Tenure
Ramos's Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act,passed in 2019,gave farmworkers in the state the right to overtime pay and unemployment benefits. Her advocacy also led to the Excluded Workers Fund being added to the fiscal year 2022 budget;this aided categories of workers (including many in the food industry) who had not previously been in groups eligible for COVID-19 pandemic relief. [35] [8] [37] In January 2021,she and other lawmakers wrote to then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state health commissioner to ask that delivery workers be added to the group of people eligible to get COVID-19 vaccines. [38] [39]
In 2020,local lawmakers in the neighborhood of Corona,Queens rushed to warn residents of rumors of a "loot out" event,a threat that then did not materialize. Ramos publicly mentioned frustration with Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz's handling of the situation. [40] [35]
To support bars and restaurants that introduced delivery and to-go cocktail offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic,Ramos sponsored legislation,passed in 2021 and 2022,that eased retail permitting. [41] [42] [43] [44]
In 2023,Ramos criticized Governor Kathy Hochul's proposals to ease housing construction in New York because not all local labor unions supported the proposals. [45] That same year,Ramos called for "good cause eviction" tenant protections to be included in any budget housing proposal. [46]
New York State's 2024 budget included a version of Ramos's legislation to raise the statewide minimum wage. [35] Ramos advocated successful legislation to peg the minimum wage to inflation (effective starting in 2027),to automatically increment the wage yearly to respond to increases in the cost of living. [47] [48] [49] As chair of the labor committee,she also contributed to passing several other worker protection laws,such as paid sick leave for domestic workers. [48]
Since 2020,she has co-sponsored versions of Cecilia's Act,a bill to decriminalize sex work (bill formerly named the Stop Violence in the Sex Trade Act). [50] [51] The bill would uphold all felony anti-trafficking statutes that are designed to hold traffickers accountable,but would decriminalize consensual adult prostitution offenses. [52] [53] [54]
In 2025,Ramos introduced the "Recourse Act," which would allow the New York State Governor to withhold state tax dollars if the U.S. President cuts federal spending the city relies on for supporting critical agencies,saying,"If Trump cuts our funding,then we will withhold our taxes." [55]
Ramos supports the Access to Representation Act (ARA) and the Building Up Immigrant Legal Defense (BUILD) Act, [56] which would improve access to legal representation for immigrants. [57]
Metropolitan Park development
She is opposed to building Metropolitan Park in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park,an integrated resort next to Citi Field with a casino proposed by New York Mets owner Steven A. Cohen. [58] New York state officials announced in April 2022 that they would issue three casino licenses in Downstate New York. [59] [60] Following this announcement,in 2023,Cohen proposed a redevelopment of the parking lot west of Citi Field. [61] [62]
In February 2025,the City Planning Commission voted in favor of approving zoning changes which would allow for the project to be built. The area is zoned as parkland and zoning changes are needed to allow the project to move forward. Neighboring community boards have also voted in favor of the proposed development. [63] [64] In March 2025,the New York City Council voted 41–2 to approve the zoning changes. [65] Later that month,fellow state senator John Liu announced that he would introduce a bill to reclassify the zoning as commercial space. [66] [67] [68] In late April 2025,a State Senate committee voted 4–3 to advance a bill allowing the Willets Point section of the park to be rezoned to permit commercial use. [69] [70] Ramos spoke on the Senate floor to oppose the bill,saying that casinos "extract wealth from working class communities. They prey on addiction and often displace the very people they claim to uplift." [71] In May 2025,the bill passed both chambers of the New York State Legislature. [72] [73] [74] [75]
In September 2025,the proposal was unanimously approved by the local advisory committee,with the boardmember appointed by Ramos unexpectedly voting for the project. [76] Later that year,the New York State Gaming Facility Location Board voted to approve the Metropolitan Park proposal,and subsequently the state Gaming Commission approved issuing the project a commercial casino license. clearing the way for the casino's construction. [77] [78]
