Assemblymember Hevesi and activists (photo: @mkink)
Legislation to create a statewide rental supplement to curtail the growth of homelessness in New York, while generating savings for local social service agencies, is the focus of a renewed campaign ahead of the 2018 budget and legislative session.
Despite support from the Democratic Assembly majority, as well minority state Senate Democrats, and the Independent Democratic Conference, which forms a ruling coalition with Senate Republicans, Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi’s Home Stability Support plan fell off the negotiating table during 2017 budget talks.
The bill, which would close the rental gap for low-income families and individuals who already receive housing subsidies, gained strong momentum from lawmakers and advocates at the start of the year, but disagreement over how much the program would cost ultimately derailed its inclusion in the budget that passed in early April, according to those familiar with negotiations.
Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) leader Senator Jeff Klein, of the Bronx, wrote at least two op-eds and issued a report promoting the legislation, but he and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie failed to persuade their colleagues in the negotiating room -- Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and Governor Andrew Cuomo -- of the program’s efficacy.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio endorsed the idea in public comments to state lawmakers, provided it would not be accompanied by unfunded local mandates; and the city’s four Democratic borough presidents participated in a last-minute push for its inclusion in the budget. In recent years, homelessness in the city has reached record numbers. There are about 63,000 homeless people in New York City, and thousands more around the state.
New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who has also endorsed the bill, produced a report evaluating the costs and benefits of the program. Noting that projecting the growth of homelessness and future eligibility for and utilization of the program is not an exact science, Stringer estimated that over a decade Hevesi’s proposed investment of $450 million a year from the state could reduce the city’s shelter population by 80 percent among families with children and 40 percent among single adults, and save the city millions of dollars.
“Assemblymember Hevesi has put forward a bold new plan that deserves your serious consideration,” Stringer testified at a joint legislative budget hearing in January. “Home Stability Support is a potential long-term solution to this crisis that could offer a real path out of the shelter system for thousands of New Yorkers and save the city millions in shelter costs.”
The subsidy would be made available to households or individuals “eligible for public assistance benefits and who are facing eviction, homelessness, or loss of housing due to domestic violence or hazardous living conditions.” Hevesi estimates that approximately 80,000 households are at-risk of homelessness, and that each year 19,000 more individuals become homeless than move to permanent housing from shelter. The program would replace all existing optional rent supplements and cover up to 85 percent of the fair market rent determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Localities would have the option to further raise the supplement up to 100 percent of the fair market rent at local expense.
During budget talks, the state’s budget division produced its own estimate of what a fully utilized statewide homelessness prevention program, such as the one proposed by Hevesi, would cost and pegged it as $1 billion annually -- a figure it said the state could not afford. Citing the analysis by Stringer’s office, which, based on data from the Department of Homeless Services, predicted that only 30 percent of city residents who qualify for HSS would utilize the program, proponents of the plan soon returned to the table with a new number. By the time the proposal made it into the Assembly’s one-house budget, it had been whittled down to a $200 million investment that would be phased in over five years, or $40 million a year, essentially piloting the program.
Ultimately, state budget officials, assuming full utilization of the program, determined that the program would be too costly and rejected the proposal, according to a spokesperson for the IDC.
"Once we couldn't get it in the budget, it didn't even make sense to try," Hevesi said of the legislation, which he allowed to sit in the ways and means committee.
Klein never introduced a “same as” bill in the Senate because the financial component made it impossible to introduce outside of budget negotiations, his spokesperson said.
Housing advocates, including those who were involved in the negotiations, also expressed disappointment that the Assembly proposal didn’t make it into the state budget, which covers the current fiscal year that ends March 31, 2018.
“Every year goes by we hit new records, and sheltering homeless people costs even more,” said Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director of policy for Coalition for the Homeless, part of a coalition of social service advocates who helped devise the legislation.
Nortz said Hevesi’s bill represents a critical shift in homelessness policy towards prevention, while also resolving homelessness rapidly with adequate rent subsidies. “This will lower the demand for shelter dramatically and ultimately generate savings to offset the much lower cost of keeping people in their own homes,” said Nortz.
This winter, Hevesi says he is visiting Republican and Democratic lawmakers in their districts hoping to drum up support for the bill the old fashioned way, by highlighting how the bill could directly impact their constituents. He says the list of supporters has grown, including every member of the IDC and Senate Democratic conference and at least three Republican senators.
