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Hochul Presents State of the State Agenda Focused on Public Safety, Housing Development, Mental Health Care, Climate Action, & More


Gov. Hochul (photo: Governor's Office)


Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday delivered her second State of the State speech, and the first since she was elected to a full term, pledging to tackle crime, boost housing production, advance climate action, and invest heavily in the state’s mental health system to “make New York more affordable, more livable, and safer.”

Speaking in the Assembly chamber at the Capitol building in Albany, Hochul outlined a broad legislative and policy agenda for the year ahead. It was Hochul’s first fully in-person State of the State address, following last year’s speech that came when the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was surging through the state.

“It’s extraordinary how far we've come in this one year from that time when I literally had to address empty seats,” Hochul said to a packed chamber of Assembly members, state senators, executive branch staff, and others. Behind her were seated the state’s other top officials, including Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, who introduced the governor.

Hochul struck an optimistic note in her speech, even as she conceded that challenges lie ahead. “I’m proud to say that the State of our State is strong, but we have work to do,” she said, launching into the highlights of her extensive agenda, covered in more detail in the 277-page policy book released Tuesday that will join with her Executive Budget, due later this month, to form the more full basis of her negotiations with the Legislature.

Public Safety, Bail, & Health
The governor began with a focus on public safety, an issue that her Republican opponent in the 2022 race, then-U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, successfully hammered at during the closer-than-expected gubernatorial election last year. “My number one priority has always been and always will be keeping Yorkers safe,” Hochul said. “And a day has not gone by where I've not been laser-focused on this objective.”

While she laid out a multi-pronged public safety agenda, Hochul acknowledged that the most controversial issue in the public safety conversation has been bail reform. As she has before, Hochul said she remains in strong support of the general principle behind the reforms — that people should not have to sit in jail pre-trial just because they are too poor to afford bail — while pleading with Democrats in the Legislature to work with her to improve the law.

“I would say we can agree that the bail reform law as written leaves room for improvement and as leaders we cannot ignore that,” she said. Hochul’s proposal would eliminate the requirement that judges set bail based on the “least restrictive means” for any alleged crime currently bail eligible, while retaining that standard for minor crimes. That change would work in tandem with alterations to bail Hochul insisted on last year, which gave judges more discretion to set bail or hold defendants in jail pre-trial in cases involving gun crimes and repeat offenders accused of various crimes including non-violent felonies and some misdemeanors.

In part to make bail reform more successful, Hochul outlined plans to double funding for alternatives to incarceration to $30 million annually and to triple investments in reentry services to $12 million for those leaving the justice system.

She also pledged the “largest investment ever” in the state Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) initiative, promised to increase the ranks and resources of the State Police, and to fund the hiring of more prosecutors across the state.

On a related issue, Hochul also promised to make “essential and long overdue” fixes to the state’s mental health system. “We have underinvested in mental health care for so long and allowed the situation to become so dire that it also has become a public safety crisis as well,” she said.

She is proposing a $1 billion investment that will, among other measures, help bring 1,000 inpatient psychiatric beds online, including 150 new beds and 850 that were previously eliminated. Her plan also involves creating 3,500 units of supportive housing, expanded outpatient services, comprehensive wraparound services for discharged patients, expanded mental health services for children, a new interagency task force to tackle the overdose crisis, and legislation to prohibit insurance companies from denying access to mental health services.

“Today marks a reversal in the state's approach to mental health care, and this is a monumental shift to make sure that no one else falls through the cracks,” she said.

After dedicating $20 billion over several years to improve the state’s health care systems, Hochul proposed several additional measures this year regarding broader public health efforts beyond mental health care.

They include a new Commission on the Future of Health Care to study the health care system and recommend reforms, a $1.6 billion capital commitment for health care projects, expanded Medicaid coverage for preventive health services, improvements to the state’s Essential Plan, addressing medical debt, improved access to primary care, a new “nation-leading” health monitoring and surveillance system, and more.

