Assemblymember Crespo (photo: @ABetterNY)
A new poll about the 2020 Census released Thursday showed New Yorkers, particularly Democrats, agree with what elected officials and advocates have expressed fear over for months, that adding a question about citizenship status on the 2020 Census would depress responses and risk an undercount that could have far-reaching consequences for the state.
A Quinnipiac University poll found that 49 percent of New York residents think it’s a “bad idea” for the Census to question if people are citizens, while only 29 percent believe it’s a “good idea.” The poll results showed a strong split along party lines -- 61 percent of Democrats think the question is a bad idea while 66 percent of Republicans believe it’s a good idea. Overall, 89 percent thought that the citizenship question would discourage undocumented immigrants from answering the Census questionnaire; 61 percent believe it would discourage even legal immigrants from responding; and 44 percent of all respondents said they knew someone they thought would be discouraged from filling out the Census form.
“New Yorkers have a clear message for the federal government: if you want an accurate count of the population, don’t ask a citizenship question,” said Mary Snow, Quinnipiac University polling analyst, in a statement. Though the planned inclusion of the question was struck down by a federal judge, in a lawsuit led by the office of the New York Attorney General, now occupied by Letitia James, the Trump administration is appealing the judgement and the Department of Justice has sought to take it directly to the Supreme Court and bypass the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
The poll was released Thursday morning at the New York Public Library at an event hosted by the Association for a Better New York, a leading business coalition that requested that Quinnipiac conduct the poll and has been taking its own approach to the Census (ABNY did not provide any input on the poll). ABNY Census coordinator Melva Miller announced the launch of a new committee called Census 2020 for a Better New York, chaired by Ford Foundation President Darren Walker and former New York City Planning Commission head Carl Weisbrod, who is currently senior advisor at HR&A Advisors.
“This really has to be a civic effort that involves everybody, but it really does depend on government the effort and doing the job right,” Weisbrod said.
“Let’s not forget that this is also a competition,” he added, pointing out that New York is fighting for federal funds just like other states. “It’s a division of resources, not just an expansion of resources, and we’re in competition with states all across this country.”
At the event, several state and local elected officials and representatives of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration reiterated the ramifications that New York would suffer if the state’s population is not accurately tallied in 2020. The state would risk losing two seats in the House of Representatives, affecting its strength in Congress and in the electoral college, which determines presidential elections. It could cut billions in annual federal funding for the state, affecting about 300 government programs for vulnerable populations like children, seniors and the homeless.
“[O]ur most core democratic principles are at stake when you think about our representation,” said Julie Menin, the former commissioner of both the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, who de Blasio recently put in charge of the city’s Census outreach efforts. “But it really goes even farther than that. What we really believe a citizenship question really is about is an attempt to defund blue progressive cities and to increase funding to red states.”
Menin said the city is focused on distributing grants to community groups and will eventually roll out a “really extensive mass media campaign” targeted at specific communities, hinting that the city would include funding for Census outreach in the upcoming budget (the mayor’s preliminary budget plan for next fiscal year is due out in early February). Advocates from the New York Counts 2020 coalition, made up of dozens of organizations from across the state, say $40 million is needed just to conduct outreach in communities above and beyond the city’s and state’s own efforts.
Last week, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson announced the creation of a task force to examine census-related issues, chaired by Council Members Carlina Rivera and Carlos Menchaca, who also appeared at the ABNY event.
There has been slower movement at the state level where Governor Andrew Cuomo just announced this week the creation of the New York State Complete Count Commission after it had already missed a January 10 deadline to file a comprehensive report.
At Thursday’s event, Assemblymember Marcos Crespo, co-chair of the Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, said he was “disappointed” with the state’s momentum and the lack of funding in the governor’s executive budget proposal, but was optimistic that leaders in government understand what is at stake. “I’m somewhat disappointed that the [governor’s executive budget proposal] didn’t already include this money but I’ve had conversations with the second floor,” he told reporters after the event, referring to the governor’s office in Albany’s Capitol building. “I think they understand this is something we have to address and invest in early. We can’t wait till the eleventh hour.”
Crespo wasn’t worried that the Complete Count Commission, which was created through a bill he sponsored, hadn’t issued its report yet. He said its findings would likely just reinforce the already-acknowledged need for resources. “If anything, the recommendations of the commission should be, how best to spend those resources,” he said. He doesn’t expect, however, that the report will be completed before the state budget is approved by the April 1 deadline.