“This is the way they used to do it 30 years ago,” said Hevesi. “I believe that by the time the budget comes along, we will have a huge number of senators that will sign on to the legislation.” The bill is virtually guaranteed to pass through the Assembly, which is dominated by New York City Democrats, including Heastie, of the Bronx, and Hevesi, of Queens.
Cuomo, who is believed to strongly oppose Hevesi’s housing subsidy, has been criticized for failing to adequately address the city’s homelessness crisis. His 2011 decision to end the state’s $85 million share for the Advantage subsidy program led to the program’s closure and has been widely criticized as contributing to the city’s record homelessness numbers. The conditional subsidy program, which started in 2007 and was a joint city-state effort, helped people in shelters pay for permanent housing for up to two years, as long as they worked or participated in job training.
While Cuomo has historically resisted calls for a new state-funded subsidy to fight homelessness, advocates were buoyed by the governor’s 2016-17 Homelessness Action Plan, in which he committed to building 20,000 supportive housing units over 15 years. A new statewide coalition of community and advocacy organizations that formed this fall, called the Upstate Downstate Housing Alliance, is pushing for Cuomo to make housing a priority in 2018, speeding up these investments and taking other steps to address homelessness, including supporting Hevesi’s legislation.
Meanwhile, the IDC says it continues to support Home Stability Support and is looking into how to address funding concerns for the coming session.
Spokespersons for Cuomo and Flanagan, the Senate majority leader, did not respond to requests for comment about whether they would support a state homelessness-fighting subsidy program in 2018.
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by Rachel Silberstein, State government reporter, Gotham Gazette
@RachelSilby @GothamGazette
Gov. Cuomo and top aides (photo: The Governor's Office)
With the state facing a larger than usual expected budget shortfall for its next fiscal year, Governor Andrew Cuomo has been railing against the devastating impact proposed federal tax reforms would have on New York state finances.
The controversial reform plan that is still being negotiated in Washington, D.C. would either modify or completely eliminate the ability of New Yorkers to deduct state and local taxes from federal tax burdens and likely have deep economic impact for heavily Democratic states like New York, which typically have higher state and local taxes. As of Thursday, Republicans in the House and Senate say they have agreed on a tentative deal that would cap deductions at $10,000, reports NBC News. While negotiations are ongoing, Congress is expected to vote on a final deal this week.
Cuomo, a Democrat entering the final year of his second term, has said that the tax plan would “rape and pillage” New York at a time when the state is already faced with a $4.5 billion budget deficit -- the largest since Cuomo took office in 2011 -- and the governor has called on congressional Republicans from New York who support the tax plan to resign.
“There is no taxpayer in this state that lives in a congressional district that won't be hurt,” said Cuomo. “Because there's only one state budget. And we start with the $4 billion deficit. You put the state at a structural disadvantage. The taxes would go up on everyone. And that's not complicated math.”
In January, Cuomo will outline both his 2018 policy agenda in his State of the State speech as well as his executive budget proposal. The new state fiscal year begins April 1. As Cuomo and his team prepare that budget, there are troubling signs at both the state and federal levels.
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has projected lower-than-expected tax revenue for the current and upcoming fiscal years. State operating funds receipts will be $1.8 billion lower than projections in the Division of Budget’s August financial plan for this fiscal year, which ends March 31, and $2.8 billion lower in 2018-19, according to a November report by DiNapoli’s office. The $4.5 billion gap may be exacerbated in the coming fiscal year by fallout from federal tax reforms.
But, if the administration continues to adhere to Cuomo’s self-imposed 2 percent limit on annual growth in state operating spending -- and it intends to, according to a spokesperson for Cuomo’s Division of the Budget -- the deficit the state will be facing drops to $1.7 billion for next fiscal year. Federal reforms could make budget negotiations even more challenging. If New Yorkers lose most of their state and local tax deductibility, there will almost certainly be more calls for the state to cut taxes.
Additionally, Politico New York has reported that another $1 billion hole may be carved into the budget if the federal government defunds a portion of the state’s Essential Plan, sometimes called the Basic Health Plan, which provides low-cost health insurance to residents earning less than twice the federal poverty level. And, in March, the state will run out funds for Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), a joint state-federal healthcare program, if it is not renewed by Congress. The state relies on $1 billion in federal CHIP funds to insure 330,000 children.