Housing
Perhaps the biggest plan that Hochul presented is her “New York Housing Compact,” a broad policy strategy to create 800,000 units of housing over the next decade. The plan builds on the governor’s $25 billion program to build 100,000 units of affordable housing that was approved in last year’s state budget. The new framework is more focused on leveraging the private market through setting targets, changing zoning, and incentivizing growth so that New York can try to catch up in its housing supply deficit.

“Today, I say no more delay. No more waiting for someone else to fix this problem. Housing is a human right and ensuring enough housing is built is how we protect that right,” she said.

As Hochul noted, while the state created 1.2 million jobs over the last decade, it only built about 400,000 homes, one of the reasons behind the crises of outmigration from the state and a lack of affordability.

“Many forces led to this state of affairs but front and center, our local land use policies that are the most restrictive in the nation,” she said. Her plan includes setting statewide and local targets for housing creation, cutting red tape and expediting environmental review approvals, legalizing basement conversions, easing office conversions, and focusing on transit-oriented development by requiring municipalities to build more housing near MTA stations inside and outside New York City. Under Hochul’s proposal, the state would also offer funding for necessary infrastructure where new housing is built and a fast-track approval process when proposed housing projects are stalled.

Hochul’s housing plan is contingent in part on replacing the expired 421-a housing tax credit. Last year, she proposed an alternative, 485w, which failed to pass the Legislature, and she said she will revisit the issue to restore “this critical piece of the puzzle.” Hochul is not presenting the details of that plan at this time, but starting the conversation with legislators. It is among the various pieces of the housing plan that will require legislative approval and could prove contentious.

Climate and Energy
As New Yorkers experience rising energy bills, Hochul also proposed a new “EmPower Plus” program to help low-income families retrofit their homes with clean heating systems and upgraded insulation and appliances. She also promised $165 million in relief to more than 800,000 utility customers, proposed a plan to end sales of new fossil-fuel-powered heating equipment by 2030, and called for zero-emission construction for small buildings starting in 2025 and for large buildings starting in 2028.

Hochul also announced her support for a new “cap-and-invest” program that will cap greenhouse emissions and require the biggest emissions producers to purchase permits to sell polluting fuels. It marks the adoption of one of the major proposals from the state’s Climate Action Council, which in December released a wide-ranging Scoping Plan of recommendations to meet the emission-reduction and renewable-energy requirements of the state’s 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

Transportation
One of the main challenges the governor, state, and city will face this year is ensuring fiscal stability at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which runs New York City’s subways and buses and the commuter rail network. The agency was hit hard by the pandemic and has floated by on federal aid but faces a fiscal cliff after that aid runs out in 2025. Hochul did not propose solutions in her State of the State but did pledge to work with her partners in government to address it, with perhaps more detail to come in her Executive Budget.

She also further committed to implementing congestion pricing in New York City, which has been delayed but is projected to help the MTA raise billions in funding for its capital plan.

Hochul did propose several other transit-related measures including a low-cost, flat-fare City Ticket available 24/7 for commuter rails within New York City, moving ahead with her proposal for an Interborough Express connecting Brooklyn and Queens by pursuing the "light rail" option for the route, expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure, Automated Bus Lane Enforcement cameras on 900 New York City buses, stricter driving regulations, stronger DMV enforcement, and allowing New York City to lower its speed limit.

Child Care, Education, and the Minimum Wage
Building on her four-year, $7 billion childcare plan that was approved in last year’s budget, Hochul announced on Tuesday a series of measures to make childcare more affordable and easier to access. They include streamlining applications for childcare assistance, increased income eligibility for child care subsidies, expediting enrollment for families that already receive other public benefits, a new Workforce Retention Grant Program for childcare workers, and a New York State Employer-Supported Child Care pilot program.

And to directly address the rising cost of living, Hochul proposed a plan to peg the minimum wage to inflation, which she said would affect more than 900,000 New Yorkers. “If costs go up, so will wages,” she said.

