alliance for New York and the New York Legal Services Coalition urging Governor Hochul to amend the template contract that State agencies use for contracts with nonprofits, which makes client data the property of the State and bars the nonprofit from using it to provide services to those clients outside of the State-funded program. The letter demanded that the Governor act to protect nonprofit client confidentiality for the security of vulnerable communities and delivery of essential safety net programming.
October 11, 2024
Her Justice submitted policy priorities to the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus for the 2025 People’s Budget Framework. We urged the Caucus to support two pieces of proposed legislation: (1) S.2278/A.1309 (2023-24 session), which would provide relief from coerced debt to survivors of domestic violence, elder abuse, human trafficking, and abuse by caretakers; and (2) S.5269/A.3753 (2023-24 session), which would pilot an expedited settlement conference process for families who can agree on child support rather than requiring them to engage in traditional litigation in the backlogged Family Courts.
May 6, 2024
Her Justice submitted written testimony for the FY25 budget hearing held by the New York City Council Committee on General Welfare urging the Council to reaffirm and enhance resources to women living in poverty and for essential legal services through funding initiatives such as SAVE, DoVE, and Speaker’s Initiative funding.