“I don’t know if it’ll be able to meet and study all this in-depth before the state budget,” he admitted. “But we know enough already from other sources, we know what’s needed, we have a good sense what’s needed and I think we can make the allocation and figure out the distribution later.”
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette
Note - This article has been updatd to clarify that ABNY requested the poll from Quinnipiac, they did not commission it.
Gov. Cuomo with Lt. Gov. Hochul & legislative leaders (photo: Mike Groll/Governor's Office)
Governor Andrew Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, delivered his State of the State speech earlier this month, laying out his proposed $175.2 billion executive budget for the 2020 state fiscal year that begins April 1. Calling it his “justice agenda,” Cuomo unveiled a long list of proposals, some new and many rehashed, expressing confidence that full Democratic control of the state Legislature would allow for a slew of sweeping policy victories that had been denied by years of Republican obstruction in the upper chamber. In the two weeks since then, the Assembly and Senate have indeed advanced several bills -- some of which the governor has quickly signed -- to reform the state’s voting laws, protections for the LGBTQ community, reproductive health rights, and criminal justice system.
The budget gap for next fiscal year, which begins April 1, is about $3.1 billion, lower than the one the state had to cover last year. Cuomo has proposed a 3.6 percent increase in spending each for healthcare and education, the two largest buckets in the budget. Under Cuomo’s plan, which will now be the subject of negotiations with the Legislature, the health care budget would increase by about $700 million, reaching $19.6 billion, and education spending would increase by $1 billion, for a total of $27.7 billion. The governor has also proposed a new education funding formula that he calls “Education Equity,” which would redistribute funds to the poorest schools in the poorest districts, he says, and will be a central element of budget discussions.
[READ: 15 Notable Cuomo Proposals Not In His State of the State Speech]
There’s a great deal to be hashed out, both in terms of policy and the state budget, in the next three months, including stakeholders beyond the governor and legislators, such as advocates, service-providers, local officials like Mayor Bill de Blasio, and others. Though the governor finds himself largely allied with the Legislature on broad progressive priorities, there are areas of disagreement, small and large, and details to be worked out on a host of complicated policies.
Now that Cuomo has framed the discussion with his policy and budget plans, the Legislature is fast at work passing bills and others around the state are pushing their agendas, here are ten of the outstanding questions for the upcoming Legislative session and budget:
1. Will the state stick to a 2% cap in spending increases?
Cuomo is fond of touting his administration’s fiscal discipline and his self-imposed 2 percent cap on increased spending each year. But it’s become a tradition for him to use maneuvers that move spending off the state budget to help mask the actual uptick in spending.
“One of the things that we noticed was that the governor again purports that this keeps state spending at 2 percent,” said Dave Friedfel, director of state studies at Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan watchdog, said of the governor’s executive budget plan, “and it looks like it’s closer to 3 percent. It’s probably a touch more, based on some quick adjustments that we could see right away where money was moved out of state operating spending in a budget year but not in the current year for the calculation.”
2. Will the state put away more money in reserves?
The state would have just $2.3 billion in rainy day funds based on Cuomo’s budget, a pittance compared to the $175 billion in planned spending and an amount that would be insufficient for the state to survive an economic downturn if one should occur without major spending cuts and/or tax increases. The state, and the country at large, is reaching the tail end of the second-longest economic expansion in history and most experts say it will not last too much longer.
“The tide will turn eventually,” Friedfel said. “It’s a matter of how severe that recession is going to be. So we were hoping to see more deposits to the state’s rainy day funds.” Friedfel praised the governor’s proposal to put $500 million more into reserves over the current and upcoming fiscal years but said it wouldn’t be strong enough. “In the absolute best case scenario, [based on] the last three recessions, you could expect to see a revenue shortfall of $20 billion over four years and right now the state’s rainy day fund, even with the governor’s deposit is gonna have $2.3 billion,” he said.
Experts like Friedfel have pointed to California, a similarly high-tax and high-spending state, as a model to follow since that state has put away nearly 10 percent of its operating budget into reserves -- the California rainy day fund is expected to reach $15.3 billion by next year.
3. What will congestion pricing look like?
Cuomo has embraced congestion pricing -- tolling traffic into the Manhattan business district south of 60th Street -- as a crucial method to fund the MTA (and help reduce traffic). At his State of the State, he said the proposal could bring in as much as $15 billion over ten years. But he gave few details of what he believes the program should look like and his budget similarly does not outline exact tolls or methodology.
