Cuomo: NY Youth Sports Can Resume; 5 New Election Orders

NEW YORK, NY — Low-risk youth sports in New York will be allowed to practice and play games beginning next month in the coronavirus era, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday announced a slew of election-related executive orders.

Additionally, the governor said he will propose legislation to increase the penalties that can be levied on utility companies that fail to effectively respond to power outages, after hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses had no power days after Tropical Storm Isaias.

At a news briefing Monday, Cuomo said sports such as tennis, soccer, cross-country, field hockey and swimming can resume practicing and playing games in all regions beginning Sept. 21. School sports must abide by guidance set forth by the state Department of Health, and no travel practice or play will be allowed outside the school's region until at least Oct. 19, he said.

However, higher-risk, high-contact sports such as tackle football, wrestling, rugby and ice hockey can practice but are not allowed to play games yet, Cuomo said.

The governor also announced he was signing five executive orders regarding the upcoming election. The orders will:

• Allow a voter to get an absentee ballot due to the risk of illness.
• Count absentee ballots postmarked on or before Election Day, or received by the Board of Elections without a postmark by the day after Election Day.
• Eliminate the requirement that voters must wait until 30 days before the election to request an absentee ballot.
• Extend the "temporary illness" option to elections that are not administered by the Board of Elections in November.
• Require that county boards send a mailing to all would-be voters notifying them of the deadlines and methods to request an absentee ballot.
• Order the Board of Elections to promulgate a new envelope to eliminate confusion about where to sign a ballot to be counted.
• Require all election boards to take the necessary steps to expedite the counting of ballots to ensure counting is ready to begin as soon as possible.
• Direct all county election boards to report staffing plans and any additional staffing needs to ensure a fair, complete accurate vote to the state election board by Sept. 20 so the state can help.

The governor said he will propose legislation that would up the penalties authorities can levy on utility companies that do not adequately respond to power outages. Under the state's current laws, authorities can only levy penalties of $100,000, or 0.2 of 1 percent of gross operating revenues.

"If that’s the limit compared to the money they’re making this is de minimis," Cuomo said, repeating a term he's used previously to mean the penalty doesn't go far enough.

"It has to be a penalty that will change your behavior," he added.

The legislation would streamline the process for revoking a utility's operating license due to repeated failures. And it would require utilities to clearly communicate accurate information about power restoration to affected homes and businesses.

“It’s unacceptable that the utility companies continue to have such problems during the storm and in the aftermath," Cuomo said. "We know these storms are going to happen.”

Cuomo also announced the completion Monday of a Long Island Rail Road project in New Hyde Park. A grade-crossing was completed two months ahead of schedule amid reduced ridership, and New Hyde Park Road was reopened to vehicle traffic.

"They got it done fast. They got it done on budget," Cuomo said.

The LIRR's Third Track Project is expected to be completed in 2022.

Cuomo's announcements come as the state continued to see one of the lowest coronavirus infection rates in the nation at less than 1 percent. Seven people died Sunday of the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus. That includes six people in hospitals and one in a nursing home.

Despite the positive news on spread, the state is closely monitoring Western New York, which saw an uptick in cases and infection rate. The share of positive tests in that region has remained above 1 percent for six days, and the five-day average of new, daily cases is at 63, up from 34 a week ago.

Cuomo said the uptick was largely driven by a series of coronavirus clusters, including at a steel plant in Erie County, a food processing plant in Chautauqua County, new cases at two nursing homes, pre-hospital screenings and testing of seasonal labor farm workers.

"The number of positive tests is somewhat escalated," Cuomo said. "Not a cause for serious concern, but it is a caution flag."

To help further limit potential spread from out-of-state visitors, he said new testing sites will be established at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports for incoming travelers.