| | | | |  | | By Jason Beeferman | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Irie Sentner
| | Happening now:
- Back in the 518: State lawmakers returned for the remainder of the legislative session. And they had a fun time away.
- Attorney General Tish James is suing anti-abortion groups. Here’s why.
- Lee Zeldin was in Albany today and expressed opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment.
- CUNY’s union wants charges dropped against pro-Palestinian protesters.
| 
State Sen. James Sanders' plunge into the Rockaway Beach waters was just one of the ways state lawmakers spent their time away from Albany. | James Sanders | WELCOME BACK! Lawmakers returned to the state Capitol today after passing a three-week late budget on April 20 and taking a two-week break. Now they’ve crawled back to Albany, looking to finish up session June 6. What did they do with their time off? State Sen. Julia Salazar was basking in the sun reading about the Green New Deal from Brooklyn’s Highland Park. State Sen. Jamaal Bailey was at home with his family and newborn son watching the Knicks “reign victorious.” Assemblymember Harvey Epstein ate a LOT of Matzah. State Sen. James Sanders took a plunge in Rockaway Beach’s frigid waters to raise awareness for climate change. State Sen. Andrew Gounardes went swimming in the Caribbean with his family. Assemblymember Matthew Simpson moved from Horicon into a Lake George townhouse. Assemblymember Pat Fahy was working non-stop and dusting off some old bills. State Sen. Lea Webb was celebrating Earth Month. State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal was visiting his in-laws in South Beach and building sand castles with his daughter. Assemblymember Donna Lupardo hemmed a pair of pants. And Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins was working hard while attending an artificial intelligence conference, talking to constituents and simply not getting as much sun as she would have liked. “I'm looking forward to the next few weeks where all the action is going to happen,” Stewart-Cousins said as she left the Legislative Office Building, heading toward the Capitol. The leader also gave Playbook an inside peek into her thinking as she heads into the last leg of the legislative session. “We are going to try and do the things that we know will benefit our constituents, benefit New York and New Yorkers, and we're going to do it within the timeframe that has been laid out on the calendar,” she said. “I always say, ‘Trust the shaded boxes.’” With only 17 days of session left, lawmakers are hoping to push through some big-ticket items. Among them are efforts to restrict the social media’s effect on children, climate change proposals in the NY HEAT Act and a fight to legalize medical aid in dying. Changing social media laws will be on the agenda: “We're all understanding the importance of trying to get something done in that space and we'll be working towards doing that,” Stewart-Cousins said. Assemblymember Pat Fahy is focused on passing short-term rental regulations, more higher education bills and the NY HEAT Act. “There's 11,000 bills in play every two years,” Fahy said. “This is when all of those have to squeeze through the chute. And we are lucky if it's in the high hundreds that make it through.” — Jason Beeferman
| | | | A message from New Yorkers for Local Businesses: New York’s small businesses are struggling. Rising costs, a weak recovery, population loss and bad policies in Albany are making running a business impossible. Now, state lawmakers are considering policies like the EmPIRE Act that could eliminate more jobs and even force businesses to close. Albany: support local businesses by saying no to the EMPIRE Act and endless lawsuits. | | | |  | From the Capitol | | | 
Attorney General Tish James sued Heartbeat International and 11 other organizations to stop them from promoting abortion reversals and remove all mention of them from their websites. | AP Photo | ABORTION LAWSUITS: Attorney General Tish James today sued Heartbeat International along with 11 other anti-abortion groups over false claims for abortion reversals. The groups have touted “abortion pill reversals” as safe and effective treatments, when in reality, abortions cannot be reversed, and there is no scientific evidence supporting their claims, James said. “Any treatments that claim to do so are made without scientific evidence and could be unsafe. Heartbeat International and the other crisis pregnancy center defendants are spreading dangerous misinformation by advertising 'abortion reversals' without any medical and scientific proof,” James said in a statement. The lawsuit aims to stop the groups from promoting the practices, and James’ office is seeking the removal of all mention of the claims from the websites. The company said it believes that James is launching an “unjust and biased” attack on groups opposed to abortion. Heartbeat International said it plans to fight the case. “Her lawsuit against Heartbeat International and these organizations is a clear attempt to censor speech, leaving women who regret their chemical abortions in the dark, and ultimately forcing them to complete an abortion they no longer want,” the company said in a statement. The company also claimed that the procedures they are advocating for are backed by science. — Shawn Ness LAWYERS FOR LOAN FORGIVENESS: Two key legal advocacy groups are pushing lawmakers in Albany for increased student loan aid for lawyers serving the public. The Legal Aid Society and the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys UAW Local 2325 are making the effort after the bill did not make it into the final budget. The bill, called the District Attorney and Indigent Legal Services Attorney Loan Forgiveness Act and sponsored by state Sen. Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, would increase the aid to $8,000 annually — more than double what it currently is — for lawyers for up to eight years. Under the current program, lawyers are only eligible to receive $20,400 over a six-year period, which is not as robust of a program compared to ones for nurses or social workers. The Senate has already passed the bill, and it still sits in the Higher Education Committee in the Assembly. — Shawn Ness ANTI-ERA PUSH COMES TO ALBANY: Former Rep. Lee Zeldin joined swimmer Riley Gaines at the Capitol today to campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment that will be on the ballot this November. Democrats have been preparing to use that amendment’s protections on abortion to help drive turnout. While Republican efforts to blunt Democrats’ goals had been publicly muted, they have been gearing up for a campaign to focus on the other things that the ERA does. Today, they focused on protections to gender identity and expression. “There has been no greater attack on women’s rights and girl’s rights in the state of New York in any of our lifetimes than” this language, Zeldin said. Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer who campaigned against allowing transgender women in women’s sports ever since she tied transgender opponent Lia Thompson in a 2022 meet, described the amendment as “the latest attempt by misguided lawmakers to enshrine the destruction of female athletics into the constitution.” “You cannot vote in favor and support this amendment and say you care about girls and women,” Gaines said. — Bill Mahoney