Hochul is continuing her administration’s efforts to fully fund Foundation Aid for schools, proposing a $2.7 billion or 13 percent increase this year, for a total of more than $24 billion. She also pledged an additional $125 million to continue the state’s expansion of free prekindergarten. She has also proposed investments in high-impact tutoring programs, a $20 million grant program for new early college high school programs, direct acceptance into community colleges for graduating high school seniors, $200 million in funding for SUNY digital infrastructure, among other items.

More
The governor’s speech was by no means exhaustive, hitting on only some of the contents of her State of State policy book, which contains 147 proposals in total covering, besides the aforementioned ideas, other plans related to reproductive rights access, economic development measures, healthcare, making government work better, and more.

In the upcoming weeks, the governor will also present her budget for the next fiscal year, which will contain a series of fiscal and policy measures that will further set the table for hearings by and negotiations with the State Legislature. During her State of the State address, Hochul expressed her dedication to ensure no income tax increases this year.

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli had some advice for the governor’s budget presentation. “We are now entering the third year of the lingering effects of COVID-19 on our health and economy. As the nation continues to recover from pandemic aftershocks, the state’s fiscal footing is currently stable, but the economy remains uneven, and inflation is still too high,” he said in part in a statement on Tuesday. “To prepare for future risks and uncertainties, rainy day reserve targets should be met, spending plans should be cautious, and prudent debt practices should be restored.”

Other Reactions
Mayor Adams praised the “ambitious agenda” that the governor laid out on Tuesday. “The governor’s proposals on housing, mental illness, and public safety reflect New York City’s priorities and build on the past year of partnership and collaboration between our administrations,” he said, in part, in a statement.

In particular, he pointed to his own plan to build 500,000 homes in New York City over a decade, which will require state assistance. “The governor’s commitment to ensuring that our state finally builds the housing needed to address the affordability crisis is the type of bold leadership we need, and acknowledges that our neighboring suburbs must do much more to solve what is ultimately a regional problem,” he said.

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who challenged Hochul in last year's Democratic primary, similarly said the governor’s housing proposals were “encouraging,” though he insisted that new housing should be income-targeted. “If the government is taking steps to encourage responsible development, whether through subsidizing or streamlining, that support should only come in exchange for deeply affordable housing,” he said in a statement.

“Additionally, no housing plan is real without including preservation strategies, and new housing without sufficient tenant protections and foreclosure prevention will not be enough to keep New Yorkers in their homes,” Williams added. “The progressive path forward to address the housing and homelessness crisis in our state is one that puts people over profits, communities over corporations.”

City Comptroller Brad Lander, another Democrat, issued a note of caution. He is among the vocal opponents of 421-a and noted in a report last year that the tax incentive cost the city about $1.8 billion in lost revenue annually. “We need to expand the supply of housing at all income levels—but simply incentivizing market-rate development with another inefficient tax giveaway program like 421a will not solve the crisis of affordability facing so many New Yorkers,” he said in part in a statement. “Building new housing must go along with significantly increased investments in genuinely affordable rental and homeownership programs, rental assistance vouchers, and good cause protections to keep tenants in their homes.”

Hochul’s priorities even reflected those of Republicans, who sit in the minority in both houses of the Legislature. “Today’s State of the State speech by Governor Hochul follows the Senate Republicans’ call for a safer, stronger and more affordable New York,” said State Senator Rob Ortt, the minority leader, in a statement. “While the Governor echoed our themes, she ignored the stark reality that one-party, progressive policies have made New York less safe and less affordable. New Yorkers deserve action that matches the rhetoric.”

Ortt urged the governor to “ignore the hysterics from the progressive left” on bail reform, mental health, housing, and affordability, while also criticizing her other proposals that he said would increase the cost of living in the state. “Touting unachievable energy policies, new mandates on small business and state-driven housing policies will only drive up costs for overburdened New Yorkers, chasing out even more taxpayers and more jobs,” he said.

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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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Lawmakers Push Back as Mayor Adams Says They Aren’t Helping Crime Victims


 

Mayor Adams decries victims of gun violence (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


Having come to power on a tough-on-crime message after years marked by criminal justice reform and protests against police brutality, Mayor Eric Adams often says New York lawmakers have done too much to protect the perpetrators of crime and not enough for the victims.

