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This new report - by the New York State Youth Leadership Council and NYU Law School’s Immigrant Rights Clinic - outlines the economic and social benefits that would accompany passage of the New York DREAM Act. The act would provide that all New Yorkers, regardless of status, have access to financial assistance for higher education. (read the full report)

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Yesterday Police Commissioner Kelly spoke for the first time about the idea of creating an inspector general for NYPD. “I think putting in another layer of so-called supervision or monitoring can ultimately make this city unsafe," he said. Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg commented on the mayoral candidates' ability to keep the city safe: “What we don’t know is what they will actually do to reduce crime. We don’t even know if it’s a goal.” Mayoral Candidate William Thompson said Tuesday he wants an inspector who would report to the commissioner. In related news, three cops who have stopped-and-frisked an unusual amount of people will offer their perspective on the practice at a trial over its constitutionality.

Other Stories We're Following

State Tells Investors That Climate Change May Hurt Its Finances (NY Times)

Brooklyn DA Gets Reality Show Ahead Of Democratic Primary (Daily News)

Report: Most Gay And Lesbian Students In New York City Are Harassed (Daily News)

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Keeping the SUNY Downstate Hospital in Brooklyn solvent was a major focus of the budget debate in the Senate last night. The budget bill as passed calls for the financially troubled institution to come up with a "sustainability plan" by June. Sen. Kevin Parker and a number of his colleagues from Brooklyn don't feel that is enough.

SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher said earlier this year that Downstate is losing $8 million a year and needs over $150 million to survive another year. 

Parker introduced a hostile amendment to the budget health bill that would have given Downstate $150 million and required the legislature have oversight over any restructuring plan. The amendment was ruled out of order and Democrats did not have enough votes to overrule. 

The current budget language requires SUNY to submit a sustainability plan by June and implement it in two weeks. It also loosens up the bidding process on contracts so the school can save money. 

Sen. Gustavo Rivera questioned Sen. John DeFrancisco at length about the budget language on SUNY Downstate. Sen. Daniel Squadron also spoke passionately about preserving the hospital.

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A delay in its bidding process has left the state's Office of Medicaid Inspector General without private investigators who do the foot work rooting out fraud and abuse. Without them, the state is failing to recover tens of millions of dollars. The investigators are usually retired detectives. Also, the office has weakened its in-house enforcement, leaving many cases without a primary investigator or supervisor assigned. Meanwhile, the federal government is asking the state to return a $27.4 million reimbursement to Washington. An audit found an "extremely high" incidence of billing errors for services for Medicaid recipients who were in a state rehabilitation program.

Other Stories We're Following

In Reversal, Liu Opposes Inspector General For NYPD (Wall Street Journal)

Tax Rebate Details Emerge (Albany Times Union)

Offstage, A Proudly Brash Quinn Isn’t Afraid To Let Her Fury Fly (NY Times)

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Being part of the majority coalition in the state Senate pays — at least when it comes to fighting gun violence.

The Aid to Localities budget bill shows that four counties represented by members of the majority coalition are going to share $1 million for the establishment of — or continued operation of — Operation S.N.U.G. programs.

S.N.U.G., which stands for guns spelled backwards (seriously), is an anti-gun initiative started by Sen. Malcolm Smith when he was senate majority leader. Now he is a member of the Independent Senate Democrats, who are power-sharing in the Senate with Republicans. The program is expanding a bit and the $1 million in funding will go to Rockland, Queens, Bronx and Onandaga Couties.

IDC member Sen. David Carlucci represents Rockland County; IDC leader Sen. Jeff Klein is from Bronx County; Sen. Dave Valesky is from Onandaga County; and Smith from Queens. 

The funding for S.N.U.G. was part of the Senate's one-house budget bill but seems to have expanded in the completed budget. 

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While Mayor Michael Bloomberg took Sunday morning airtime to discuss his new $12 million gun control ad campaign, four Democratic mayoral candidates touched upon a range of issues, including the New York Police Department and paid sick leave.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, former Councilman Sal Alabanese, and current and former Comptrollers John Liu and Bill Thompson, respectively, all appeared on MSNBC’s "Up with Chris Hayes."