“His problem is compounded because he'll have to go to battle over healthcare spending for the first time in history,” said E.J. McMahon, research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy, speaking of Gov. Cuomo. “It's going to be the most pressured budget since his first year in office -- easily.”
Cuomo, who is running for reelection in 2018 and has presidential ambitions, has prided himself on passing on-time budgets and restoring fiscal order to Albany. He has already said he would link any pay raises for legislators, which are long overdue, to whether or not a budget deal is reached in a timely manner. This year’s $153-billion budget for fiscal year 2017-2018 was passed nine days late.
To address the existing budget gap, the state must either cut spending or increase taxes. Cuomo’s office is now tasked with devising a financial plan that will not cripple agencies or end needed programs, but that will also not drive out the state’s highest income earners, whose taxes provide 40 percent of New York’s operational funding.
It is unclear to what extent the final federal tax bill -- if passed -- will affect New York and its taxpayers, but some fear it could provide additional motivation for the state’s top 1 percent to take residency elsewhere. Passage would likely dash any Democratic hopes for an expanded millionaire’s tax, such as the policy advocated by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
If millionaires and billionaires leave the state, “the burden then falls to everyone else: the middle class and the working families,” Cuomo said Wednesday in Albany at the awards ceremony for his 10 Regional Economic Development Councils.
Federal tax policy aside, experts say the widening gap between the state’s anticipated tax revenue and receipts is unusual given what is, overall, a well-performing economy and a booming stock market. While there are certain indications that suggest state personal income tax receipts have been depressed this year by taxpayer behavior in light of possible federal tax changes, the extent of any such impact is difficult to estimate, according to the comptroller’s office.
There is some debate as to how to handle the upcoming budget deficit, which Cuomo has acknowledged is likely to significantly impact education funding, which may not see the typical annual increases of recent years.
Comptroller DiNapoli has repeatedly urged that the state take steps to eliminate projected budget gaps and achieve structural budget balance, including, for example, minimizing use of one-time resources to support recurring spending and avoiding the use of administrative or accounting actions that lower the appearance of spending but do not eliminate the state’s obligation.
These recommendations are echoed by the fiscal watchdog group Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), which has highlighted how the state has created the appearance of meeting the 2 percent cap on spending increases by shifting certain personnel expenses to the capital budget.
"Education, Medicaid, and personnel are the three things that he could target. We certainly think a lot of the economic development spending should be curtailed, but that's a slightly smaller pot," said David Friedfel, director of state studies at CBC.
Cuomo’s administration often touts spending restraint and disputes the CBC’s characterization of its spending patterns. A spokesperson for the Division of the Budget said that the positions in question had been categorized as capital expenses because they had been associated with capital projects.
“Governor Cuomo has been rigorous and effective in constraining State spending growth, achieving more fiscally responsible results than those of his predecessors. The current year’s budget holds spending growth to historically low levels for the seventh consecutive year while balancing the budget and lowering taxes for all New Yorkers.” said Morris Peters, of the state’s Division of the Budget.
Legislative leaders are divided on how to approach the budget and looming deficit. Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, a Republican from Long Island, has opposed increasing taxes on high-income earners.
"Senator Flanagan believes we must continue to strictly adhere to the two percent spending cap, which would cut the Governor's projected deficit in half, and review every single dollar the state spends," said Scott Reif, spokesperson for Flanagan, in a statement.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, did not express much concern when speaking to reporters last week, noting that when Cuomo was first elected to office the state was forced to wrestle with a $10 billion budget deficit. “But we’re New Yorkers and we’ll find our way through it,” he said.
Cuomo’s budget director Robert Mujica is asking agencies to keep their budgets stagnant and others are questioning whether Cuomo’s signature infrastructure projects or economic development programs should see cuts, or perhaps a controversial tax break for the film and television industry that has cost the state $31 million since 2010.
While many have praised Cuomo for keeping the deficit relatively low since taking office, according to McMahon, the state’s fiscal situation in 2010 and next year are not necessarily comparable.
“In 2010, there was low-hanging fruit then that is not low-hanging now,” said McMahon, noting that Cuomo’s office significantly restructured state personnel. “The first place they will go is school aid. Medicaid is more complicated because there are three levels of payment and it is controlled by federal law.”
