Leading Immigrant Advocacy Group Releases 'Respect and Dignity' 2023 State Policy Agenda
A Make the Road rally (photo: Make the Road NY)
Make the Road New York, the state’s largest member organization of immigrant advocates, will release its 2023-24 state policy platform on Wednesday and kick off a series of town halls to push for legislation that includes expanded unemployment protections, greater health care access, instituting ‘good cause’ eviction, ending racially-biased school discipline, decriminalizing sex work, raising taxes on the wealthy, and more.
With 25,000 members statewide, Make the Road New York (MRNY) represents a major progressive group in the state that has consistently pushed for pro-immigrant and pro-worker legislation. The group is set to launch its “Respect and Dignity” policy platform at its Jackson Heights office in Queens on Wednesday afternoon followed by a town hall in the evening. The group also has town halls scheduled in Brooklyn and Westchester, and is aiming to hold one on Long Island as well.
The new Albany agenda includes a series of legislative and budget demands that the group and its allies hope Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul will pay attention to, fresh off her narrow victory in the general election where progressives are taking credit for helping her achieve her first full term in office. As she heads into the new year working with a Democrat-dominated State Legislature, Hochul will also present her second State of the State address and Executive Budget, delineating her own priorities and setting the table for the six-month state legislative session.
“It was people of color, particularly Black voters, and people of color across New York City that really got Kathy Hochul reelected,” said Jose Lopez, co-executive director of MRNY, in a phone interview. “And I think that what our communities will be looking for given the outcome of this election and the fact that we've protected her seat, is movement on substantive issues that really impact working class and immigrant communities of color.”
Following the example of the state’s $2.1 billion Excluded Workers Fund, which provided aid to those who were unable to receive federal unemployment benefits during the pandemic, MRNY is pushing for the passage of a bill, sponsored by State Senator Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Karines Reyes that would create a permanent unemployment insurance program for “excluded” workers. At a cost of $800 million annually, the bill would establish the first-ever Excluded Worker Unemployment Program to give up to $1,200 per month in support to up to 50,000 workers ineligible for unemployment including freelancers and gig economy workers.
A new fund would be crucial for people like Gerardo Vital, a father of two and Make the Road New York member. “Immigrants like me, we contribute and help the economy…we contribute like everybody else but at the end of the day we get no help when we lose our jobs with any type of unemployment,” he said in a phone interview, through an interpreter.
Vital is currently unemployed and is worried about falling behind on payments for rent and car insurance. “But there's no program that I can apply to to be able to receive any kind of help,” he said. “People think that we don't count but we do because we contribute to the state, we pay our taxes.”
MRNY is also advocating for the passage of a health care coverage bill sponsored by State Senator Gustavo Rivera and outgoing Assemblymember Richard Gottfried to create a state-funded Essential Plan to provide healthcare to all low-income New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status. The group estimates that roughly 154,000 state residents are currently ineligible for federal health insurance programs such as Medicaid and the Essential Plan because of their immigration status, and that the program would cost about $345 million annually and involve participation from at least 46,000 individuals. (With Gottfried leaving the Assembly, the bill will have to be reintroduced by another member in the next legislative session.)
As Hochul heads into her first term of her own, one of the main items on her agenda is housing affordability and access, a priority that MRNY advocates also share. The group’s agenda pushes for the passage of “good cause” eviction, sponsored by State Senator Julia Salazar and Assemblymember Pamela Hunter, which would provide crucial eviction protections to tenants including against significant rent annual hikes. The bill has gained momentum in the Legislature in recent years but has yet to pass and Hochul has not said whether she supports it.
MRNY is also urging the state to create a $200 million Housing Access Voucher Program, with half set aside for households at risk of homelessness and the other half for homeless people and families. That program, championed by State Senator Brian Kavanagh and Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz, had a great deal of momentum in the Legislature last year, but the Hochul administration disputed the cost estimate and declined to support it.
