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Cuomo's SOTS, MTA 'Emergency' L Meeting & More: The Week Ahead in New York Politics, Jan. 14


New York City Hall

New York City Hall


What to watch for this week in New York politics:

While there is a lot going on, the main event this week will be Governor Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address and executive budget presentation, set for Tuesday afternoon in Albany. Cuomo, who reportedly moved up the speech by about two weeks due to the Legislature’s plans to start moving significant bills, has already outlined a lengthy and ambitious policy agenda, and he has been adding to it in recent days with announcements of policies he will include in his budget plan, such as raising the statewide age for buying cigarettes and nicotine products to 21 and banning plastic bags throughout New York.

The Legislature will be in session on Monday and Tuesday and both Democratic majorities plan to move a number of high-profile pieces of legislation, including several voting reform bills.

In the city, we’re watching for more from Mayor de Blasio after last week’s State of the City address and its multitude of plans and proposals. The mayor may follow the speech with events this week to discuss certain proposals further. He may also provide additional information about his stated plans to travel around the country talking up his progression policies -- the mayor appeared Sunday morning on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper and repeatedly declined to rule out a presidential run. De Blasio will also be in Albany Tuesday to attend Cuomo’s speech. [Read: De Blasio Gives Little Mention to Several Major Challenges in State of the City Speech]

Regardless of how much the mayor does, it will be an eventful week in New York City, where there are key deadlines and more forums in the race for Public Advocate. The special election is six weeks from this Tuesday, on February 26. [Read: Everything You Need to Know About the Special Election for Public Advocate]

It’s also a very busy week of hearings at the City Council -- see details below.

And connecting the city and state, the MTA, where there will be an “emergency” board meeting on Tuesday to discuss the recently-announced alternative L train tunnel rehabilitation plan from Cuomo and his team that still needs to be fully fleshed out, vetted, and voted on by the MTA board, which will also need to approve changes to the prior contract that had been set for the full shutdown of the tunnel that had been long-planned.

There's a lot to know as the week begins -- see our day-by-day rundown below.

***Do you have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics?
e-mail Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.***

The run of the week in detail:

Monday
At 1 p.m. Monday, O"Mayor de Blasio will make an announcement about the NYC Ferry expansion" at P.S. 188 in Brooklyn.

The State Legislature will be in session on Monday in Albany. The Legislature is in session on Monday and Tuesday this week, and both houses are expected to pass several long-awaited Democratic priorities, from multiple voting reform measures to the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), and more. The Senate Democratic majority will hold a noon press conference on Monday to discuss the "historic voting reforms" that will be passed.

The New York State Board of Regents will meet on Monday and Tuesday.

Candidates for New York City Public Advocate in the special election set for Tuesday, February 26 have until Monday to file their petition signatures to the Board of Elections in order to appear on the ballot.

On Monday at 11 a.m., Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will be a guest on The Capitol Pressroom with Susan Arbetter. In the afternoon, Hochul will preside over the state Senate session.

At the City Council on Monday:
--The Committee on Housing and Buildings will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding housing lotteries, as well as to discuss several proposed laws relating to housing lotteries, to create a “preferred list of contractors,” to require reporting on waiting lists for Mitchell-Lama, and to require that developers receiving city financial assistance on developments of at least 15 units to set aside 15 percent of units for the homeless.
--The Committee on Governmental Operations will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss a proposed law authorizing the creation of “legal defense trusts” by public officials able to solicit donations to pay their legal bills.
--The Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions, and Concessions will meet at 1 p.m.
--The Committee on Fire and Emergency Management will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding the “impact of new development on Long Island City’s emergency services.”

Starting at 11 a.m. Monday, the Let NY Vote coalition, which is led by Common Cause NY, will hold a day of action in Albany to lobby state lawmakers to pass “comprehensive, equitable voting reform,” several planks of which appear set for passage that day.

On Monday at 11 a.m., "Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams will join NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz, MD, as well as NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island President and CEO William Brown, dieticians, and health care advocates in launching a new initiative to remove meat on Mondays from food menus at all 11 public hospitals across the NYC Health + Hospitals system. The expansion of plant-based menu options addresses a growing crisis of preventable diseases citywide; according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), an estimated 987,000 New Yorkers are living with diabetes, with other chronic preventable diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity growing in prevalence."

At noon Monday, Riders Alliance will gather at the Canal Street A/C/E stop to unveil data showing that “signal problems delayed trains during 92% of morning rush hours last year.”

Tuesday
Governor Andrew Cuomo will deliver his State of the State address at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Albany, where he will also unveil his executive budget proposal. The speech will be delivered at Albany's Egg Center. Mayor de Blasio, among many other officials, plans to attend.