Education advocates pushed back on the suggestion that cutting education funding was the way to address the deficit. Instead, the state should reinstate the millionaires’ and billionaires’ tax to levels they were at before Cuomo took office and end tax loopholes for hedge-fund and private-equity billionaires, according to Billy Easton, executive director for Alliance for Quality Education of New York, a teachers-union-allied nonprofit.
“They shouldn’t say the outcome is we’re going to increase the deficit in educational opportunity for black, brown, and low-income kids,” said Easton.
The governor, meanwhile, has vowed to continue to challenge the federal government and members of congress who support the cuts. “I will fight this economic civil war every day that I am governor of the State of New York,” he said on Wednesday.
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by Rachel Silberstein, State government reporter, Gotham Gazette
@RachelSilby @GothamGazette
New York City Hall
What to watch for this week in New York politics:
This week starts a two-week sprint to what amounts to the end of the political year: Friday, December 22. Though there will be some political business Christmas week, and a deal to crown the next Speaker of the City Council could be announced any time before the January 3 vote, most of the rest of the political activity for the year (and thus the four-year city term) will take place this week and next. That includes a very busy schedule at the City Council in terms of oversight hearings, legislative negotiations, and bills being passed before this Council class and Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito end their term together. The first of two December full-body Stated meetings of the Council takes place on Monday, at which a number of bills will be passed (the other one is set for Dec. 19).
As the year nears an end, we're also watching for announcements related to personnel in the de Blasio administration -- who else might be leaving, coming, or promoted -- as well as in the administrations of the two other citywide elected officials, Comptroller Scott Stringer and Public Advocate Letitia James. While their top deputies are much less known than the mayor's, the positions are still influential and important to how the city is run.
We're also just a few weeks away from a new budget and legislative year kicking off in Albany, where Governor Cuomo will outline his 2018 agenda on January 3. There are legislative hearings this week as the two chambers gear up for next year. Cuomo begins his week with one public event in New York City -- see below for details.
And one New York eye remains fixed on Washington, D.C., where tax reform legislation is being negotiated among the House, Senate, and White House, with major potential ramifications for the Empire State and its biggest city.
There's a lot happening this week -- see our day-by-day rundown below.
***Do you have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics?
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The run of the week in detail:
Monday
At 10:30 a.m. Monday on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show, Ben Max of Gotham Gazette and Dr. Christina Greer of Fordham University will discuss the latest in city and state politics.
At 11 a.m. Monday, Governor Cuomo will be at the CUNY Graduate Center to hold a briefing with Puerto Rican Governor Rosselló and members of the New York congressional delegation.
Mayor de Blasio will appear on NY1's Inside City Hall in the 7 and 10 p.m. hours.
The full City Council will meet at 1:30 p.m. Monday for the penultimate stated meeting of the year and of the current four-year session. The meeting will be prefaced by a press conference led by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. Before the Stated meeting, the Committee on Finance will hold a hearing and the Committee on Rules, Privelages and Elections will hold a meeting.
At the State Legislature on Monday: The Assembly Standing Committee on Mental Health will meet at 10 a.m. in Albany for a public hearing regarding “the adequacy of housing opportunities for individuals who are receiving services and supports from the Office of Mental Health (OMH) or the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) in the context of the funding provided in the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2017-18 budget.”
The New York State Board of Regents will meet on Monday and Tuesday in Albany.
At 10 a.m. Monday, First Lady Chirlane McCray will host a press conference at the Tweed Courthouse where she will make an announcement about “promoting mental health literacy in the black community.” She will be joined by Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Mary Bassett, U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke, former SEIU chair Toni Lewis, and representatives of six organizations historically led by black women.
At noon Monday, City Council Member Rory Lancman will hold a press conference outside the City Hall R train stop to “tout passage of Intro. 1664, legislation that will require the NYPD to report quarterly the number of arrests and summonses issued for subway fare evasion.” Lancman will be joined by representatives of the Community Service Society, the Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, and the Bronx Defenders.
Also Monday at noon, on the steps of City Hall, "Council Member Rafael Espinal and Chair of the Transportation Committee, Ydanis Rodriguez will join transportation and environmental advocates to host a press conference announcing a transportation committee oversight hearing. The upcoming hearing, slated for Thursday, December 14 at 10 AM will feature a bill sponsored by Council Member Espinal. Reso No. 1443 "calls upon the Governor and MTA to commit to an expeditious transition to an electric bus fleet and to use electric buses as a robust part of its replacement service during the upcoming L train shutdown.”"
