Have a nice holiday weekend, lawmakers

Mar 28, 2024

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With help from Irie Sentner

New from New York

Happening now:

The budget will be late, and now it’s holiday weekend time.
A push to meet with Gov. Kathy Hochul over housing.
President Joe Biden and Mayor Eric Adams spoke, finally.
Repealing subsidies for new gas hookups?

New York State Capitol

Major issues facing the state, including concerns over housing, crime and education, will be punted into next month without a clear resolution for Gov. Kathy Hochul and her fellow Democrats in the Legislature. | Hans Pennink/AP Photo

State lawmakers departed Albany today without a final budget deal in place — guaranteeing the spending plan will blow past the Sunday deadline for an on-time agreement.

Major issues facing the state, including the politically contentious concerns over housing, crime and education, will be punted into next month without a clear resolution for Gov. Kathy Hochul and her fellow Democrats in the Legislature.

They won’t return to the Capitol until Tuesday — with no end date in sight.

Albany is a deadline-driven place. Missing Tuesday’s deadline to get a budget in place by the start of the fiscal year April 1 could push the budget talks even deeper into April.

And lawmakers acknowledge that a psychology of complacency could set in when they lack a target date after Tuesday and prolong the talks even further.

A week without a budget might be tolerable. But stretching beyond that could create practical problems, including for school districts who must develop their own spending plans in the coming weeks based on what they expect to get from the state.

“If we get into a few weeks or a month, I think it’s a bigger deal and it changes the public’s perception of our ability to get things done in a timely manner,” Republican Assemblymember Ed Ra said.

Partial blame for the late state budget can be laid on the calendar this year. Easter falls a day before the new fiscal year begins.

Hochul had been initially optimistic an agreement — even a handshake deal — could be struck at some point this week. That never materialized.

The Legislature was able to take care of what amounted to essential housekeeping before leaving town.

A stop-gap budget measure funding the state government for the next seven days is in place. The debt service bill, a signal the state can pay its financial obligations to creditors, has been approved.

But the full substance of what can be accomplished in the final budget is still unclear.

Lawmakers and Hochul remain at odds over the governor’s proposal to address the most complex of all: How to expand housing over the next decade.

Approval of a housing package hinges, in part, on real estate interests and labor unions agreeing to a wage deal. Talks earlier this week broke down over the issue.

More broadly, housing policy has been stuck in neutral over the intersecting politics facing the issue. Suburbanites last year rejected Hochul’s effort to compel local governments to build more housing and have their local zoning suspended for qualifying projects.

Hochul has tried a different tact this year.

She wants $500 million of incentives for local governments to build more housing. Democratic lawmakers want to also expand available housing, but are pursuing a package of tenant protections that include measures meant to limit rent hikes and evictions — regulations that developers and landlords remain staunchly opposed to.

Still, top Democrats in the Legislature were optimistic a deal can be reached after two years of stalled efforts.

“Everybody has to come to the table,” Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, said. “Probably everybody has to give a little. But it’s totally bridgeable.”

Lawmakers are anxious to get a housing plan, which has stalled over the last two years in Albany.

But both ends of the spectrum — left-leaning advocates and developers — are at loggerheads over how to reach a compromise. The politically fraught housing concern has been called a Rubik’s Cube by lawmakers.

“Hopefully everyone will come together around a solution, because I think there’s a real will to get a housing package finally,” Deputy Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris told Playbook. — Nick Reisman

A message from New York State Nurses Association:

Tell Albany: Invest in New York Healthcare! More nurses means better care, but New York’s broken healthcare system has created a staffing crisis in hospitals and nursing homes. Tell Albany to listen to the nurses and prioritize: Holding hospitals accountable for safe staffing. Fixing the nurse staffing crisis through education, loan forgiveness, recruitment, and retention programs. Protecting quality care by protecting New York’s nursing practice standards. Fairly funding underserved communities and prohibiting hospital closures of maternity and other essential healthcare services. Visit: www.nysna.org/more-nurses

From the Capitol

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul walks into a room.

Housing Justice for All is urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to pass good cause eviction measures as well as fully fund the Housing Access Voucher Program. | Hans Pennink/AP

HOUSING NEGOTIATIONS: Hochul has been ignoring a meeting request from Housing Justice for All, the state’s largest tenant coalition, the group alleged.

