A bill on the governor's desk (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)
Unfortunately, Assemblymember Helene Weinstein traffics in misinformation as she claims to lay out the facts about her bill to expand liability in wrongful death lawsuits. She wrote in a recent Gotham Gazette op-ed that “there’s no evidence” that insurance costs will skyrocket if the bill becomes law. Not only does common sense say that when you increase payouts to more people, the money has to come from somewhere, but there are also oceans of data that debunk her claims.
Indeed, an independent and peer-reviewed actuarial analysis finds that the bill (S.74A) will increase medical liability premiums by 40%, general liability premiums by 11%, and auto insurance premiums by 6%.
The assemblymember offers no fact-based evidence to the contrary. Weinstein cites an Illinois law that is nowhere near as broad and open ended as her bill. The Illinois law specifically refers to "pecuniary damages" caused by grief and anguish – i.e. the quantifiable damages. Her bill does not. And no other state allows for nebulous categories of damages like “any disorder caused by grief or anguish” or allows for a near-unlimited pool of possible plaintiffs..
She also mentions estimates related to Laverne’s Law. As the sponsor of that bill, she is well aware that her original proposal was significantly narrowed to mitigate unintended consequences. The analysis she cites reviewed the bill as introduced by her office, not the overhauled and amended version that was signed into law.
And about those special interests Weinstein mentions? Well, local governments, doctors and hospitals, organizations representing MWBEs, and businesses of all sizes are all calling on Governor Kathy Hochul to veto this bill. The fact is, the bill’s top supporter is the special interest that would profit the most: the New York State Trial Lawyers Association – an organization former-Governor Andrew Cuomo once referred to as “the single most powerful political force in Albany.”
As the oft-quoted Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, "everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." This goes for Assemblymember Weinstein, too. When it comes to this legislation, let’s hope Governor Hochul's decision is truly based on evidence and facts and not an attempt at misdirection in service of Albany’s most powerful special interest.
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Tom Stebbins is executive director of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York. On Twitter @ThomasStebbins and @LawsuitReformNY.
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Gov. Hochul & Mayor Adams (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)
Over the past month, New York Democrats have been grappling with the outcome of a midterm election with devastating implications—both on a local and national level.
Despite Republicans falling short of expectations across the country, New York Democrats saw four Congressional seats and seven state legislative seats flipped by the GOP. Not to mention closer than expected races for statewide offices.
None of this was inevitable. In fact, Democrats in far more competitive and divided states fared much better, proving that New York’s red wave was not a national trend, but a localized crisis, coming within a few percentage points of disaster.
The New York Democratic Committee, led by Chair Jay Jacobs, was clearly underprepared and unorganized, and appeared uninterested in protecting key Democratic seats. Elected officials became exasperated over the lack of down-ballot support and volunteers routinely noted abysmal grassroots organizing attempts.
The 2022 performance was very much a repeat of 2021, where the state party failed to spend a single dollar in support of constitutional amendments to fix the state’s redistricting process, expand eligibility for absentee voting, and authorize same-day voter registration, which consequently led to this year’s redistricting chaos. As Jacobs said last year, “maybe, in that sense, the ball was dropped.”
Here we are a year later, and the ball was dropped yet again.
With just weeks to go before Election Day, elected officials, union leaders, and others raised the alarm and called for a more concerted effort. Thankfully, the New York Working Families Party (WFP), labor unions, and local political organizations and clubs stepped up to fill the vacuum of leadership left by the New York Democrats.
But the shortcomings weren’t just limited to party organizing: we didn’t speak about what Democrats have delivered and would deliver in the future. For example, in last year’s state budget, Democrats passed the largest expansion of childcare coverage in a generation and new investments in the CUNY and SUNY systems. Yet out on the campaign trail, you barely heard about these meaningful accomplishments.
Instead, we were stuck playing defense against the perennial Republican playbook, with many high-profile voices in our own party echoing Republican talking points and giving weight to Rep. Lee Zeldin’s apocalyptic rhetoric, despite the fact that we have a stronger and more comprehensive message on public safety.
It’s not hard to imagine what would have happened if the WFP did not intervene. New York Democrats came within less than one percentage point of losing another congressional seat to Republicans. The contest for Governor was closer than it has been in decades, and Governor Kathy Hochul’s margin of victory was almost entirely explained by votes she received on the Working Families Party line.
These lessons are abundantly clear — and must be carried into the next legislative sessions in Albany and New York City.
First, Democrats must build a new party infrastructure that touches every level of government and every community, with the mission to support and elect Democrats up and down the ballot.
Rather than engage in intra-party battles to exclude voices, we should be more inclusive, and by doing so harness the power and energy of the grassroots. We should activate and empower local party chapters and county organizations to do what only they can do best — support and elect local candidates — and not just during election seasons, but year-round. And we should embrace real transparency at every level of government and politics, and work to dismantle the corrupt machinery that discourages grassroots engagement.
