Governor convenes extraordinary session to seek firearm-safety law changes and an equal-rights amendment

The Assembly convened in an extraordinary session after the clerk read a governor’s proclamation calling the Legislature into Albany to consider statutory changes related to firearm safety and a concurrent resolution to enshrine equal rights.

"Pursuant to the power vested in me by article 4 section 3 of the constitution, I hereby convene the senate and the assembly of the state of New York in extraordinary session ... for the purpose of considering legislation ... with respect to addressing necessary statutory changes regarding firearm safety" and to consider a concurrent resolution on equal rights, the clerk read, attributing the text to Governor Kathy Hochul.

The proclamation cited the U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen as the catalyst for the session and set the stated purpose as giving the Legislature the opportunity to draft and consider statutory responses. The read proclamation included a timestamp recorded in the transcript as "July 2022 at 02:00AM." The clerk read that the proclamation was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul.

The reading did not identify specific bill numbers or text; the clerk and other members on the floor noted that bills to be considered had not been provided to members at the time of the proclamation. The Assembly proceeded with floor business and signaled further action would follow later in the day.

Next steps: the governor’s proclamation indicated she would submit legislation for consideration; the transcript records that Assembly members were told to be prepared for additional floor action, but no specific bills or legislative text appear in the read materials.