“Those are things that New Yorkers care about, those are things New Yorkers want to see happen,” Lopez said. “And those are going to be the fights that we help lead with allies across the state to make sure that this administration delivers.”
Another proposal on the agenda includes the Solutions Not Suspensions Act, sponsored by State Senator Robert Jackson and Assemblymember Cathy Nolan, who is retiring. As with Gottfried’s bill, the legislation will have to be carried by another member next year. It aims to put an end to harsh school disciplinary practices that disproportionately affect students of color and those with disabilities. It would limit the use of suspensions and instead focus on restorative practices.
Make the Road also supports the Stop Violence in the Sex Trades Act, sponsored by Salazar, which would decriminalize sex work for consenting adults and scrub records for arrests, convictions, and incarcerations for sex work that is no longer criminal.
Though some of those legislative proposals will require significant funding from the state, Lopez said they “aren’t a substantially heavy lift” and could easily be offset by the Invest in Our New York package of bills, which aims to raise as much as $50 billion in revenue by cutting tax loopholes and raising taxes on the uber wealthy, corporations, and Wall Street. That argument is likely to meet resistance, particularly from Governor Hochul, who has repeatedly said she has no plans to raise taxes.
“We're going to be prepared for those arguments when they come,” Lopez said. “But I think the reality is that we see budgets as moral documents and there is going to be a question, especially post-election, about where we spend.”
“Our hope is that [Governor Hochul] draws some lessons from this election and that she understands that in order to perform better, she's going to need to secure some progressive bonafides, especially in this next year,” he added.
Make the Road has several other priorities for state government to pursue, including adequate budget allocations for the state’s new public campaign finance program, with a $70 million ask for next budget, due by April 1; expanding subsidies and eliminating bureaucratic barriers for child care for low-income families regardless of employment or immigration status; ensuring that Hochul follows through on her commitment to fully fund Foundation Aid for public schools; investing $18.6 million in adult literacy education; restoring $5.2 million in funding for the Community Health Advocates Program; increasing funding for the Navigators program that helps people enroll in health insurance; updating the New York Hospital Financial Assistance Law; and passing the Access to Representation Act to provide universal legal representation for New Yorkers under threat of deportation.
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
Supporters promote racial justice ballot measures (photo: Emil Cohen/NYC Council Media Unit)
New York City voters approved three ballot measures meant to alleviate impacts of structural racism on New Yorkers of color and create a more equal city through equitable city services.
Questions 2 through 4 on the city ballot were proposed amendments to the City Charter to add a preamble recognizing the impact of racist institutions past and present and establish a new statement of principles; create an Office of Racial Equity required to spearhead the development of a racial equity plan; and develop a new metric for the "true cost of living" in New York City meant to inform policy-making.
Initial results show voters approved the measures by wide margins of between 40 and 62 points. About 1.7 million New York City votes had been counted in the governor's race by about midnight Tuesday night, with a chunk of those voters, roughly 300,000, not weighing in on the ballot questions. The numbers will all shift as ballots continue to be counted.
The proposals were developed by a commission created by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio after promising major reforms in the wake of protests against police brutality in 2020. In 2021, his last year in office, de Blasio empaneled the Racial Justice Commission, which designed the ballot questions after a public hearing process.
The proposals had the tacit support of Mayor Eric Adams, who allocated $5 million to educate the public on the referendums. More than a third of the City Council, including Speaker Adrienne Adams, also backed the questions in a series of get-out-the-vote events leading up to Election Day.
The commission and its supporters say the changes will help lay groundwork and take steps toward greater racial equity in the city, helping to ensure that city services are more fairly allocated and delivered.
“Today New Yorkers have made history—taking bold, unprecedented steps to upend systematic racism in local government in a way that other cities around the nation can follow," said Racial Justice Commission Chair Jennifer Jones Austin in a statement. "We are very proud of the success of this non-partisan effort to inform NYC voters about these first-of-their-kind initiatives. It is clear from the overwhelmingly positive response that these proposals resonated with voters from all backgrounds and walks of life."