| | | | A message from New Yorkers for Local Businesses:   | | | | | FROM CITY HALL | | | 
A new law allows for cameras installed on MTA buses to issue tickets to cars illegally parked at bus stops. | Getty Images | ‘CARS GETTING COFFEE’: Double parked cars are no comedic matter for bus riders as innocuous as it may seem to those that do it. A new law that went into effect this week that would allow for cameras installed on MTA buses to issue tickets to cars illegally parked at bus stops has the support of the Riders Alliance. New York City’s buses are already the slowest in the nation, and the alliance thinks that the new law will help to alleviate some of the congestion. "Bus riders deserve so much better than delays because of 'cars getting coffee,' and now we can have that basic degree of dignity," Riders Alliance senior organizer Jolyse Race said in a statement. — Shawn Ness ROMAN HOLIDAY: The mayor will be heading to Rome, Italy, later this week to attend an event called the World Meeting on Human Fraternity, his office announced today. Adams, who is fond of interfacing with international leaders here and abroad despite his decidedly local government job, also plans to conduct bilateral meetings and convene with Pope Francis at the Vatican. — Joe Anuta CUNY UNDER PRESSURE OVER PROTEST ARRESTS: The Professional Staff Congress, the City University of New York’s faculty and staff union, wants CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez to ask Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to drop the charges against pro-Palestinian protesters. “The CUNY administration should make every effort to prevent the students and employees who were taken into custody on April 30 from carrying criminal records into their futures and observe their due process rights under internal CUNY policies,” the union said in a statement on X this morning. CUNY faculty recently held an illegal strike to express support for the student encampment at City College, but it was not backed or approved by the union. The NYPD said 173 people were arrested at City College and 109 people at Columbia last week. While most of the protesters were released with summonses, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is charging 22 City College demonstrators with burglary and 46 Columbia protesters with trespassing. CUNY students and faculty rallied this morning to demand that the chancellor dismiss the charges. Within Our Lifetime, a pro-Palestinian organization, has also encouraged people to organize an action on their campus and then join them for a central rally — a “Citywide Day of Rage For Gaza: From the Encampments To the Streets” this afternoon at Hunter College in Manhattan. The Legal Aid Society, a New York City-based nonprofit legal aid provider, is also calling on the NYPD’s inspector general to investigate what they called the NYPD’s abuses of authority during its crackdown on college campuses. — Madina Touré
| | | | A message from New Yorkers for Local Businesses: A Letter to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and House Speaker Carl Heastie from the New Yorkers for Local Businesses Coalition
Dear Leaders & Members of the Legislature:
We respectfully write to you today to express our opposition to the EmPIRE Act (S541-B / A1893-A).
As organizations representing thousands of businesses across New York State, we contend that, if enacted, this law would add to the cost of living and doing business in the state and increase the burdens on our under-resourced court system. Already, New York State laws and regulations that encourage litigation and increase liability have resulted in the nation’s highest insurance costs for consumers and businesses — a major factor contributing to New York’s affordability crisis. We urge you to break this pattern…
See the full letter and list of signers here. | | | | | ON THE BEATS | | |  The measure, unveiled by Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, is designed to provide a safeguard against cyberattacks from foreign countries that could disrupt the ability of governments to function. | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office | FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The state government and municipalities would be blocked from using technology from international firms whose products could be a security threat under legislation unveiled today by Democratic Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar. The measure is designed to provide a safeguard against cyberattacks from foreign countries that could disrupt the ability of governments to function. “My bill will guarantee that every procurement officer in New York asks this crucial question,” Rajkumar told Playbook. “From our power plants to our public transit to our servers packed with sensitive information, our procurement decisions determine whether or not there is an open door for hackers.” Her bill is based, in part, on a federal law that maintains a list of tech products by international firms that are considered a security risk for governments. Rajkumar’s proposal comes as cybersecurity has become an increased concern for governments in New York. A state comptroller’s report last year found cyberattacks on government assets in New York rose by 53 percent between 2016 and 2022. A ransomware attack against the Legislative Bill Drafting Commission last month briefly halted progress on the state budget. — Nick Reisman BOTTLE BILL BATTLE: Civic groups, redemption center owners and workers gathered outside in the sun at the Capitol today with bags full of bottles. The message in those bottles? Lawmakers should act to increase the deposit on returnable bottles and expand the law to cover more types of beverage containers — including hard cider, non-carbonated teas and other beverages, wine and spirits. Owners of beverage redemption centers, dealing with a flat handling fee per container since 2009, say they’re facing an existential crisis. Costs for labor and other expenses have risen while that fee, set in law, has remained the same. “Redemption centers are expected to run their business on the same margins as in 2009 and that’s unacceptable,” said Martin Naro, president of the Empire State Redemption Center. Cardboard gravestones listed redemption centers that have closed in recent years. One redemption center owner was dressed as the grim reaper with a plastic scythe and a death note for beverage centers from the state. — Marie J. French ASSISTED LIVING CONDITIONS: One in six residents of New York assisted living facilities experiences verbal, physical and other aggression from their fellow residents, according to a new study led by Cornell researchers and funded by the National Institute on Aging. The researchers examined a randomly selected group of 14 licensed assisted living centers statewide between 2018 and 2022 and found 15.2 percent of residents were affected by interpersonal aggression in a typical month. The risk was even higher in specialized units that serve residents with dementia, according to the study. — Maya Kaufman
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