But after a year in office he has not said what additional victims services policies he thinks should be in place.

"What do we do for a family member who's the victim of a homicide and they're the primary breadwinner and now their entire family is thrown into turmoil," Adams said in a December 7 interview with NY1 host Pat Kiernan when asked about similar comments he made previously. "We passed laws to protect the person who killed the individual. What have we done for those who are the victims of crimes, who have [been] devastated?"

Adams made similar statements on the campaign trail in 2021 and throughout his first year as mayor, as he promised to crack down on gun violence and lower-level offenses and invest in "upstream" measures to stem the factors that lead to crime. He has spent much of that time criticizing fellow Democrats over changes made to the state's bail and discovery laws in 2019 (and adjusted in subsequent years). But Adams rarely if ever acknowledges the victim services that are in place or offers any specifics on what he thinks should be done to enhance benefits available to crime victims.

Victim compensation funds and supportive services like emergency housing, medical care, and counseling for people devastated by crime are common throughout the United States, including in New York. And efforts here at the state and city levels are ongoing to expand access to that funding and those services — including some Adams has signed into law.

Adams' campaign material made virtually no mention of specific crime victims services. It did, however, include a proposal to launch a cognitive behavioral therapy program for domestic abusers called the “Family Violence Perpetrator Program,” which has not come to fruition.

His comments echo points made by opponents of bail and discovery reform and other criminal justice measures either passed or proposed. That includes Republican Lee Zeldin, who made similar statements on the campaign trail for governor last year. In other contexts, Adams has said he wants to see state lawmakers revisit the bail law once again to give judges greater discretion to consider a defendant's "dangerousness.”

"Prior to Lee Zeldin wanting to run for governor, this is what I've been saying. Do an analysis of all the laws we've passed, not only in New York but across the country. Analyze them," he told Kiernan. "Where is the law that protects innocent people? That's my question."

Administration officials would not say what specific policies the mayor wants to see enacted or what laws he believes protect perpetrators. His comments appear to ignore the fact that criminal law itself is intended to prevent crime and keep potential victims from harm.

A spokesperson for Adams said the mayor was referring to laws to make victims whole and pointed to the State Legislature for action. The spokesperson noted the mayor, a former state senator, is not in the Legislature and does not introduce bills, and wouldn't elaborate on what those could or should entail. They referred further inquiries to the Legislature.

Adams has in fact released multiple specific proposals for legislation he wants to see passed at the state level this year, including a nine-point state legislative plan released last week on improving the capital construction process, a push for a change to state mental health law, and more.

Crime remains a top priority for the mayor. Murders and shootings rose sharply during the pandemic but dropped during Adams’ first year in office, while overall index crimes (the seven major felonies) increased 22.4%, according to the NYPD. In 2022, 433 people were murdered and 1,566 were victims of gunfire. Thefts, rapes, and assaults all increased in 2022 over 2021.

A vast majority of crime victims are low-income Black or Latino New Yorkers. Crimes also often go unreported, especially in communities where trust in police is frayed, and especially among survivors of domestic and gender-based violence, a growing focus of lawmakers.

At both the city and state levels, lawmakers working on victim services have focused largely on improving access to compensation funds and micro-grants. The mayor's comments have frustrated a number of those officials, several of whom told Gotham Gazette they don't reflect reality or draw a false dichotomy between victims and perpetrators.

"One day a person is the defendant in the case, another day they're the victim or complainant in a case, and another day they might be a witness in a case," said City Council Member Tiffany Cabán, a Queens Democrat and former public defender who chairs the Council’s Committee on Women and Gender Equity, in a interview.

"Ultimately our goals for survivors and for citizens in general should be creating the conditions for stability," she said.

State Services
The state Office of Victim Services funded 228 programs totalling $294 million in State Fiscal Year 2021 (April 2020 through March 2021), according to the latest data available. The services include counseling, emergency shelter, legal assistance, and case management, among others.