For elected officials in New York City and its suburbs, congestion pricing is far from a settled idea (there is also concern upstate about transportation funding). New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has repeatedly emphasized that he would prefer a millionaire’s tax to fund the MTA, and has hemmed and hawed about an ideal congestion pricing plan, while lawmakers in outer boroughs have raised concerns that the program will hurt the pockets of their constituents. However, support for congestion pricing has grown significantly over the last few years, and Cuomo appears committed to passing some version of the program.
Still, there are many questions to answer as a scheme is crafted.
“But I think the bigger question too is, the city runs the roads and bridges that will generate this revenue, so how much of the money will go back to maintaining these roads and bridges?,” said Nicole Gelinas, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a think tank. “That’s something the city really has a stake in. You wouldn’t want to see the city having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to rehabilitate these bridges every few decades and then they’re generating money that only goes to the MTA.”
The governor's proposal, as Gelinas pointed out in a column for the New York Post, would give the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, which falls under the MTA, the ability to take over city streets, sidewalks, roads, bridges and tunnels to build the infrastructure to implement congestion pricing. In effect, it would put city infrastructure under the control of the state which could potentially, Gelinas warned, use that power to demolish bike lanes and pedestrian-friendly spaces and create more space for cars. "This would be a huge deal even if the state were offering something in return: a bigger say over how the MTA spends our money," she wrote. "Instead, Cuomo has said that he’d like more control over the MTA. More money from the city — and more dominance over its future."
4. Will the governor and Legislature force New York City to split MTA costs with the state?
The governor has suggested that any shortfalls in capital funding for the MTA, after congestion pricing revenues are accounted for, should be split 50-50 between the city and state. He dubiously argued in his speech, as he has before, that he doesn’t control the MTA and that the city is legally responsible for funding subway and bus system capital needs. “And it is worth splitting the cost with New York City, to make the investment we should've made for decades to keep that transportation system vital,” he said, indicating that he could leave it entirely to the city.
Mayor de Blasio disagreed with the governor’s contention, and pushed back against his suggestion that the city had funded the majority of capital plans in past decades. But the mayor may have no choice in the matter if the governor and Legislature force his hand through law, as they did last year in compelling the city to fund half of the $836 million Subway Action Plan put into motion to arrest the rapid decline of subway service over the last few years.
“On the MTA, it’s going to be very difficult negotiations to start off from here,” said Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute. “It’s hard to see the city going along with having to pay a much bigger portion of the MTA capital budget without having some kind of greater say in what happens at the MTA. The governor seems to want to go in the opposite direction with giving the state a bigger say, although it’s not really clear.”
In the weeks since the speech, Cuomo has repeatedly criticized the very management that he has appointed at the MTA while arguing that it should be restructured to give him more control, though he effectively already has near-absolute power over it.
“I think it’s a little disturbing that he would tie the rest of the existing [2015-2019] capital plan money for the MTA to all of this reform because that’s money that was already promised,” Gelinas added. “They’re already bidding out contracts based on that money. If you’re gonna say that $7.3 billion won’t be available unless we completely restructure the MTA, not only then do you have to worry about the future capital budget but now he’s sort of creating a big hole in the current MTA capital budget...It would be really hard to conceive of an MTA where the city, the suburbs, they’re still providing this money...but they don’t have say over the major capital projects that the MTA embarks on.”
5. What will Cuomo’s new education funding formula look like?
Cuomo proposed $1 billion in increased education funding overall, about $1.1 billion less than what the state Board of Regents recommended. In a series of slides during his speech, Cuomo pointed to education funding disparities across the state stemming from the current “Foundation Aid” formula, also known as Fair Student Funding, and how local districts distribute it to their schools, insisting that more money was being funnelled to richer schools in the poorest districts. His argument formed the basis for his “Education Equity” proposal, which would require school districts to dedicate a significant amount of foundation aid money to the poorest schools.
De Blasio was among those to quickly critique the governor’s proposal, insisting that in New York City at least, funding had been sent where it was needed, despite figures Cuomo had for the first time presented during his speech. The mayor, and education advocates and elected officials, have repeatedly urged Cuomo to fully fund the state Court of Appeals’ Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) decision that first led to the creation of foundation aid -- a decision Cuomo insists is no longer relevant, with a commitment he says has already been met -- which would require billions more in funding, which Cuomo has refused to provide.
