| | | | |  | | By Bill Mahoney | Presented by Philip Morris International | With help from Irie Sentner
| 
The phrase “e pluribus unum” is not included in any of the scores of representations of New York’s coat of arms that appear on the rugs. | Bill Mahoney/POLITICO | | In the months before legislators returned to Albany, the Senate installed new carpets around the Democratic and Republican leadership offices in the Capitol. The blue and yellow designs are an aesthetic upgrade over the faded maroon senators have trod on for decades. Yet they clearly run afoul of the spirit of a sacrosanct section of state law: The phrase “e pluribus unum” is not included in any of the scores of representations of New York’s coat of arms that appear on the rugs. Well, maybe “sacrosanct” isn’t the best word for a law that has been variously described as “ridiculous” and “unhinged” and “very personality-driven.” That personality was Andrew Cuomo’s. The ex-governor loved little more than shouting the Latin phrase for “out of many, one” during the crescendo of his speeches, doing so at least 57 times in his final six years in office, Playbook’s review of his addresses found. During his tenure, the phrase was emblazoned on any public building from East Harlem to Buffalo with a few feet of wall space to spare. Cuomo included language in the budget that was finalized in March 2020 that added the phrase to the more familiar “Excelsior” in the state’s coat of arms and flag. With New York as the hotbed of a global pandemic, legislators didn’t dedicate much energy to forcing it out of the final spending plan. “Members are not going to go and sink a budget just because the prior governor wanted to include a secondary motto,” Assemblymember Michaelle Solages, a Long Island Democrat, recalled. Sen. James Skoufis has described the change as going against “the science of heraldry.” And indeed, the experts on this arcane science have concluded the design of coats of arms should be semi-permanent, only adjusted in extraordinary circumstances such as the commencement of a religious crusade. The change has been slow to catch on, with official printings from government entities in recent years just as likely to use the old design as the new one. About 80 percent of the New York flags currently available on Amazon still use the pre-Cuomo style. “It’s just creating confusion,” Solages said. “Millions of New Yorkers have a flag right now that currently says ‘Excelsior.’ Let’s just stay true to what we have; it’s a great motto.” She and Skoufis sponsor a bill that would restore the seal and flag to their old designs. That made its way into the Senate’s budget proposal last year. And while it eventually fell out, it might be poised for a comeback in the coming weeks. It seems to be the case that the dated design on the new rugs came about simply because carpet designers weren’t aware of obscure sections of a budget approved four years ago. But, Skoufis noted, the design wound up being “a reflection of our one-house budget last year. I think we should be upholding the long-standing tradition of our previous state flag.” Cuomo’s team is still a fan of the new design. “The seal has had several tweaks during the Empire State’s great history and at a time of great division that frankly has only gotten more intense. Adding ‘e pluribus unum’ to it, which the Legislature overwhelmingly voted for, was a powerful symbol,” said Cuomo spokesperson, Rich Azzopardi. Then he added about his public affairs firm: “Bulldog Strategies offers many services, but unfortunately industrial carpet consultations are not among them.”
| | | | A message from Philip Morris International: At PMI, we are working to replace cigarettes with smoke-free alternatives. These products, such as ZYN nicotine pouches, are a better choice than continuing to smoke. We believe that by working together, we can look forward to a future without cigarettes—one in which we continue to guard against underage access AND provide accurate information about products that help adults 21+ move away from cigarettes for good. Watch the video and learn more. | | | |  | From the Capitol | | | 
Lawmakers were joined by anti-fracking advocates including actor Mark Ruffalo at a virtual press conference on Friday. | Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP | LAWMAKERS WANT TO STAMP OUT GAS DRILLING PLAN: Democratic lawmakers want to move quickly to pass a measure to ban gas extraction using carbon dioxide, including pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul to include it in the budget. Lawmakers were joined by anti-fracking advocates including actor Mark Ruffalo at a virtual press conference today. They’re responding to a proposal from Southern Tier Solutions, whose Texas-based president has experience in the oil and gas industry, to use carbon dioxide instead of a massive amount of water to extract methane from the Marcellus shale. The company’s pitch involves drilling thousands of wells, using the methane to fuel power plants, capturing the carbon dioxide from those plants and injecting it into the ground to extract more gas and eventually store the carbon to secure federal tax credits. “It is unfortunate that governing bodies act without any basic understanding of the process they are trying to ban,” said Bryce Phillips, Southern Tier’s president. “These senseless actions only put thousands of high paying jobs and the energy security of New York at risk. In the end the landowners of the Southern Tier suffer the consequences.” Hochul hasn’t taken a stance on the proposal. “Governor Hochul will review all legislation that passes both houses of the Legislature,” spokesperson Katy Zielinski said in response to a question about whether Hochul supported a ban. While lawmakers said they thought the state’s climate law likely prohibited the plan anyway, they don’t want the Department of Environmental Conservation to waste time vetting the proposal. “Honestly, you can't blame this group for trying. We know the Marcellus and Utica Shale is full of natural gas and so I think the ingenuity is interesting, but we aim to just nip this in the bud,” said Assemblymember Donna Lupardo, a Democrat from