On April 12, 2018, Governor Cuomo signed Chapter 59 of the Laws of 2018 into law which amends the Taylor to narrow a public sector unions duty of fair representation. The amended statute now provides (the underlined portion represents the amendment):
Improper employee organization practices. It shall be an improper
practice for an employee organization or its agents deliberately (a) to
interfere with, restrain or coerce public employees in the exercise of
the rights granted in section two hundred two, or to cause, or attempt
to cause, a public employer to do so provided, however, that an employee
organization does not interfere with, restrain or coerce public employ-
ees when it limits its services to and representation of non-members in
accordance with this subdivision; (b) to refuse to negotiate collective-
ly in good faith with a public employer, provided it is the duly recog-
nized or certified representative of the employees of such employer; or
(c) to breach its duty of fair representation to public employees under
this article. Notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contra-
ry, an employee organization's duty of fair representation to a public
employee it represents but who is not a member of the employee organiza-
tion shall be limited to the negotiation or enforcement of the terms of
an agreement with the public employer. No provision of this article
shall be construed to require an employee organization to provide repre-
sentation to a non-member (i) during questioning by the employer, (ii)
in statutory or administrative proceedings or to enforce statutory or
regulatory rights, or (iii) in any stage of a grievance, arbitration or
other contractual process concerning the evaluation or discipline of a
public employee where the non-member is permitted to proceed without the
employee organization and be represented by his or her own advocate. Nor
shall any provision of this article prohibit an employee organization
from providing legal, economic or job-related services or benefits
beyond those provided in the agreement with a public employer only to
its members.
This statute was reportedly enacted in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Janus which may ultimately hold that it is a violation of the First Amendment for states (such as New York) to mandate that employees pay "agency fees" if they chose not to become union members. The Governor signed this statute into law at UFT headquarters, here, and reportedly stated that this statute “is the first step of the resistance.”