Rather, the governor’s budget briefing book took pains to argue that CFE has no relation to foundation aid. But he did not outline what his new proposal would entail, instead leaving it up to the state Department of Education to hammer out a plan.
6. Will Cuomo leverage mayoral control of city schools to get concessions from de Blasio?
Cuomo’s budget book noted his support for extending mayoral control of New York CIty schools by three years, a position he has taken in the past as well. But in the past, the governor -- and Republicans who controlled the state Senate earlier -- used mayoral control as a form of leverage over de Blasio, who is more closely allied with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and the teachers unions, attempting to enact concessions including an expansion of a charter school cap.
Cuomo did not mention charter schools in his speech and his budget briefing book has only a small section dedicated to them, but he has been friendly to the sector in the past, and charter school donors have been generous to his campaigns. It’s not clear yet whether Cuomo will pursue increasing the statutory cap, which is close to being reached, especially since Republicans who favor the charter sector no longer have clout in Albany. There are some Democratic legislators who are supportive of charters, but it is unclear how loud those voices will be in their conferences, and whether Cuomo will put any political capital into another expansion of charters’ ability to grow.
And if it isn’t charter schools, it’s unclear what, if anything, Cuomo may try to trade for extending mayoral control.
7. What will marijuana regulation look like?
This is one particularly burning question that has more answers than the others. Cuomo proposed a regulated program to legalize adult recreational marijuana use and raise $300 million in revenue annually, though it allows counties and municipalities to opt out. His budget puts forward the Cannabis Regulation and Taxation Act, which would impose three taxes on the cultivation and sale of marijuana for recreational use. He has also insisted that regulation must be accompanied by decriminalization for those already convicted on marijuana-related arrests and set a legal use age of 21.
But as legislators negotiate what Cuomo has outlined, questions remain about where the marijuana revenue will go and what the new regulation will look like in practice, particularly for businesses, among other details to be decided. The governor is a more recent convert to the cause of legalization and he has heeded the advice of advocates and other elected officials who have long supported legalization and have insisted it should come with benefits for the communities that have been most adversely impacted by marijuana enforcement.
“Now we just have to put it in place, and we have to do it in a way that creates an economic opportunity for poor communities and people who paid the price, and not for rich corporations that are going to come in to make a buck,” Cuomo said in his speech.
New York City is expected to comprise a majority of the state’s marijuana market and de Blasio, who was until recently opposed to legalization himself, also warned against the “corporate takeover of the marijuana industry.” Speaking at a news conference in Albany after the governor’s speech, he said, “[T]his should be a community-based form of business, a small business focus, and a focus on those who are economically harmed by the previous policies.”
8. Will Cuomo’s ‘Green New Deal’ have legislative backing?
Cuomo proposed a “Green New Deal” to increase New York State’s investment in renewable energy and reach 100 percent clean energy by 2040. It was a sweeping declaration from the governor, who has long faced criticism from activists that his environmental record has not been strong enough. At the same time, Cuomo failed to mention the Climate and Community Protection Act, a bill that seeks to accomplish similar goals but has not moved in the state Legislature, though it may this year.
It’s unclear what compromise might look like, or whether the Legislature will force Cuomo’s hand -- the proposals have differing timelines for achieving certain milestones, among other differences, and advocates say the governor’s ideas don’t go far enough. With legislative action, the proposed environmental regulations would also have the strength of law rather than being enacted administratively and being vulnerable to cuts in the future. Senator Todd Kaminsky has indicated that he will continue to pursue the CCPA, potentially setting up a clash between the governor and lawmakers.
9. Will the Legislature advance the New York Health Act for single-payer health care?
While running for reelection, the governor was ardent that he supports a single-payer health care program, the likes of which would be established by the proposed New York Health Act -- but he has repeatedly said it should be mandated and funded by the federal government rather than the state. New York would have to increase overall state government revenue by $139 billion by 2022 to pay for the program, according to a RAND Corporation study. It would provide health coverage to all New Yorkers -- they wouldn’t have to purchase insurance or receive it from employers -- and patients would not have to pay deductibles, co-payments or out-of-pocket costs. The study estimates that total health care spending in this case would be similar to what current levels are expected to be in 2022, and would be about 3 percent lower by 3031, “with the ten-year cumulative net savings being about $80 billion, or 2 percent.”