At the City Council on Tuesday: The Committee on Youth Services will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing on the Interagency Coordinating Council on Youth.

The State Legislature will be in session on Tuesday in Albany.

End of the night Tuesday is the first campaign finance filing deadline for candidates in the special election for Public Advocate. Some filings may be available during the day on Tuesday via the New York City Campaign Finance Board. The election is February 26.

At noon Tuesday, “MTA to Hold Emergency Board Meeting” so that the Board can be “briefed on matters related to L train project.” “At the meeting, which will be open to the public, the Board will be briefed by WSP on the alternative Train design modifications to the original tunnel restoration plan, also designed by WSP. WSP has studied the proposed design alternatives and the preliminary new construction schedule developed by the construction manager. WSP will be recommending to the Board that it pursue the modified plan as a better alternative, as it does not require a total shutdown of train service. The Board will also be discussing the concept of hiring a new consultant reporting directly to the Chairman and the Board to oversee operation, oversight and precautions for the train and the tunnel reconstruction.”

At noon Tuesday in Albany’s Legislative Office Building, “on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday,” there will be a press conference to call for “immediate reform to New York State’s Discovery Laws. This is the key criminal legal system reform, the foundation from which bail and speedy trial reform can flow.” There will be announcement of “an amended bill supported by Democrats in both the Assembly and the Senate, and a wide-range of advocacy groups around the state, including legal groups and labor unions.” The press conference will include “Bishop Rosario and other faith leaders, Assemblyman Joe Lentol, Senator Jamaal Bailey, People impacted by NY’s bad discovery laws, Discovery for Justice, VOCAL-NY, the Innocence Project, JustLeadershipUSA, It Could Happen to You, Citizen Action-New York and additional members of the Repeal the Blindfold Coalition.”

At 2 p.m. Tuesday, the New York City Board of Elections will hold a commissioners meeting.

At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, the New York League of Conservation Voters will host a forum focused on environmental issues for candidates for Public Advocate, at Brooklyn Law School. Politico New York’s Gloria Pazmino will moderate more than a dozen candidates set to participate.

At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, City & State will host “Health Power 50,” honoring the 50 most powerful people in health care in New York. The event will take place at the Mezzanine in the Financial District. Speakers will include Senate Health Committee Chair Gustavo Rivera; Greater NY Hospital Association President Kenneth Raske; Tom Moriarty, Executive Vice President at CVS Health; Dr. Ramon Tallaj, Board Chairman of SOMOS Care; Denise Gonick, CEO of MVP Health Care; and Holly Lynch, a “citizen advocate.”

Wednesday
At the City Council on Wednesday:
--The Committee on Juvenile Justice will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “evaluating programs that aim to reduce recidivism among justice involved youth.”
--The Committee on Civil and Human Rights will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss a proposed law “recognizing 1/27/19 as Holocaust Remembrance Day and the week beginning on 1/27/19 as a citywide week of Holocaust Education in NYC.”
--The Committee on Hospitals will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “charity care funding for New York City hospitals.”
--The Committee on Education will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “health and wellness instruction in NYC schools.” The Committee will also discuss three bills, to require all schools to stock opioid antagonists, to require the city to establish a task force on start times for middle school and high school, and to require DOE to submit an annual report on nutrition education in city schools. Finally, the Committee will discuss resolutions calling on DOE to ban processed meats from being served in schools and to create a “diabetes and prediabetes health based curriculum.”

This week's Max & Murphy show on WBAI radio will feature interviews with three candidates for New York City Public Advocate: Assemblymember Michael Blake, Assemblymember Danny O'Donnell, and attorney Dawn Smalls. Recent shows have featured other candidates: an interview with City Council Member Rafael Espinal about his candidacy and an interview with City Council Member Eric Ulrich about his candidacy. The show airs at 5-6 p.m. Wednesdays on WBAI, 99.5FM or wbai.org, and is available as the Max & Murphy Podcast shortly thereafter.

Thursday
At the City Council on Thursday:
--The Committee on Higher Education will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding careers in health care at CUNY.
--The Committee on Consumer Affairs will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss a proposed bill banning employers from requiring employees to check work emails and other communications in non-work hours.
--The Committees on Governmental Operations and Technology will meet jointly at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “311 customer experience and operations,” as well as to discuss proposed laws to require 311 to “stop referring non-emergency, anonymous calls about harassed properties to agencies for follow-up” and to “require the development of a protocol for identifying the languages spoken by callers to 311.”