Binghamton. Sen. Liz Krueger also said she was open to evaluating a ban on all gas drilling in New York but that the fix to address this proposal was more straightforward — adding a few words to the legislative ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing using water. — Marie J. French PRISON SENTENCING REFORM: State Sen. Myrie Zellnor and Assemblymember Danny O’Donnell have a bill titled the “Youth Justice and Opportunities Act” (S. 5749A/A. 3536A), which would create a new youth offenders status for individuals aged 19 to 25. The bill is designed to reflect the “21st century understanding of the adolescent brain and criminal culpability,” according to a memo from the bill’s sponsors. It would also provide alternatives to incarceration. It would create a new first offender status for individuals 22 or older at the time of the alleged offense. Zellnor and O’Donnell, along with state Sen. Cordell Cleare and Assemblymembers Khaleel Anderson and Brian Cunningham, as well as youth justice advocates and young people are holding a rally Tuesday in the Capitol to urge lawmakers to pass the bill. — Shawn Ness
| | | | A message from Philip Morris International:   | | | | | FROM CITY HALL | | |  The city’s permanent outdoor dining program is set to start in March, years after the COVID-19 pandemic pushed restaurant owners to set up loosely-regulated outdoor sheds . | Getty Images | DINING OUT NYC: Mayor Eric Adams released guidelines today for the city’s permanent outdoor dining program, set to start in March, years after the Covid-19 pandemic pushed restaurant owners to set up loosely-regulated outdoor sheds that have since transformed the city’s streets. The final rules for the program, dubbed “Dining Out NYC,” include requirements for design, location and materials in order to “create a lighter-weight outdoor dining experience with lines of sight, as compared to the fully-enclosed shacks of the temporary, COVID-19-era program.” Dining on sidewalks will be allowed year around, and dining on streets will be permitted between April 1 and Nov. 29. Before the pandemic, outdoor dining was nearly exclusive to Manhattan, and restaurants below 96th Street paid $40 per square foot while those everywhere else in the city paid $30. The new program aims to increase outdoor dining citywide, according to a news release, cutting fees for restaurants in the outer boroughs and above 125th St. by 67 to 80 percent and by 22 to 75 percent for those below 125th St. “As we build the largest outdoor dining program in the country from the ground-up, we must center our efforts in equity to make sure every New Yorker in every borough and every neighborhood has the opportunity to enjoy our city,” Adams said in a statement. — Irie Sentner
| | On The Beats | | | | 
SUNY Downstate, which faces a shortfall of $100 million annually, could receive a large increase in funding from the state’s budget — but that could result in the hospital needing to relocate its services. | Downstate.edu | SUNY DOWNSTATE: A new study from the state Health Department on health inadequacies in Brooklyn found that race, ethnicity, foreign-born status and socioeconomic status are large factors in health-care disparities in the borough. The study found the life expectancy for Black residents is seven years shorter compared to the city’s white residents. The maternal mortality rate is eight times higher for Black mothers compared to white mothers, and two times higher among Hispanic mothers compared to white mothers. Residents that were not born in the United States reported that they were two times as likely to be in poor health than their counterparts, as well as half as likely to receive treatment for mental-health issues. The report comes amid an uncertain future for SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn. The teaching hospital faces a shortfall of $100 million annually. It could receive a large increase in funding from the state budget, but that could also result in the hospital needing to relocate its services, as POLITICO reported. The study also found that Brooklyn and Downstate have the highest hospital bed occupancy, but the lowest quality of care. SUNY Downstate also predominantly serves the two of the main focus areas of the study: Black and foreign-born residents. “The report highlights how people increasingly leave Brooklyn to seek hospital care elsewhere — including over half of commercially-insured patients and one in three Brooklynites overall. Closing SUNY-Downstate without a real plan will only exacerbate that trend,” State Sen. Myrie Zellnor, a Brooklyn Democrat, said in a statement. “Proposing to close Downstate without a 'community-driven effort'— which is specifically called for in this report— is a slap in the face to my constituents.” — Shawn Ness SHARE YOUR STORY: Hochul announced the “Share Your Story” project, which invites members of the public to talk about their experiences at New York parks and historic sites. The campaign will run throughout 2024 to celebrate the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation’s Centennial. “For 100 years, New Yorkers have visited state parks and historic sites to make memories, to learn and explore and to have fun. This project is a chance to come together to reflect on those memories, listen to each other’s stories, and celebrate one of New York State’s most significant environmental and cultural legacies,” Hochul said in a statement. State parks have developed several methods for New Yorkers to share their photos and videos of their time there, like #NYStateParksStory, a Share Your Story webpage and 500-word text submissions. Employees from different parks and historical sites are also encouraged to share their stories in a video series. NY State parks will be posting submissions on their social media accounts @nystateparks. — Shawn Ness
| | | | A message from Philip Morris International: At PMI, we are working to replace cigarettes with smoke-free alternatives. These products, such as ZYN nicotine pouches, are a better choice than continuing to smoke. These products are highly regulated, and government data has shown that usage levels are actually extremely low among youth.