The bill -- which its sponsors say will be altered in a new version soon to be introduced -- has passed the Assembly but not the Senate, though both houses are now under Democratic control. Still, legislative leaders have not listed the New York Health Act as a top priority for this year. Several Democratic state lawmakers successfully flipped seats last year on platforms that included support for the New York Health Act, and some legislators, especially the lead sponsors, Assemblymember Richard Gottfried and Senator Gustavo Rivera, are expected to continue pursuing it, which could create a significant fissure both within the Legislature and with the governor’s office.
“It was clear in the country and New York that healthcare was the number one issue on voters’ minds,” Gottfried, chair of the Assembly Health Committee, said in an interview with Gotham Gazette right after the November election. “A solid majority of the new state Senate has either been a cosigner, voted for it in the Assembly, or campaigned on it. So I think we’re on track to get it passed in the Assembly and state Senate.”
10. Will the Legislature fully close the LLC loophole and pass stronger ethics reforms and a public campaign finance system?
The state Legislature passed several ethics and campaign finance reforms within the first few days of the new session, including severely limiting donations that can be made by Limited Liability Companies and requiring increased disclosure of the ownership of those firms. But that measure did not completely close the so-called ‘LLC loophole,’ which has allowed untold amounts of money to flow into state elections from moneyed interests and has drawn the ire of good government advocacy groups.
Cuomo, the biggest beneficiary of LLC donations of any elected official in the state, has said he wants to close the loophole entirely, a pledge he reiterated at his State of the State while also calling for a ban on corporate contributions to political candidate campaigns -- under the new law passed by the Legislature, LLCs, like corporations, can donate a maximum of $5,000. The Legislature is expected to take up further campaign finance reforms as well, which could mean that LLC and corporate donations may soon become a thing of the past, while a state public campaign finance system could be put into motion.
Cuomo has also proposed a broader agenda of reform that includes curtailing contribution limits across the board, a proposal that could meet with some resistance, and expanding the state’s Freedom of Information Law to cover the Legislature, to which lawmakers have been strictly opposed, among a variety of other reform measures.
[READ: Cuomo's 2019 Agenda of Election, Campaign Finance and Government Ethics Reforms]
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette
New York City Hall
What to watch for this week in New York politics:
This week the fast pace of action early in the new Albany legislative session will continue, as Democrats now in control of both houses and the governor's office move ahead with more of their policy agenda. This week's highlights will include the Child Victims Act and several gun control bills. See below for more.
In New York City, it's the 2019 "City Hall in Your Borough" week in the Bronx. Mayor Bill de Blasio and his administration will focus on the Bronx all week, including several events and announcements. Monday night will see a citywide event, though, in the HOPE count, the annual federally-mandated count of people living on the streets. The city conducts the count utilizing a wide network of employees and volunteers.
And there may be news this final week of January (Friday is February 1) regarding the city and federal authorities coming to an agreement about next steps with relation to running NYCHA; there is a previously set deadline of Thursday for a new agreement before a federal judge who declined to accept a prior deal reached by the city and federal officials. That deadline may get pushed back due to the partial federal government shutdown that is now over, given that top officials involved were not technically working over the past several weeks.
It's another busy week at the City Council, including the second hearing on the deal to bring Amazon to Queens. See the full rundown below.
And there are many other events to be aware of - see our day-by-day rundown below.
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The run of the week in detail:
Monday
This week, the de Blasio administration will be in the Bronx for the latest installment of “City Hall In Your Borough.” At 11 a.m. Mayor de Blasio "will make an announcement regarding New York City's lead prevention" at NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx. That is the mayor's only public event scheduled for Monday as of Sunday evening, but members and departments of his administration have a variety of other Bronx-focused events. "On Monday, First Lady Chirlane McCray will visit a Mental Health First Aid Training in the Bronx. This event is closed press. In the evening, First Lady Chirlane McCray will join author Nana-Ama Danquah for the Gracie Mansion Book Club to discuss her book “Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Depression” at Barnard College."
At the City Council on Monday:
--The Committee on For-Hire Vehicles will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss proposed laws to require for-hire vehicles to have panic buttons for both drivers and passengers, as well as a law to establish a minimum base rate for “trips dispatched by high-volume services in the congestion zone.”