The state's victim compensation program – which includes funding for medical expenses, lost earnings or property, burial costs, attorney's fees, and more for qualifying victims of crimes or their survivors – distributed $18.7 million in payments to victims in fiscal year 2021, a more than $10 million drop from fiscal year 2012 and $4 million down from the previous fiscal year.

The victim compensation fund is a payer of last resort, intended as a backstop for people with no other means to cover expenses in the aftermath of a crime, according to Janine Kava, a spokesperson for Governor Kathy Hochul, in an email to Gotham Gazette.

"Financial assistance administered by OVS provides a critical safety net and helps victims, survivors and family members with medical and counseling expenses, funeral and burial expenses, lost wages and support, in addition to other assistance,” Kava wrote. “New York is the only state in the nation with no cap on medical or counseling costs, which means individuals can receive assistance as long as they need it."

"It also is important to note that prior to 2020, New York State experienced seven consecutive years of declining crime, with reported crime reaching an all-time low in 2019," Kava continued. "Access to health care through the federal Affordable Care Act (Obama care) also has resulted in fewer claims being filed because individuals who previously may have been eligible now have health insurance to cover costs."

But the total annual funding for victim and witness assistance programs outside of direct payments has grown over the same period, more than doubling from $40 million in fiscal year 2012 to $91 million in fiscal year 2021, which was up $17 million from fiscal year 2020.

Last year, state lawmakers advanced a number of bills to expand access and eligibility for the victim compensation fund. In June, Hochul signed legislation to make reckless endangerment and the illegal dissemination of intimate images, also known as revenge porn, compensable crimes.

"The Senate Democrats have demonstrably done more to support crime victims than the mayor's administration has," said State Senator Julia Salazar, a Brooklyn Democrat who chairs the body's Committee on Crime Victims, Crime & Correction and has championed the criminal justice reforms Adams often criticizes, in a statement to Gotham Gazette. "I hope they will work together on these issues with us instead of dodging responsibility."

Other bills failed to pass one or the other chamber of the Legislature, like a bill to make victims eligible for payments without having to file a police report. The legislation had the support of the New York City Council via a resolution, and passed the Assembly last spring but failed in the Senate.

"The law enforcement reporting requirement for victim compensation adversely impacts Black and Brown, LGBTQIA+  and the immigrant communities, who are traditionally less likely than other groups to report their harm to law enforcement," said City Council Member Mercedes Narcisse, a Brooklyn Democrat and sponsor of the non-binding resolution encouraging state passage of the bill. "There is no doubt that accessing crime victim compensation is part of a broken system."

Senator Zellnor Myrie, a Brooklyn Democrat who sponsored the bill, also took issue with the mayor's comments.

"Leaders on either side of the aisle who perpetuate this falsehood – that we're protecting the accused and ignoring the victims – aren't serving anyone but themselves," Myrie said in a statement to Gotham Gazette. 

"We can support crime victims right now by passing my bill to expand access to compensation funding and help families rebuild their lives after being impacted by violence," he said. "I look forward to the Mayor helping me advocate for this legislation over the next few months."

City Services
In the fall of 2021, just a few months before the end of the de Blasio administration, the city launched the Office of Crime Victim Services (OCVS), housed within the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, to coordinate and expand the city's existing survivor services and ensure parity in assistance programs.

In the last fiscal year, from July 2021 through June 2022, OCVS directly operated 20 programs, including ones to prevent intimate partner violence and an online service finder with 78 providers and 361 locations around the city.

The office's marquee initiative is the Crime Victim Assistance Program, which places service coordinators and advocates in police precincts. According to the OCVS annual report, published in April 2022, the pandemic stay-at-home orders and labor shortages impacted the program's operations in 2021 but the office is "committed to ensuring the program has the supports it needs to resume and expand operations."

Since that report, the OCVS budget has fallen slightly, from $48.9 million in city fiscal year 2022 to "nearly" $48 million in the current fiscal year 2023, according to another spokesperson for Mayor Adams.