Preliminary numbers show city voters approved the new Charter preamble 72-28% among those who voted yes or no (many voters declined to weigh in). It sets out a series of values and non-binding rights to "guide the operation of our city government." The language outlines a call for government to provide to all New Yorkers affordable housing, competent healthcare, government access, economic resources, and a safe and healthy environment.
It also acknowledges past atrocities and their legacy in the present, including American slavery, the forced removal of indigenous peoples, ongoing racial segregation, mass incarceration, immigrant exploitation and other injustices. Nothing in the preamble is binding or creates a right to action on which the city could be sued, according to the commission.
The new Office of Racial Equity, racial equity plan requirement, and permanent Racial Justice Commission were approved 70-30%, per initial results. It establishes an office under the mayor responsible for developing and implementing short- and long-term plans to ameliorate racial inequity. The plans would be created every two years based on agency-level blueprints using metrics designed by the new office to evaluate disparities. The amendment also establishes a Commission on Racial Equity, appointed by the mayor, City Council, comptroller, and public advocate, to guide planning and track agency compliance.
The final question, to develop a new, more accurate cost of living measurement, was approved with the highest mandate at 81-19%, per initial results. It requires the city to develop a metric that accounts for basic needs without considering public and private assistance toward one's income. It is intended to give a more appropriate standard than the federal poverty line, which has used the same criteria for decades. The city is required to report the metric on an annual basis. According to the commission, the measure could be used to inform public assistance policies, labor negotiations, and advocacy related to state and federal laws that rely on the federal poverty guidelines.
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by Ethan Geringer-Sameth, reporter, Gotham Gazette
@GeringerSameth @GothamGazette
To Address Corruption Risks and Boost MWBE Contracting, Comptroller Asks Mayor to Convene Procurement Board
Mayor Adams, Comptroller Lander, & others (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)
In a letter to City Hall last month, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander called on Mayor Eric Adams to make changes to the city's procurement rules to prevent corruption and fraud in nonprofit human services contracts.
In the October 19 letter, Lander asked Adams to convene the Procurement Policy Board (PPB) to take steps to increase contract procurement for minority- and women-owned businesses (MWBEs) and address "corruption vulnerabilities" exposed in a Department of Investigation report released late last year, shortly before Adams took office. Those include few controls on contractors' conflicts of interest and executive compensation, and gaps in spending documentation and review.
Adams and Lander, both Brooklyn Democrats newly-elected to their citywide positions, have already worked together on addressing other long-standing problems in city contracting, particularly timely payment to nonprofit contractors.
"Despite procurement being the vehicle for the City's essential services from sheltering the homeless to feeding seniors, procurement reform often falls to the bottom of the priority list," Lander said in a statement to Gotham Gazette.
"The vast majority of human services vendors are well above board and go beyond to serve New Yorkers," he said. "But in order to provide the best services, our vendors should reflect the diversity of this city and our reforms must be able to weed out the occasional bad actor.”
The five-member Procurement Policy Board is appointed jointly by the mayor and comptroller, who both may hire and fire members at will. It is responsible for setting out rules related to soliciting bids and awarding and administering contracts. In a statement to Gotham Gazette, a spokesperson for Mayor Adams indicated that the mayor is open to working with the comptroller and Procurement Policy Board on reforms.
On October 6, Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation to allow the PPB to double the level at which the city can contract with MWBEs outside of the competitive bidding process, raising the threshold from $500,000 to $1 million. In his letter to Adams, Lander said it was "imperative" that the PPB meet to raise the threshold, noting that previous increases have raised the average size of MWBE contracts and created more opportunities for those firms to get city business.
The number of non-competitive MWBE city contracts fell nearly 30%, from 1,242 in fiscal year 2020 to 870 in fiscal year 2021, a value of close to $8 million, according to the comptroller's Annual Contracts Report.