At 10 a.m. Thursday, the New York City Campaign Finance Board will hold a board meeting.

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the New York City Bar Association will host “Reimagining Domestic Violence Services,” discussing the “current and future state of domestic violence services.” Cecile Noel, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, will deliver welcoming remarks. Afterwards, a panel will convene, consisting of Albery Abreu of the Children’s Aid Society; Tanya Apparicio, Deputy Chief of the Domestic Violence Unit at the Manhattan DA’s office; Ana Bermudez, the City’s Probation Commissioner; Juliana Chereji of Brooklyn Defender Services; Bea Hanson, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Domestic Violence Task Force; and Quentin Walcott, co-Executive Director of Connect.

Friday and the weekend
At 8:15 a.m. Friday, the Center for New York City Law will host a “CityLaw Breakfast” with former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman. Lippman, who now chairs the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, will discuss “the closing of Rikers as a catalyst for criminal justice reform in New York.”

Mayor de Blasio may make his weekly appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show at 10 a.m. Friday.

This year’s Women’s March will be Saturday.

***
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).

***
by Ben Brachfeld and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

Colleges Likely to Continue Bans If New York Legalizes Recreational Marijuana Use


St. John's University

St. John's University (photo via St. John's on flickr)


The legalization of adult recreational marijuana use is on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2019 agenda for the first 100 days of his new term, and the governor is expected to announce details of his legalization proposal on Tuesday, during a joint State of the State speech and executive budget presentation. There appears to be support for the measure, at least the general concept of recreational marijuana use becoming legal for adults in New York, among the Democratic majorities of both houses of the state Legislature, meaning legalization could occur within the next few months, with a likely age requirement of 21.

However, regardless of changes to state law, college students 21 or older may need to consult a different set of guidelines — institutions of higher education in New York may continue to ban marijuana use on campus and punish students who smoke on school grounds, several sources indicated to Gotham Gazette.

In other states that have legalized recreational marijuana use, from Washington to Massachusetts, this is the norm. Many colleges receive federal funds through research programs or grants and also allocate federal financial aid or FAFSA to students. In order to continue using federal funding and aid, colleges must continue to enforce federal law, according to sources at multiple universities.

The Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 is a federal law signed by President Ronald Reagan that requires those who receive contracts or grants from the government to maintain a drug-free workplace. The Drug Free Schools and Communities Act is another federal law requiring universities receiving federal funding to implement a program to prevent the use of illegal substances by students and employees. Both of these laws prevent colleges and universities from enacting marijuana legalization.

Ken McConnellogue, Vice President of Communication at the University of Colorado, told Gotham Gazette that marijuana use on campus is still a punishable offense there. Students caught using the substance are warned, although the university has a “three strikes, you’re out” policy. The third offense of any kind by a student often results in expulsion, he said.

“Marijuana, like alcohol, is banned on our campuses,” McConnellogue said. “Although we’re not so naive as to think students aren’t using it just like alcohol.”

In response to the passage of Colorado Amendment 64 — the ballot measure initiative that legalized recreational marijuana in the state in 2012 — McConnellogue said that the university has increased its efforts to educate students on the law and university policy, as well as to enforce its policy against the drug.

Students are not the only ones that need educating about the university’s policy, as parents from out of state who send their kids to Colorado are often concerned about the campus environment, according to McConnellogue.

“They worry students are walking around on campus smoking a joint,” McConnellogue said.

Brian Browne, Executive Director of University Relations at St. John’s University, said that if New York legalizes adult marijuana use the Queens school would be following a similar path to the University of Colorado, and continue to enforce federal law.

"The proposed legalization of recreational marijuana in New York State will most likely not put any new or legal high in New York's higher education,” Browne wrote in an email to Gotham Gazette. "As long as marijuana remains a controlled substance according to federal law, we can expect that most college campuses will continue to ban marijuana use by students and employees regardless of state law."

New York University spokesperson Shonna Keogan confirmed that NYU would also continue to enforce federal law.

“In compliance with federal law, NYU does not permit possession, use, or distribution of marijuana in any form for any purpose on campus,” Keogan wrote in an email to the Gazette.

While colleges plan to continue to ban use on campus, it appears legal marijuana is indeed coming to New York. Governor Cuomo first called on the Department of Health to conduct a study in January of 2018, then commissioned a workgroup in August and began a series of listening sessions around the state in September, lasting until mid-October.

In addition, the state conducted a report that concluded that there would be a net positive effect if marijuana was legalized in New York, despite some potential negatives. Other state agencies and subject matter experts were consulted by the Department of Health in the hopes of getting a complete picture of the issue, though Cuomo has not outlined his proposed legal and regulatory system yet.