The four candidates took up five segments of the Sunday morning cable talkshow, with each candidate doing their best to distinguish themselves from the others as they reiterate their opposition to the New York Police Department’s policy of stopping, questionioning and frisking people on the street. Liu was the only firm opponent to the policy, with his fellow candidates adopting nuanced, critical stances on the subject.

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The final version of New York City's revampe district maps have made their way to the U.S. Department of Justice, which has a little under two months to evaluate their compliance with the Voting Rights Act.

Despite some uproar from some local groups, the maps were finalized by the city’s Districting Commission in February and passed through the City Council in March without a vote.

The DOJ now has until May 24 to make sure that the maps don’t impair voter accessibility and protections for minority voters in Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn, all of which are protected under Section 5 of 1965’s VRA.

The public can make comments during the 60-day evaluation period. Barring any violations of the VRA, the federal government's approval would mean the new maps would go into effect before the upcoming primary, which is expected to take place in September. 

The Districting Commission already held three rounds of public hearings in each borough and heard testimony from more 300 New Yorkers before voting to approve the maps in February by a vote of 14 to 1.

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As I wrote earlier this month, the New York State Legislature hasn't really got its act together when it comes to using technology to share information with the public. The Assembly has been the worst offender by often failing to broadcast or even print online the results of session and committee votes. 

A bill sponsored by Sen. Carl Marcellino that passed the Senate today 54-0 and enjoyed co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle aims to change that. The bill S30468 requires that committee and floor votes are made public online and that session and committee meetings are webcast.

"We greatly appreciate the Senate acting on this bill," said Alex Camarda director of public policy and advocacy for Citizens Union, which has been lobbying for the legislation. 

Citizens Union is the sister organization of Gotham Gazette.

Camarda said sharing the results of votes with the public is "fundamental" for any Legislature. 

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PAID SICK LEAVE

The City Council held a hearing on Friday on the paid sick leave bill that Speaker Christine Quinn, a candidate for mayor, has refused to bring to a vote. Two of her rivals for the mayor's office, Bill de Blasio and William Thompson, rebuked her for holding up the bill. Quinn said at a news conference that she supported the concept behind the bill, but not the measure in its current form because of its potential negative effects on small businesses (The New York Times). The New York Daily News praised her for "putting sound economics over cheap politics." Quinn only spoke briefly at the hearing, and didn't ask any questions. Her fellow Council members are discussing the possibility of forcing the legislation to the floor, thereby circumventing Quinn (The Wall Street Journal). 

STATE BUDGET

The city is losing out as state lawmakers negotiate an on-time budget. A number of sticking points that got jettisoned to make room for a $135 billion budget agreement would affect residents of New York City, from a speed camera program designed to reduce traffic accidents and deaths to tweaking the laws regarding possession of small amounts of marijuana (Gotham Gazette). SUNY Downstate Medical Center was left to struggle on its own (The Daily News).  While the State Senate was voting on budget bills yesterday, the Assembly is putting its duties off until Thursday (WXXI). 


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Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the introduction of any legislation that would create an inspector general to independently monitor the NYPD will set a dangerous precedent for the city.

He said the plan is a political play during an election year that would create redundant bureaucracy.

"Together, the mayor and the commissioner set the direction of the department — and they do not need an unelected and unaccountable official to supervise their policy decisions," Bloomberg said. "The bill being considered by the City Council would undermine the accountability that has been essential in the department’s success — and make our city less safe."

Council Speaker Christine Quinn, one of the leading Democratic candidates for mayor who yesterday announced she would support a measure to create an inspector general for the NYPD, told reporters at City Hall that it was unfortunate the mayor disagrees with the bill. But she said she expects the bill to pass with overwhelming support as soon as it's introduced. She said she would push back against a mayoral veto.

"I can guarantee we will override it," she said.

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The budget is by no means finished yet but a minimum wage deal that will incrementally increase the wage to $9 an hour by 2016 has been pretty steadily floated by leadership over the past few days. If the idea was floated as a trial balloon than the jury seems to be in with its verdict. 

Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins issued a statement today asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to remove the minimum wage from the budget: 

As details emerge it is clear that the current minimum wage proposal has some serious issues. While increasing the minimum wage to $9.00 is something that the Senate Democrats have long supported, we are disappointed that the current proposal doesn’t reach this level for three years, is not indexed to the rate of inflation and does not raise the wages of certain service workers. The Governor and the Assembly all originally proposed acceptable proposals, unfortunately the Senate Republicans have blocked these efforts. We propose removing this discussion from the budget and we stand ready to provide 27 votes for raising the minimum wage quicker, with indexing and for all low wage workers.”

 

Sen. Gustavo Rivera told me he supports the move and wants to vote on the bill separately on the floor of the Senate. He says all 27 Senate Democrats would vote for a minimum wage increase of $9 will indexing. 

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With budget negotions in a bit of a tangle and new deals floated every day, one policy that hasn't recieved much attention is the DREAM Act that would give undocumented youth tuition assistance to attend college. 

So far it seems that Speaker Sheldon Silver is fighting a losing battle to push for some sort of funding for the program to be included in the budget. 

Sen. Jose Peralta has continually called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to make The DREAM Act part of his budget and to lead on the issue but so far it hasn't worked.

Cuomo has been quiet on the issue and a spokesman told the Gazette last week that Cuomo supports the federal DREAM Act but is considering proposals on the state level. 

The DREAM Act could be dealt with outside of the budget, but most insiders think that budget negotiations gives proponents the strongest hand to negotiate. 

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Speaker Quinn, the frontrunner in the mayoral race, said a council bill to create an Inspector General's office for the NYPD likely has enough votes to override a mayoral veto. The office would be able to issue subpoenas, interview witnesses, and look broadly at police procedures and policies. Individual misconduct cases would still be handled by Internal Affairs and the Civilian Complaint Review Board. Quinn said talks were also progressing on three companion proposals to set new stop-and-frisk rules. A bill to create an NYPD monitor was introduced in June, but Quinn kept it from a vote. Bill de Blasio, a Democrat also running for mayor, said the monitor needed to have a budget independent of the mayor and City Council. Quinn would still retain Commissioner Kelly, who is opposed to the monitor.

Other Stories We're Following

Deal In Albany Would Extend Higher Taxes On Top Earners (NY Times)

NYPD Officer: Police Brass Dictate Stops, Arrests (Associated Press)

Ten Domestic Violence Victims File Lawsuit Against NYCHA (Daily News)

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NEW YORK — Thousands of pages of critical data on the nation's largest transit system is in "static black and white charts" and needs to be set free so the public can use it. 

That's one major conclusion from a nearly two year-long study on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's efforts to make data about its vast operations widely available. 

A group that works to keep the MTA accountable released a report based on its findings, titled "The MTA in the Age of Big Data," on Tuesday.

Read the full Gotham Gazette story here.

The report, which largely praised the MTA for its efforts to make data more available to the public, recommended that the agency begin to invest in the distribution of its performance statistics, including with visualizations that can help the public understand what is going on with the subways and buses.

"The future of the MTA must be more digitally oriented and technologically savvy for the agency to be efficient and successful," said the report by the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. It said the MTA's technological capabilities are currently "underfunded, under staffed and under supported, leaving the MTA ill-prepared to move into a technology-based future."

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There is no budget deal to report as of this afternoon, but there are a few "tentative" ones the table — or at least floating around the halls of the Capitol. 

The first deal would see the state's minimum wage incrementally increased to $9 an hour by 2016. That deal has some mainstream Senate Democrats rankled. Sen. Mike Gianaris told Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom that Senate Republicans who cut a deal with the Independent Democratic Conference have "outsize" influence in negotiations and that the deal is "half a loaf." 

Sen. David Valesky of the Independent Democratic Conference responded in a statement accusing Gianaris of the "type of absolutism that prevented progress in the past." 

Now there is word of a deal on marijuana laws. The New York City Council would be allowed to make possesion of small amounts of marijuana in public a ticketable offense rather than an arrestable offense under proposed legislation.

Some upstate legislators are upset that the measure would only impact New York City. 