In the annual report from April, OCVS promised to develop more emergency housing options for survivors, sexual violence and human trafficking prevention programs, and sommunity-based supports for underserved communities. The office would also explore formal avenues for public engagement.

OCVS and the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice have not provided any information about any progress made toward those goals despite multiple Gotham Gazette inquiries.

The City Council has put an emphasis on survivor services in the first year of the new cohort, led by Speaker Adrienne Adams and the Council’s first female majority. Speaker Adams pushed to fund "trauma recovery centers" in four neighborhoods with high rates of gun violence and also provided each Council district with $100,000 to fund survivor and community safety services, according to a spokesperson.

In November, Mayor Adams signed a set of laws known as the "Support Survivors" package after it passed the City Council. The center of the package was a law to establish a micro-grant program for emergency housing and other services for domestic violence survivors, to be established by the Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence.

The law is based on an pandemic emergency program in summer of 2020 that provided roughly $469,000 to 377 clients at an average disbursal of $1,243 per recipient, according to a final report. The funds went to low-income domestic and gender-based violence survivors disproportionately impacted by the pandemic – 40% of whom were Latino, 32% Black, 16% Asian or Middle Eastern, and 10% white. The program was quickly inundated with applications and distributed more than 50 more grants than originally budgeted, with the result being a smaller average grant size, according to the report.

Cabán was the lead sponsor on the Support Survivors package. She and Adams held a joint press conference to celebrate when the mayor signed it into law. Cabán told Gotham Gazette she is seeking a minimum of $3 million for the program in fiscal year 2024 and that conversations with the Adams administration are ongoing.

"That is it going to be my office's number one priority," she said over the phone. "We plan on running a robust budget campaign and doing the organizing necessary to get as many dollars as possible into that fund."

"It's going to be about making sure that we are investing resources to the scale of the problems that we're facing, which has been a challenge over the past year," Cabán said, referring to Mayor Adams' first year in office. "We've seen some investments in certain places but not nearly to the degree that is necessary to meaningfully tackle some of the issues New Yorkers are facing each and every day."

Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission, a non-profit focused on public safety, believes Adams isn't talking about survivor services at all when he says lawmakers need to focus on victims not perpetrators.

"I think it's a way of expanding the aperture so that we see the real impacts of the lack of bail reform and the lack of discovery reform," he said.

While there has been a justified focus on criminal justice reform in recent years, Aborn said, "we also need to make sure that the criminal law is sufficiently robust that people are not unnecessarily victimized.” That can happen during the initial crime "and then if the law does not respond appropriately the person is revictimized because nothing has happened to the perpetrator," he added.

In this case, the rhetoric of supporting victims refers to ensuring a survivor is not "re-frightened" by the lenient administration of justice, said Aborn, who supports giving judge's more discretion in setting bail and prosecutors more time to turn over evidence as part of the discovery process.

To Cabán, carceral approaches to public safety are misguided and the city could be doing more to materially support survivors of crime. "When politicians and other folks in the city talk about crime victims from that perspective," she said, "they're practically always cynically exploiting the pain and trauma of survivors to make the case for ramping up policing and incarceration, which doesn't prevent further violence, and it practically never actually asks survivors what they need or want to heal and repair their lives, let alone provide those things."

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by Ethan Geringer-Sameth, reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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State Senate Again Starts Legislative Session with Voting and Election Reforms


At the polls (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


Democrats in the New York State Senate announced plans to pass a package of voting and election reforms on Monday, marking the fifth year in a row since taking the majority that they have highlighted the issue at the top of the legislation session.

Since 2019 Democrats have ushered in a new electoral landscape, including early voting, automatic voter registration, and the New York State Voting Rights Act, among many other shifts. The latest package in the Senate sets the tone on election issues ahead of Governor Kathy Hochul's State of the State address Tuesday and tees up negotiations with the Assembly, which has in many instances partnered on democratic reforms but in recent years has also trailed the Senate on legislation to make voting easier, reform the New York City Board of Elections, and more.