The process is one that Sandy Mullins, Senior Research Scholar in the Litmus program at NYU’s Marron Institute, believes had a positive result. As Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s senior policy advisor, Mullins was involved in the legalization process that occurred in that state in 2012.

Mullins said that the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, which is the proposed legislation that would legalize marijuana in New York that has been introduced in the state Legislature, is already a step in the right direction compared to other states because it is legislation rather than a ballot initiative. In states like Colorado and Washington, legalization has occurred through ballot initiatives or amendments that cannot be changed easily. Most amendments require a supermajority in the Legislature to be changed, or passage by voters. Washington State Initiative 502, which legalized marijuana there, could not be changed until a year after it passed. By legalizing through legislation, New York leaves the ability to amend the law fairly quickly and efficiently if necessary.

“Creating the draft and having public input into that draft legislation and having minds around it, that in and of itself was a very thoughtful process,” Mullins said. “As a policy wonk, it made me tear up, just looking at their process and this legislation that was so thoughtfully crafted.”

That legislation is not necessarily what Cuomo will propose, though, and the governor and Legislature will need to come to an agreement on the details of New York is to legalize recreational marijuana use, including a detailed regulatory scheme.

During the listening sessions, two major concerns were brought up, according to marijuana legalization activists who attended. Some worry that youth use and driving while under the influence will increase if the legislation is passed.

The Drug Policy Alliance is an advocacy group that supports policy that decriminalizes drug use, among other things. Deputy State Director of the DPA Melissa Moore said that based on states that have gone through the process, these fears can be alleviated.

“Some of the concerns around youth use and driving, in particular, are really assuaged by looking at the data from states that have legalized for years,” Moore said. “We see from Colorado that youth use has remained stable, if not actually declined, since legalization.”

A study done by the libertarian think-tank the Reason Foundation found that “There are few convincing conclusions to be drawn concerning the risk of traffic accident fatalities from marijuana legalization.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio released a 77-page report on December 20 with his own recommendations for how the legalization process should occur. In it, the report cites multiple studies that suggest youth use does not increase after legalization.

“Recent studies show that following legalization in other states, past-month use generally remained stable or declined among adolescents and college students” the report says.

Angela Hawken, Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management and a member of Governor Cuomo’s workgroup, suggested that this decline in use may be due to legalization making smoking marijuana less of a defiant act for adolescents, and mentioned the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, an activist group.

“NORML was predicting that adolescent use would go down in the face of legalization because it throws the rebellious act out the door,” Hawken said.

One aspect of legalization that may cause problems for universities, especially in New York City, is the inevitable opening of retail marijuana stores near campuses. At the University of Colorado Boulder, McConnellogue says that such shops have gone so far as to ask if the university would be willing to put a 2-for-1 coupon in the welcome week packets they give to students.

Although the university declined, retail stores opening near campuses is something the college does not have power over.

“We don’t control what happens beyond the borders of our campus,” McConnellogue said. These types of considerations could be part of how regulations are drawn up by lawmakers, however.

For colleges like Columbia, New York University, and CUNY, among others embedded into New York City neighborhoods, distinguishing between on and off campus, and making sure students know the boundaries, could pose some difficulty. However, for some schools, drug use is against the code of student conduct, and so impermissible wherever it occurs.

Emerson student Anissa Gardizy, who has written about marijuana policy at her Boston area university for the school newspaper, said that this is the case at Emerson.

“You would assume that if you have an apartment and you find your own lease that you can do whatever you want if it’s legal in your state,” Gardizy said. “But technically not if you’re an Emerson student.”

All told, even if official school policy at any higher education institution is that marijuana use is banned, enforcement is another -- like with alcohol on campuses. At the University of Colorado, McConnellogue says enforcement has increased.

“In some senses, we have had greater numbers of tickets and counters with students, but that’s not so much to do with marijuana legalization but to do with our efforts to enforce [the ban on] illegal substances,” McConnellogue said.

In contrast, Gardizy said that Emerson has seemed to have introduced a less strict policy in the wake of Massachusetts legalization.

“I feel like Emerson is more focused on keeping us safe as students, they’re not going out of their way to bust students or get them in trouble and get them a criminal record,” Gardizy said. “Our RAs don’t go around smelling the rooms, I think the big thing that people worry about is if the smell interferes with someone else’s learning. If someone doesn’t want that smell and they report it to the RA then they’ll go and deal with it.”

Around the same time recreational marijuana use was legalized, Emerson changed its policy regarding the drug. In the past, if an RA (resident assistant) knocked on a student’s door and said they smelled marijuana, the student would immediately have to attend a conduct hearing. Now, a “scent notice” is left on the door, essentially a warning — students only have to attend a conduct hearing if they receive three scent notices.

