New York state may soon guarantee homeless families placed in hotels the same services as those in shelters, including help finding housing, meals and child care.

The proposal from the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance follows a New York Focus and ProPublica investigation that found hotels have become the state’s predominant response to homelessness outside of New York City. Counties had placed tens of thousands of adults and children in often-dilapidated hotels, the investigation found, and many people have been cut off from the services promised by the shelter system.

The proposed regulations, published Wednesday, will go through a 60-day public comment period before OTDA, which oversees county social services offices, decides whether to adopt, change or drop them. Each county would be required to submit plans for delivering the support services as soon as the rules are adopted. Counties would also have to enforce limits on overcrowding and ensure that children don’t have to share beds with adults.

Tuesday kicked off a monthlong marathon of budget hearings in Albany, as lawmakers unpack Governor Kathy Hochul’s budget proposal and prepare their responses. The hearings are a rare opportunity for lawmakers from both parties to grill state agency heads about Hochul’s proposals and her administration’s efforts more broadly, as well as to get input from industry leaders, advocates, and other stakeholders.

An investigator with the New York State Police helped get a friend’s traffic tickets reduced “in exchange” for her sexually explicit photos, according to a disciplinary letter from 2017.

Another stunned a combative suspect with his Taser in 2020 and held down the trigger for 33 seconds, twice the amount of time widely considered dangerous and potentially fatal.

Some officers with the agency neglected their duties; others had sex while on duty. Some used their badges to elicit favors; others to settle personal scores. Some failed to call for medical aid when needed; others lied in police reports.

The circumstances of any case of officer misconduct vary. Still, most large police agencies in New York State thoroughly outline steps to be taken in their investigative processes and have explicit disciplinary guidelines that recommend specific punishments — in some cases, even firing — for these types of offenses.

This week kicks off a monthlong marathon of budget hearings in Albany, as lawmakers begin to unpack Governor Kathy Hochul’s budget proposal and prepare their responses. The hearings are a rare opportunity for lawmakers from both parties to grill state agency heads about Hochul’s proposals and the administration’s efforts more broadly, as well as to get input from business leaders, advocates, and other stakeholders.