We believe that by working together, we can look forward to a future without cigarettes—one in which we continue to guard against underage access AND provide accurate information about products that help adults 21+ move away from cigarettes for good.
Watch the video about ZYN nicotine pouches from Dr. Moira Gilchrist, Chief Communications Officer at Philip Morris International. | | | | | | | 
House Speaker Mike Johnson visits Nassau County on Feb. 2, 2024 to rally with GOP special election candidate Mazi Pilip and Long Island Republicans. | Team Johnson | SPEAKER ON THE STUMP: House Speaker Mike Johnson paid a visit Friday to Nassau County to boost GOP special election candidate Mazi Pilip, rallying support a day before early voting begins in the high-stakes race. Johnson met with Pilip, a Nassau County legislator, as well as Long Island Republican Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino and county GOP chairman Joe Cairo. Former Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) was also in attendance. The fundraiser and rally come in the final stretch of the Feb. 13 contest to replace George Santos. The battleground Long Island seat is crucial to Republicans maintaining their slim majority. Johnson’s leadership PAC contributed $5,000 in December to Pilip’s bid, records show. But Pilip’s Democratic rival, Tom Suozzi, outraised her more than three to one between October and last month, according to recent filings. Suozzi, a former congressman, condemned Johnson on Friday as an extremist. “Mazi Pilip’s closed-door event with Mike Johnson today makes one thing crystal clear: She will go to Washington to do the bidding of her Republican bosses, not the people of Long Island and Northeast Queens,” the Democrat said in a statement. The speaker was in New York in December to fundraise for House Republicans facing tough reelection fights. – Olivia Beavers and Emily Ngo ESPOSITO’S FUNDRAISING: Republican House candidate Alison Esposito is being outraised by her Democratic opponent, Rep. Pat Ryan. But her campaign is confident she’ll be competitive against Ryan in the battleground Hudson Valley seat. “Raising a quarter million dollars as a political outsider in just three months is a testament to Alison's work ethic and shows that support is growing each day. She is working non-stop to ensure we get the necessary resources to make Pat Ryan a former Member of Congress come November,” her campaign said. Esposito this week was endorsed by Winning for Women, an organization that backs conservative women candidates. – Nick Reisman DAIS ENDORSEMENT: The New York League of Conservation Voters on Friday endorsed Democrat Landon Dais for a Bronx Assembly district vacated by Latoya Joyner. “We are thrilled to endorse Landon Dais for State Assembly and we are confident he will be a strong advocate for clean energy, green jobs, and a healthier future, and we urge voters to support him in the special election,” Julie Tighe, the group’s president, said in a statement. The special election to replace Joyner, the former Assembly Labor Committee chair, will be held Feb. 13. – Nick Reisman
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — Relive Bill de Blasio dropping Staten Island Chuck. (POLITICO) — The robot patrolling the Times Square subway station has been taken off the job. (The New York Times) — City officials told migrant families evicted from a Manhattan hotel they’d be able to pick up their belongings, but when they returned, some were missing. (The City) — A bipartisan group of Hudson Valley lawmakers signed on to the federal lawsuit against New York City’s congestion pricing plan. (Times Union) | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