At 1pm Monday at City Hall, there will be a protest against the city’s plans to redevelop the Elizabeth Street Garden. The city’s plan, backed by local Council Member Margaret Chin, includes senior affordable housing and park/garden space, but Friends of Elizabeth Street Garden and a variety of other elected officials, including Comptroller Scott Stringer and Public Advocate Letitia James, are opposed to the deal.
At 6:30 p.m. Monday, the New York City Bar Association will host “The Global War on Terrorism: Do We Need a New AUMF,” discussing whether current military operations should be covered under the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, authorized after 9/11. Speakers will include William Castle, Acting General Counsel for the Department of Defense; Bruce Ackerman, counsel in Smith vs Trump, a case challenging the president’s power to fight ISIS under the 2001 AUMF; and John Bellinger III, former senior counsel to George W. Bush and legal advisor to the National Security Council during 9/11.
Tuesday
At the City Council on Tuesday:
--The Committee on Education will tour The Earth School in the East Village at 9:30 a.m.
--The Committee on Housing and Buildings will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “Homeownership in NYC: Challenges and HPD’s Programs.”
--The Committee on Civil Service and Labor will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “USIC underground safety contractor workers’ unfair pay and benefits.”
--The Committee on Recovery and Resiliency will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “NFIP reauthorization and flood insurance affordability.”
At the State Legislature on Tuesday:
--The Assembly Standing Committee on Higher Education will meet at 10 a.m. in Albany for a public hearing to “examine the implementation of the scholarship programs included in the 2017-18 State Budget, the Excelsior Scholarship and the Enhanced Tuition Awards Program, and to examine the impact they are having on New York State families and institutions of higher education.”
--The Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture will meet at 10 a.m. in Albany for a public hearing to “elicit comments on what measures the state can implement that will provide a direct economic impact to farmers by enhancing their bottom line.”
--The Assembly Standing Committee on Libraries and Education Technology will meet at 10:30 a.m. in Albany for its annual budget oversight hearing on “funding of libraries in New York State for fiscal year 2017-2018.”
--The Assembly Standing Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse will meet at 1 p.m. at 250 Broadway in Manhattan for a public hearing “to examine the adequacy of funding for prevention, treatment, and recovery services within the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2017-2018 Enacted Budget.”
At 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie will join UFT President Michael Mulgrew at UFT Headquarters in Lower Manhattan to discuss “the upcoming legislative session; the state economy and budget priorities, including school spending; the threat posed by federal tax changes and potential program reductions; and other issues.” It is unclear if this is a public event or only open to UFT members.
At 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Manhattan Institute will host “Prospects for Black America,” discussing the unique challenges that African-Americans face and possible policy and grassroots remedies. U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson will deliver the keynote address.
On Tuesday at 10:45 a.m., City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito will speak at Generation Citizen's 2017 Civics Day, at Riverside Church.
At 11 a.m. in the Bronx, "Mayor de Blasio will make an announcement regarding the City’s use of cluster housing."
On Tuesday at noon, “Color Of Change, the nation's largest online racial justice organization, will join leaders from VOCAL-NY and Brooklyn Community Bail Fund in front of the office of Governor Cuomo in New York City to deliver a petition and hold press a conference demanding that Cuomo and Attorney General Schneiderman investigate the bail bond industry in New York. The petition highlights the lack of oversight and regulation of the exploitative commercial bail bond industry, which extracts millions of dollars from New York’s most marginalized communities. Each year, as many as 100,000 people in New York are imprisoned only because of their inability to afford bail. For some families, the only way to buy a loved one’s release is through the for-profit commercial bail bond industry.”
On Tuesday at 2 p.m. at City Hall Park, "Council Member Margaret S. Chin will join a diverse coalition of affordable senior housing advocates, LGBTQ groups and community gardeners in support of the announcement of the senior housing plan for Mott and Elizabeth streets that would include 121 units of deeply affordable housing for seniors and the formerly homeless; more than 7,600 square feet of public green space; and onsite offices for Habitat for Humanity NYC and SAGE."
At 6 p.m. Tuesday, City Council Member and Speaker candidate Corey Johnson will join the Association for a Better New York for its “What’s on Tap” series at American Beauty in Chelsea.