The group said that they have heard nothing but “radio silence.”

The tenant advocacy organization said it reached out March 21 to request a meeting, and then sent a follow-up letter to Hochul on March 26 shortly after Hochul’s spokesperson, Avi Small, said Hochul would be willing to meet with “anyone who is serious about making progress on these critical issues.”

“We are a group of women — mothers, grandmothers, workers, caretakers — who are facing egregious rent hikes, no-cause evictions, and homelessness. We write to request a meeting with you on behalf of the Housing Justice for All Coalition to discuss how you can keep New Yorkers like us in our homes,” the letter said, which was provided to Playbook.

They are urging her to pass good cause eviction measures to further protect tenants, as well as fully fund the Housing Access Voucher Program.

When asked about why the group had not received a response, Small pointed to the same statement he provided City & State and noted that since Hochul took office, she has met with a bunch of housing groups, including Housing Justice for All. — Shawn Ness

FROM CITY HALL

Joe Biden speaks with Eric Adams with other people around them.

President Joe Biden offered his condolences to Mayor Eric Adams, the city and the police department after the line-of-duty death of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller. | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

RECONNECTED: President Joe Biden and Mayor Eric Adams spoke today about the line-of-duty death of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, the once-simpatico Democrats reconnecting briefly after a public falling-out that had stretched on for more than a year.

The president offered his condolences to the mayor, the city and the police department, according to a White House press pool report. Adams is a retired NYPD captain.

“I really appreciated him calling,” Adams told Playbook, but declined to say if they talked about anything else, such as migrant funding.

Diller’s first wake is today on Long Island. Former President Donald Trump also attended the wake.

Biden will be in Manhattan for campaign fundraisers.

The rift between him and Adams widened as the mayor’s rhetoric grew more heated as he decried the federal government’s limited assistance to New York City to help with migrants in its care. — Emily Ngo

A message from New York State Nurses Association:

On the Beats

Con Edison east side facility.

Con Edison circulated a memo urging lawmakers to agree on repealing subsidies for new gas hookups in this year’s budget. | Karen Green

UTILITY BACKS ENDING NEW GAS SUBSIDIES: The state’s largest combined gas and electric utility, Con Edison, is urging lawmakers and Hochul to agree on repealing subsidies for new gas hookups in this year’s budget.

Con Ed circulated a memo to lawmakers this week. The elimination of the “100-foot rule,” which requires all ratepayers to subsidize a portion of the costs for hooking up new gas customers, was included in broader proposals backed by the Senate and the governor. The Assembly has also indicated some openness to ending the subsidies.

“Consideration of the elimination of the 100-foot rule subsidy is a common thread amongst all three budget proposals,” the memo obtained by POLITICO states. “Eliminating the 100-foot rule subsidy will further encourage customers to adopt clean technologies such as heat pumps for their heating and cooling needs, and will reduce investment in a system that needs to reduce its footprint and throughput for the state to achieve its climate goals.”

Con Ed has seen a drop in new gas hookups of 50 percent over 10 years, but the utility is required to provide new service on request, according to the memo. “Con Edison strongly supports the Senate, Assembly and Governor coming together this year to take this major step,” it states.

The utility first publicly backed the elimination of the 100-foot rule in a previous policy comment to lawmakers in March 2023, when the company also broke ranks with other utilities to support a mandate to electrify new buildings. Elimination of the 100-foot rule is just one part of broader measures backed by Senate Democrats and Hochul to expand regulators’ authority to limit the expansion of the gas system and even, eventually, downsize it.

National Fuel, a gas-only utility serving western New York, has opposed the push. National Grid, which serves gas customers downstate and both gas and electric customers upstate, does not oppose repeal of the 100-foot rule, “but we need to make sure it is implemented in an orderly way that prioritizes safety and reliability and preserves customer choice,” said spokesperson Karen Young.

National Grid, however, does oppose legislative changes to allow the removal of existing customers from the gas network. — Marie J. French

BALTIMORE BRIDGE COLLAPSE: Hochul and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy put out a joint statement today regarding the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The two have instructed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to be prepared for an increase in cargo ships.