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Mayor Bloomberg introduced a bill yesterday that would force retailers to keep cigarettes out of view from customers. It would not affect advertising, which falls under First Amendment protections. Speaker Quinn said she is very open to the idea. A Health Department study found that 80 percent of stores selling cigarettes devote most of their space behind the register to tobacco displays. A British study found that simply noticing tobacco on display raised the odds kids would try smoking by threefold. A second proposed bill would raise penalties for retailers who evade tobacco taxes and create a minimum price of $10.50 per pack. Retailers complain they will lose a lot of business.

 

Other Stories We're Following

Focus On Three Encounters In Stop-And-Frisk Trial (NY Times)

State Budget To Include $9 Minimum Wage (Associated Press)

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Critics of the New York Police Department's stop, question and frisk policy rallied in front of the federal courthouse in Manhattan after a judge heard key testimony in a class action lawsuit that seeks to reform the contentious crime reduction strategy.

Among the critics was the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who told those gathered in Foley Square that systemic forms of discrimination exist across the country.

"Those who stand today give voice to a national crisis," Jackson said. "There's nothing more painful than to be a victim of something you can’t do nothing about — the color of your skin."

Groups including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, LatinoJustice, VOCAL-NY, New York Communities for Change, Make the Road New York and others were represented at the rally in support of the class action lawsuit filed against the city for its continued use of stop-and-frisk.

Trial in the case, Floyd et al. v. the City of New York, began in the Southern District of New York hours before.

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As expected, Mayor Bloomberg signed off on two bills that will limit the city's cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

“The city values the contributions of immigrants,” Bloomberg said during today’s signing, “and these bills are part of the administration’s continual effort to balance protecting public safety and national security with ensuring that New York is the most immigrant-friendly city in the world.”

Bloomberg said that the bills were a direct response to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Secure Communities program with the New York Police Department. The federal mandate requires that city law enforcement agencies send suspects’ fingerprints to the Department of Homeland Security, much like a similar program called the Criminal Alien Program linked the Department of Correction with federal authorities.

The City Council responded to the latter with a bill requiring the DOC’s non-enforcement of the policy in cases where a suspect has either no criminal history or charges and who don’t pose a danger to the community. Bloomberg signed that bill in 2012, and strengthened it with his signature today. The same guidelines for DOC will now also apply to the police department.

Advocates view the bills’ ratification as equally important to the original legislation from 2011, which supporters say prevented 267 deportations by DOC.

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Elected representatives from both the city and federal level took to a small stage in Manhattan's West Village to demand equality for undocumented lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender immigrants. 

Democratic U.S. Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Nydia Velázquez, both primarily based in Brooklyn, stopped by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center to demand that the federal government give LGBT couples the same protections as heterosexuals.

They were joined by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu, as well as Council members Daniel Dromm, Jimmy Van Bramer, Letitia James and Melissa Mark-Viverito.

"While there remains a bumpy road ahead," Velázquez said, "it has become clear that the political stars are aligning in favor of finally addressing this critical social justice issue."

Velázquez also saluted Republican Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, which elicited a wave of applause from the audience. Portman announced his support on Friday for gay marriage after he revealed his son is gay. Velázquez said that while she and Portman don't agree on many issues, Republicans like Portman could prove instrumental to recognizing LGBT immigrants during Senate discussions on reform.

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Assemblyman William Boyland has been indicted on federal wire fraud on charges he falsely filed per diem reimbursement requests for travel while he was actually meeting with undercover FBI agents.

Federal authorities announced the charges earlier today. 

Boyland beat pay-to-play charges in November 2011 but recent testimony by a former staffer has seen a return of Boyland's legal woes. 

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office decided to withold future per diem payments from Boyland in February after examining his requests.

Here is a statement from DiNapoli's office of Boyland's new indictment: 

My office's examination of Mr. Boyland's expenses found a blatant pattern of abuse. The actions of U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta E. Lynch and the U.S. Department of Justice sends a clear message that elected officials who try to enrich themselves and break the public trust will be held accountable. The Office of State Comptroller will continue to cooperate with law enforcement officials in this serious matter.
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