The slate announced and passed Monday would make voter suppression a crime; allow counties to establish "portable" polling locations for early voting; set-up absentee drop boxes and a statewide elections database; and allow voters to receive refreshments while waiting on line to vote – currently a prohibited form of electioneering. A sixth bill would make it harder to select a preferred court jurisdiction when filing a legal challenge to state election law. The practice, known as "forum shopping," sparked renewed interest last year when Republican challenges to new legislative district lines went before a sympathetic Republican judge in Steuben County who threw out Democrats' chosen boundaries.

"We've worked hard to cut away red tape and to eliminate unnecessary barriers that not only discourage voters from casting their ballots but sometimes even penalizes them in the process," said Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins in a press conference in the State Capitol on Monday, flanked by members of her conference.

On Tuesday, the Senate is expected to continue the push by passing, for the second year in a row, a bill to restructure and professionalize the New York City Board of Elections, which has been subject to chronic failure in recent years, Stewart-Cousins said. In the past, that has been a tough pill to swallow for the Assembly Democratic conference, whose leaders tend to operate in lockstep with party bosses who currently control election administration.

Asked what discussions senators have had with the Assembly and about their confidence in getting the bill to the governor's desk this year, Senate Election Chair Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn noted that the bill had previously gone through a number of iterations after discussions with Assembly members. "I think we will continue to work with the Assembly the same way we work with them on many other issues," Myrie told reporters, without getting into a forecast about support in the Assembly.

"We'll continue to work with the other house," he repeated when pressed on whether Senate Democrats have gotten a commitment from Assembly leaders on the bill.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie made no mention of voting or election legislation in his first major address of the session Monday, in which he discussed an agenda focused on housing and homelessness, economic recovery, environmental preservation, and factors associated with poverty that contribute to crime.

Asked by email to comment on the Assembly's response to the Senate package and its approach to voting legislation this session, a spokesperson for Heastie simply replied, "No."

The full package expected to pass Tuesday will include new standards for election commissioners and employees including prohibitions on holding public office and other conflicts of interest, according to Stewart-Cousins' office. It will also establish new training requirements, make election commissioner a full-time position, and create new channels for removing commissioners. The package would also raise the wages of poll workers and allow poll-site inspectors and clerks to split up grueling day-long shifts.

The Senate will likely also revisit discussions to extend the pandemic-era provision of no-excuse absentee voting, which had allowed all voters to request an absentee ballot before it expired in 2022. "Last year we faced a similar situation where it was expired and then we passed a bill to extend it," Myrie said. "Obviously subject to the leader, I suspect we'll have a similar conversation this year."

Lawmakers are also strategizing around the reintroduction of a state constitutional amendment to make ‘no-excuse’ absentee voting permanent, after voters rejected a previous amendment in a statewide referendum in 2021.

"I think that's certainly part of the discussion," Myrie said of a potential new amendment.

"I think, again, it just makes [voting] easier and I don't know why New Yorkers should be deprived of the opportunity to send in a ballot," Stewart-Cousins said. "So it is certainly something to discuss."

Good government and civil rights groups applauded the Senate for keeping up the drumbeat of incremental changes to the state's election law in the first weeks of session. "Senate Democrats have consistently advanced critical voter access laws, and we urge the Assembly and Governor to do the same," said Susan Lerner, executive director of good government group Common Cause New York, in a press release issued by the Senate majority.

“Continued improvement to our state’s democracy is contingent on policymakers, scholars, and the public having easy, equitable access to voting and election data," said Perry Grossman, Director of the Voting Rights Project at the New York Civil Liberties Union, in a statement commending legislation to create a database of voting information. That bill would establish the New York Voting and Elections Database and Institute, a centralized public repository of state voting data maintained by local governments in partnership with SUNY and CUNY. The database would include district-level voting information related to race and language minority groups, allowing advocates to more easily track violations of New York's Voting Rights Act.

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by Ethan Geringer-Sameth, reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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