--The Committee on Environmental Protection will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss several proposed laws related to green roofs, as well as a law to obligate the Buildings Department to include wind energy as part of its renewable strategy and authorize the installation of large wind turbines. The committee will also discuss a resolution to “increase the real property tax abatement for the installation of a green roof to $15 per square foot.”
--The Committee on Immigration will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “city services and supports for immigrants with Temporary Protected Status.”
The State Legislature will be in session on Monday in Albany, and both Democratically-controlled houses are expected to continue passing bills that were held up in past years by opposition from Republicans who controlled the state Senate. Monday’s slate includes the Child Victims Act.
At 10:30 a.m. in Albany, “Senator Brad Hoylman (D/WF-Manhattan), Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, survivors, and advocates will be holding a press conference to celebrate the passage of the historic Child Victims Act.”
At 11 a.m. Monday, the State Legislature will hold a joint budget hearing on higher education.
At 10 a.m. Monday, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will be a guest on 'Reaching Out with Gregory Floyd' on AM 970 The Answer. At 11 a.m. Hochul will deliver remarks and make an announcement at Staten Island Borough President James Oddo's Data Strategy to Fight Opioid Epidemic. And at 7 p.m. Hochul will deliver remarks at NYSAC Taste of NY Reception in Albany.
At 1 p.m. Monday, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will speak at the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) annual legislative conference, at the Desmond Hotel in Albany.
At 4 p.m. Monday in the Bronx, Acting Public Advocate and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson will launch a "Five-Borough Bus Survey" with Riders Alliance, Straphangers Campaign and Tri-State Transportation Campaign, at Fordham Road and 3rd Avenue.
At 6:30 p.m. Monday, the Brooklyn Historical Society will host “Petty Crimes and Petty Laws: A Hard Look at the Broken Misdemeanor System.” New York Times reporter Ali Winston will moderate a panel consisting of author Alexandra Natapoff, Brooklyn Community Bail Fund executive director Peter Goldberg, and Vocal-NY community leader Darryl Herring, discussing “the predatory nature of our inflated misdemeanor and bail systems, which too often target the low-income and communities of color.”
From 10 p.m. Monday until 4 a.m. Tuesday, the Department of Homeless Services will be conducting its annual Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (also known as the HOPE count), estimating the number of unsheltered homeless people in the city. DHS “is asking New Yorkers to volunteer...to assist the Agency and community partners in estimating the number of unsheltered individuals on the streets, in parks, subways, and other public spaces across the city.” Elected officials around the city often participate in the HOPE count in some way, from rallying volunteers before they head out to taking part in the counting themselves. Speaker Corey Johnson is among those who will participate.
Tuesday
Tuesday will mark four weeks until the February 26 special election for Public Advocate. On Tuesday the Board of Elections will meet starting at 1:30 p.m. to decide on the ballot challenges that have been filed against certain candidates and to finalize who will be on the ballot.
The State Legislature will be in session on Tuesday in Albany. It will be the second and final day of legislative session this week, with both houses expected to continue to pass bills, including gun control measures like extending the background check wait period from three to ten days, a ban on bump stocks, and a "red flag" bill that would allow a judge to order guns removed from the home of individuals flagged as a risk to themselves or others.
Also in Albany Tuesday:
--At 9:30 a.m., the State Legislature will hold a joint budget hearing on public protection.
--At 10:30 a.m., the Joint Commission on Public Ethics will hold a commissioners meeting.
At 10 a.m. Tuesday, Mayor de Blasio and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. will host a city resource fair at the Latino Pastoral Action Center in Mount Eden, Bronx.
At the City Council on Tuesday:
--The Committee on Criminal Justice will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding the criminal grievance process, as well as to discuss proposed laws requiring a survey and report on the process, to make it more efficient, and for the city to process 311 complaints by incarcerated individuals as formal grievances in a timely manner.
--The Committee on Housing and Buildings will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss proposed laws related to a count of the city’s housing stock, as well as reporting requirements on vacant and foreclosed property.
--The Committee on State and Federal Legislation will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing on the economic impact of the federal government shutdown on the city.
--The Committee on Contracts will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding the “roll-out of the Procurement and Sourcing Solutions Portal (PASSPort).”
--The Committee on Sanitation will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss proposed laws related to worker protection in the private carting industry. The bills would require the Business Integrity Commission (BIC) to “establish standards” for unions in the industry to combat unauthorized unions, for the BIC to provide information on workers’ rights, and for the BIC to refer wage and labor violations in the industry to the New York Attorney General, U.S. Department of Labor, and “other relevant city, state, or federal law enforcement agencies.”