“The tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has touched every corner of the nation, and we are ready to support Governor Moore and the people of Maryland in any way. We have seen over the past several years that indefinite port closures can impact national and global supply chains, which hurt everyday consumers the hardest,” the two said in the statement.

Hochul and Murphy want to minimize supply-chain disruptions because the bridge collapsed in one of the East Coast’s largest ports.

“Along with our federal partners, we will continue to work together to support our neighbors in Baltimore and consumers nationwide,” the statement said. — Shawn Ness

COMPLETE STREETS: Another year, another attempt to pass the “Complete Streets” bill that has been stalled in the Legislature.

The bill, which passed the Senate this week, would enable safer access to roads by requiring “complete street design principles,” which means that it would allow for safe use by everyone, regardless of mode of transportation.

“A Complete Street provides mobility for people of all ages and abilities, particularly those who are walking, biking, using assistive mobility devices, and riding transit. New York deserves safe and accessible streets in order to foster an even more thriving environment that is livable for everyone, regardless of how one gets around for business or pleasure,” Beth Finkel, the group’s director, said in a statement.

She urged the Assembly — where it is still in the Transportation Committee — to pass the bill this session. — Shawn Ness

BANKS TAKES ON BUREAUCRACY: Schools Chancellor David Banks revealed to reporters today that he’s planning “several more changes” to reorganize the Department of Education’s vast bureaucracy in the wake of a recent shakeup.

Banks declined to share specifics, but maintained that “none of it is personal.” He speaks with local superintendents regularly, he said, to gauge how the agency’s different divisions “show up in your schools” and whether adjustments are necessary.

“I’m not in love with any division,” Banks told reporters at a Q&A session with the media at the Department of Education’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan. “I came here to make sure that we can exact real change in our schools that have maximum impact for kids and families. If that meant clearing everybody out of this building, and not having a central office, that’s what I would do.”

Banks took DOE staffers, educators and advocates by surprise earlier this week when he moved to dissolve the Division of Teaching and Learning, whose portfolio also includes special education and multilingual learners. He cast that decision as part of a larger effort to break apart the DOE’s bureaucracy, which has included giving superintendents more power and money.

Here’s some other updates from Banks and his team:

Summer Rising: The city has received about 139,000 applications for its popular learning and enrichment program.
Budget Watch: The chancellor — who previously said he’s “fighting like heck” to undo cuts to the city’s preschool program — is planning to “wait and see” the outcome of budget negotiations (The mayor isn’t committing yet). — Madina Touré

LABOR AGREEMENT: Hochul announced today a three-year agreement with NYSCOPBA that will cover over 17,000 state employees.

The deal will extend the contracts for corrections officers, corrections sergeants and hospital treatment assistants at prisons across New York.

“This labor agreement will help to ensure that the brave members of the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association are fairly compensated for their tremendous contributions to our state,” Hochul said in a statement.

Seventy-three percent of NYSCOPBA members have cast favorable ballots for the agreement. The contract will provide annual raises, lump sum bonuses and up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave. — Shawn Ness

A message from New York State Nurses Association:

Tell Albany: Invest in New York Healthcare!
When it comes to patient safety, Albany should listen to nurses – the heroes who got us through the COVID-19 pandemic.
More nurses at the bedside means better care. But New York’s broken healthcare system has created a staffing crisis. From emergency rooms to critical care units, many hospitals are failing to staff enough nurses to provide quality care. Despite a safe-staffing law meant to protect New York patients, some hospitals are understaffing their units over 90% of the time. New York patients deserve better.

Tell Albany to invest in New York healthcare and:

Hold hospitals accountable for safe staffing.
Fix the nurse staffing crisis through education, loan forgiveness, recruitment, and retention programs.
Protect quality care by safeguarding New Yorkâ€™s nursing practice standards.
Fairly fund underserved communities and prohibit hospital closures of maternity and other essential healthcare services.

Visit: www.nysna.org/more-nurses

AROUND NEW YORK

— The staircase to the New York State Capitol has taken a decade to repair. (The New York Times)

— The state’s prisons are going into lockdown for the eclipse. (Hellgate NYC)

— The New York Archdiocese is fighting with insurance companies that are trying to dodge having to pay settlements to child sex abuse victims. (Times Union)

— A Manhattan federal judge sentenced Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison for orchestrating a massive fraud centered on his crypto empire. (POLITICO)

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