The New York WFP is a great model to look at, operating as a coalition party of working class activists, community advocacy groups, labor unions, and affiliate organizations that stand for a clear set of values and put in the work to support candidates in districts all across the state.
The second lesson we should learn from this election year is that message and substance matter. All the party infrastructure in the world means nothing if you’re not able to excite and motivate voters. Instead of engaging with Republican lies, voters want to hear our ideas and records of achievement. We must speak to the issues that our base — New York’s diverse working class — demands action on.
Our party is built upon big ideas and recognizing the power and potential of everyday people. We believe in creating great jobs, increasing the minimum wage, expanding tenant protections, investing in child care and mental health, tackling climate change, and more. And to help make this possible, we believe that the most fortunate among us should pay their fair share so that working- and middle-class families don’t bear the full cost of building a more fair and just society.
That’s what’s popular. That’s what builds trust. And that’s what will help the most people.
Our state’s Democratic Party cannot afford a repeat of 2022. The New York Working Families Party has laid out a roadmap for successful campaigning. Now it’s up to the Democrats to learn from and work with them to defeat an increasingly dangerous GOP and, more importantly, build a New York where every person can thrive.
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State Senator Andrew Gounardes and City Council Member Chi Ossé are Democrats who each represent parts of Brooklyn. On Twitter @agounardes & @OsseChi.
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A naturalization ceremony at City Hall (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)
The economy was the top issue on American voters’ minds this election season, with 9 out of 10 citing it as one of their biggest concerns. Especially in an era of increased partisanship, this serves as a rare moment of national agreement.
Unfortunately, that’s where the consensus stops.
The economy isn’t a simple, standalone issue, and many complex forces affect its condition. What many politicians and power brokers fail to recognize is that the economy is closely intertwined with the health and efficiency of our nation’s immigration system. That’s especially true here in New York City, where immigrants are as critical to our prosperity as Wall Street. Considering the state of our current immigration system, however, it’s no surprise our economy is struggling.
But how would a more efficient immigration system and sufficient federal resources help the economy? It’s quite easy: it’s the most efficient way to balance the labor shortage.
The economy hinges on the strength of our labor market, and the United States is facing a disastrous labor shortage. With an estimated 10 million open jobs nationwide, American businesses are struggling to find workers to fill much-needed vacancies. In New York City alone, the shortages are visible from construction sites to the halls of government. Yet we’ve seen numerous recent profiles of asylum seekers in the media and have heard from many of our own constituents from Venezuela about the sea of barriers — many the result of policy — between one’s eagerness or ability to work and securing actual employment.
One simple solution to ease the burden is to support migrant workers with easier pathways into the labor market.
The U.S. has an estimated 11.4 million undocumented immigrants in the country –– with almost 3 million coming to the country in 2022 alone. As we detailed in a recent letter we authored, cosigned by dozens of our colleagues in the New York State Senate and Assembly, to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, immigration laws prevent migrant workers from obtaining gainful employment and integrating them into a lagging workforce.
Licensing restrictions, backlogged processes, and social integration barriers are just a few hurdles recent immigrants must navigate –– all while trying to find a job. Those who can find a job are often forced to do so through an “underground economy,” where workers are often abused, exploited, and paid drastically lower than minimum wage. This is why in our letter we called for Secretary Mayorkas to, among other things within his power, extend “parole” for asylum-seekers from two months to two years and facilitate expedited work permits for asylum-seeker arrivals and those paroled into the United States.
The answer seems to be right in front of us: the U.S. has a labor shortage and there’s a steady supply of willing and able workers. Sadly, we are far from this answer becoming reality.
Partisan politicking, outdated immigration policies, and limited resources have kept migrant workers from actively leading the labor market, leaving the nation’s economy weak and uncertain. Through a more defined and regulated process, migrant workers can stabilize the economy for future generations, providing years of labor and income taxes while increasing the tax compliance rate across businesses nationwide. We cannot afford to wait. Our leaders must act to provide resources to the growing number of immigrant workers and streamline the bureaucratic process to provide pathways to employment.
This isn’t a new idea. Many nations across the globe are turning to immigration to solve their labor shortages. In Canada, immigration accounted for 84% of growth in total labor since 2010, and the Canadian Minister of Immigration recently announced the country will be increasing to 500,000 permanent resident applications a year by 2025 as a way to lessen the Canadian labor shortage. Other countries struggling with a dwindling supply of labor, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Japan, are exploring immigration reforms as a way to increase their workforce and ease their labor shortage. Other nations are adapting and it’s time the U.S. follows suit.
After all, our nation has always relied on New York City as its economic engine, and New Yorkers have always relied on immigrants to keep this city going. Unless we change the policies and practices that prevent them from gainful employment, however, the New York — and the United States — we have all become accustomed to will cease to exist.
We have the solution at our fingertips. It’s time to act.
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State Senator Brad Hoylman represents the 27th Senate District and Chairs the Committee on Judiciary. Assemblymember Catalina Cruz represents the 39th Assembly District and Chairs the Task Force on New Americans. On Twitter @bradhoylman and @CatalinaCruzNY.
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