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Mayor de Blasio will hold a town hall meeting at the Jerome Parker Educational Complex in New Springville, Staten Island, with City Council Member Joe Borelli, Staten Island Borough President James Oddo, State Senator Andrew Lanza, and Assemblymember Michael Cusick.
Wednesday
At the City Council on Wednesday:
--The Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will meet at 9:30 a.m.
--The Committee on Environmental Protection will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding the “current condition and future plans” of the city’s wastewater infrastructure.
--The Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting, and Maritime Uses will meet at 11 a.m.
--The Committees on Higher Education and General Welfare will meet jointly at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “higher education opportunities for youth aging out of foster care.”
--The Committee on Governmental Operations will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing on the 2017 election, as well as to discuss a proposed law relating to “the broadcasting of mandatory debates.”
--The Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions, and Concessions will meet at 1 p.m.
At the State Legislature on Wednesday: The Assembly Standing Committee on Health, the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force, and the Task Force on New Americans will meet jointly at 10 a.m. at 250 Broadway in Manhattan for a public hearing regarding immigrants’ access to healthcare.
At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the City Planning Commission will hold a public meeting at Spector Hall.
At 4 p.m. Wednesday, the Civilian Complaint Review Board will hold a public board meeting at 100 Church Street.
At 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Campaign Finance Board’s Voter Assistance Advisory Committee will hold its annual hearing at CFB headquarters at 100 Church Street. Featured speakers will be Fordham political science professor Dr. Christina Greer and 2018 NYC Youth Poet Laureate William Lohier.
At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, MTA Board Members Veronica Vanterpool and Norman Brown will join the Riders Alliance to discuss intricacies of the MTA’s funding, and how money gets spent by the authority. The conversation will be moderated by Executive Director John Raskin.
Thursday
Governor Cuomo is scheduled to hold a fundraiser in Manhattan on Thursday featuring former President Bill Clinton. (Democrats to Cuomo's left are planning to protest outside the fundraiser, according to The New York Post.)
At the City Council on Thursday:
--The Committee on Waterfronts will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “the citywide waterfront inspection process.”
--The Committee on Transportation will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “mitigation plans for the 2019 L Train tunnel closure,” as well as to discuss a resolution “calling upon the Governor and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to commit to an expeditious transition to an electric bus fleet and to use electric buses as a robust part of its replacement service during the upcoming L train shutdown.”
--The Committees on Health and Public Safety will meet jointly at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “examining forensic science practices in the NYPD crime lab and OCME.”
--The Committee on Public Safety will also be discussing a proposed law relating to “respecting the right to record police activities.”
--The Committee on Aging and the Subcommittee on Senior Centers will meet jointly at 1 p.m.
--The Committee on Economic Development will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding the “economic impact of vacant storefronts.”
At the State Legislature on Thursday:
--The Assembly Standing Committee on Children and Families will meet at 11 a.m. in Albany for a public hearing to “examine the impact of the State budget on supports for foster parents and caretakers of children removed from their homes.”
--The Assembly Standing Committee on Housing will meet at 11:30 a.m. at 250 Broadway in Manhattan for an oversight hearing of “the State Fiscal Year 2017-2018 State Budget for New York State Homes & Community Renewal.”
The New York City Campaign Finance Board will hold a public hearing at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
At 10:30 a.m. Thursday, City & State will honor its “CSR Responsible 100” honorees, in recognition of “100 of New York’s most outstanding corporate citizens.” First Lady Chirlane McCray will also be presented with the “Civic Leader of the Year Award.”
At 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Assemblymember Dan Quart will unveil a broad criminal justice reform legislative package, addressing issues such as “cash bail reform, online harassment, reentry services to those who were wrongfully convicted,” at 250 Broadway.
At 8 p.m. Thursday, Mayor de Blasio will hold a town hall meeting at JHS 88 in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, with City Council Member Carlos Menchaca, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, and Assemblymember Felix Ortiz.
Friday and the weekend
At the State Legislature on Friday: The Assembly Standing Committee on Transportation will meet at 10:30 a.m. in Albany for a public hearing regarding the Department of Transportation Capital Program.
At noon Friday, the New York State Board of Elections will hold a commissioners’ meeting at the State Board Offices in Albany.
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Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).
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by Ben Brachfeld and Ben Max
@GothamGazette