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, the New York City Bar Association will host Maria Vullo, Superintendent of the State Department of Financial Services to discuss “the state of the New York insurance industry, her accomplishments in the past year and during her administration, areas of regulatory concern, and future challenges.”
At noon Tuesday, City Council Members, members of the Teamsters Local 813, private sanitation workers, and advocates will gather at the City Hall steps in support of legislation to eliminate “sham unions.” “Private sanitation workers will also be present to speak about their experiences with worker exploitation and illegitimate union representation.”
At 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, Riders Alliance will rally in Flushing to call on local elected officials to fix the subway.
At 6 p.m. Tuesday, the New York Housing Conference will host Joseph Salvo, Director of the Department of City Planning’s Population Division, to discuss the stakes of the 2020 Census. The event will take place at LMHQ in the Financial District.
Wednesday
At 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, the State Legislature will hold a joint budget hearing on transportation.
At the City Council on Wednesday:
--The Committee on Finance will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing on Amazon HQ2, the Council’s second, discussing whether the deal delivers for city residents.
--The Committee on Small Business will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding the restaurant industry in the city.
--The Committee on Health will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding potentially banning flavored e-cigarettes and vapes, and to discuss proposed laws that would ban them.
--The Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions, and Concessions will meet at 1 p.m.
At 5 p.m. Wednesday, this week’s Max & Murphy show will air on WBAI, 99.5FM and wbai.org, and will include the next set of interviews with candidates for Public Advocate. (Find past episodes here, including interviews with seven of the candidates in the special election.)
At 6 p.m. Wednesday, the New York City Panel for Educational Policy will meet at Murry Bergtraum HIgh School in Chinatown.
At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, NYU’s Urban Democracy Lab will host “Navigating the City/State Divide: What’s Next for Progressive Elected Officials?” at NYU’s Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts. Professor and author Richard Schragger will moderate a panel of elected officials and candidates discussing how “progressive urban leaders” can pursue change in the realm of municipal politics. Panelists will consist of City Council Member and Public Advocate candidate Jumaane Williams, professor and former Attorney General candidate Zephyr Teachout, City Council Member Carlos Menchaca, and State Senator Zellnor Myrie.
Thursday
At the City Council on Thursday:
--The Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will meet at 9:30 a.m.
--The Subcommittee on Landmarks will meet at noon.
--The Committee on Governmental Operations will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss proposed laws relating to administrative trials for taxi drivers, as well as to fold the “Critical Driver Program” into the “Persistent Violators Program.”
At 8 a.m. Thursday, a new Quinnipiac poll on the 2020 Census will be unveiled at an Association for a Better New York event at the New York Public Library Main Branch. Officials involved in organizing the census will speak after the unveiling with reactions. Speakers include Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Census Director for New York City Julie Menin, and Chief Demographer at the Department of City Planning Joe Salvo.
At 10 a.m. Thursday, SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson will deliver her 2019 State of the University System address at the Albany Capital Center.
At 11 a.m. Thursday, the New York City Bar Association will host a panel discussion on the New York Health Act, the proposed single-payer health care program for New York State. Panelists will include Assemblymember Richard Gottfried, SUNY Albany professor Ashley Fox, Oliver Thomas Fein of Cornell Medicine, Eric Linzer of the New York Health Plan Association, and Bill Hammond of the Empire Center.
At 6 p.m. Thursday, the 2019 Charter Revision Commission will meet at the Council Chambers in City Hall.
At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, U.S. Representative and House Democratic Caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries will deliver his State of the District address at Brooklyn Tech H.S.
At 6:45 Thursday, Community Preservation Coalition Queens will hold a town hall meeting at the Kew Gardens Community Center to hear testimony in opposition to a new jail the city plans to build in Queens.
At 7 p.m. Thursday, City Council Member Costa Constantinides will deliver his State of the District address at PS 2 in East Elmhurst.
Friday and the weekend
At 10 a.m. Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio may make his weekly appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show.
At 3 p.m. Saturday, State Senator James Sanders will host a debate on the the potential legalization of marijuana in the state and its impact on his district, including “possible abuse and addiction,” taxation, small business owners “having a hand in the market,” and expunging records. The event will take place at Roy Wilkins Park’s Black Spectrum Theatre in Jamaica.
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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