"This will not only reduce barriers, but also help increase the volume and value of meaningful contracting opportunities for M/WBE firms," Lander wrote of raising the threshold.
Asked what measures were in place to prevent misuse of these funds or ensure the city is paying for the best available services, a spokesperson for the Comptroller's Office, which shared the letter with Gotham Gazette, said city agencies are responsible for vendor oversight. While contracts under $100,000 do not need to be sent to the comptroller, the office may audit the spending, the spokesperson said.
Lander also called on the administration to agree to promulgate rules to crack down on opportunities for corruption, fraud, and nepotism in nonprofit human services contracting and subcontracting.
"Bad actors inevitably slip through cracks, mismanaging City funds at the expense of the vulnerable New Yorkers they serve," Lander wrote.
In fiscal year 2021, New York City spent $12 billion on human services contracts, accounting for roughly 40% of the city's total contracting. The Department of Investigation report published last November found the city had persistent gaps in its contract award and oversight system that made these funds susceptible to misuse.
In one notable example in 2015, the state Attorney General, following a DOI investigation and referral, reached an $800,000 settlement with a Bronx nonprofit that had diverted funds from services for the elderly to its real estate holdings.
Many of the actions Lander is calling for echo recommendations made in the DOI report. Specifically, Lander called on the mayor, through the PPB, to adopt anti-nepotism rules for contractors and prevent nonprofit providers from subcontracting with businesses owned or controlled by relatives. His letter suggests requiring conflicts of interest disclosures or certifications within the competitive bidding process.
According to the DOI report, the agency has "repeatedly identified instances of employees providing services on City contracts who are supervised by family members apparently without the knowledge and authorization of the funding City agency, in violation of the Standard Contract." In the course of its investigations, DOI has identified these with vendors contracted by the Administration for Children's Services, Department for the Aging, Department of Youth and Community Development, the city Health Department, and the Department of Social Services – all agencies that spend a significant portion of their budget on contract services.
The comptroller's office also wants to require all city contractors and subcontractors, both for- and not-for-profit, disclose more information about the compensation and demographic make-up of their employees and leadership. Doing so could raise early flags for potential misuse of funds and encourage companies to hire more candidates who are Black or women, and other racial and gender backgrounds.
Specifically, the letter called for the PPB to require contractors and subcontractors to disclose the compensation of executive directors and chief operating officers, compensation of full time employees, federally-required reporting on workforce demographic data, and a "board matrix" outlining the racial, ethnic, and gender make-up of board members. That disclosure should be published in downloadable datasets on the city's open data portal, the letter said.
Outside of the PPB that he and Adams jointly control, Lander called on the mayor to seek state approval to limit the compensation of executives at nonprofits that may do business with the city. In line with the DOI recommendations, Lander said this should be capped at the highest salary paid to a public sector employee – currently pegged at $699,081, the salary of New York City Health and Hospitals President Mitch Katz, in the last fiscal year. Such a cap would require legislation in Albany.
"Payment of excessive executive compensation is an important issue because, where it does occur, it is often linked to other types of fraud and waste of public services," reads a passage of the DOI report cited in the comptroller's letter to Adams.
The letter noted that what controls are in place "are extremely limited in scope and inconsistently applied."
“The mayor has been focused since Day 1 on ensuring our procurement process is fair, transparent, efficient, and accountable," said Adams spokesperson Jonah Allon, in a statement to Gotham Gazette. "Through our Joint Task Force to Get Nonprofits Paid on Time and the Capital Process Reform Task Force, both of which have involved close coordination with the comptroller’s office, the administration has already made meaningful strides to streamline processes while maintaining appropriate oversights to ensure every entity that contracts with the city is spending taxpayer dollars wisely. We look forward to advancing additional steps through the Procurement Policy Board, and thank the comptroller for his continued partnership.”
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by Ethan Geringer-Sameth, reporter, Gotham Gazette
@GeringerSameth @GothamGazette
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