Assemblymember Richard Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat who chairs the Health Committee in the New York State Assembly and has supported marijuana legalization for decades, does not think universities should be enforcing the federal ban on marijuana.

“Generally I don’t think colleges should be in the business of enforcing criminal law except in cases where the behavior threatens people’s safety or undermines the college’s functioning,” Gottfried wrote in a statement to Gotham Gazette. “I don’t believe any colleges in adult use states have actually lost funding over non-enforcement of Federal marijuana laws. But if a college chooses to ban adult marijuana on campus even when it becomes legal, I would hope it’s treated similarly to a college banning alcohol, rather than in a disproportionate way where simple possession costs students their housing or financial aid.”

Dr. Hawken, of NYU and Cuomo’s workgroup, said that the issue of what legalization means for colleges and students had not been brought to her attention before, and that she could see why some may encourage both strict and lenient enforcement.

“Everybody is concerned about ‘what does this mean for younger brains?’ and the brain science is still emerging and is still unclear. So if there are parents and if there are educators that are concerned I don’t think those are trivial concerns,” Hawken said. “But it is hugely challenging, and you want to make sure whatever regulatory environment you put in...[doesn’t] have adverse consequences either. You don’t want to derail a life and you can end up having a system of regulation in place that does more harm than good.”

Governor Cuomo’s proposal for the details of legalization will move the discussion into a new phase, which may include legislative hearings. A Cuomo spokesperson told Gotham Gazette the governor has been taking a wide variety of perspectives into account as he drafts his plan.

"The state is looking at the legalization of recreational marijuana and evaluating issues affecting all communities, including college communities,” said Jason Conwall, a Cuomo representative.

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by Victor Porcelli, Gotham Gazette

Read more by this writer.

As Session Starts, Legislators and Advocates Push Overhaul of State Ethics Enforcement


comprehensive reform gov

(photo via the Governor's Office)


As the state Legislature returns to session on Wednesday with Democrats in control of both chambers for the first time in a decade, State Senator Liz Krueger of Manhattan and Assemblymember Robert Carroll from Brooklyn are set to introduce a resolution that would amend the state constitution, adding new provisions to prevent and combat public corruption.

The resolution, first introduced late in last year’s session, would add a new section on state government integrity to the state constitution and would consolidate two agencies that are currently charged with monitoring and tackling corruption -- the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) and the Legislative Ethics Commission -- into a new New York State Commission on Government Integrity. The effort is aimed at dealing with a long-standing problem in New York state government that recently saw the leaders of both houses of the Legislature convicted of public corruption, along with many other legislators who were removed from or left office due to ethical issues over the course of decades.

“We think this is the way to create a truly independent ethics body,” Assemblymember Carroll said in a phone interview on Tuesday, shortly after a rally outside the State Senate chambers alongside Senator Krueger and a cohort of government reform advocates. One of the central criticisms of JCOPE, which was created in 2011, is that it is too closely tied to the governor and legislators to be effective, making it a limited deterrent and a weak enforcer.

The proposed resolution would have to be passed by the current Legislature and again by the next elected Legislature in the 2021-2022 session, after which it would be presented to voters as a ballot question for their approval. If successful during this session and in 2021, Carroll estimated that the new law could go into effect by January 2022.

It would create the new nine-member commission -- five of whom would be appointed by the judiciary; two appointments jointly by the governor, comptroller, and attorney general; and two by legislative conference leaders whose parties are the top-two voter getters in a previous gubernatorial election. The commission would be empowered to issue civil sanctions and censures against legislators, would be able to suspend, demote, or terminate a non-elected employee, and make referrals for criminal prosecution. It would also serve as an independent counsel to legislators and state employees seeking informal ethics advice that can later be used in their defense. Those who have served as political party officials, state employees or lobbyists within the previous three years would be barred from being appointed.

Though the proposal does not require Governor Andrew Cuomo’s support, Carroll hoped that it would receive it nonetheless. “I hope the governor sees this is a major ingredient in reforming our broken political system in Albany,” he said.

During the only general election debate against his Republican opponent Marc Molinaro, Cuomo had signalled support for reforming JCOPE. “Change begins with the thin edge of a wedge,” Cuomo said, using a phrase he has often employed, in this case to indicate that he was pleased to accomplish something on ethics reform, and can then use it to do more.

He added, “I believe we need more independence on JCOPE, I believe we need totally independent appointees and not necessarily representatives of both houses. I’d be open to a number of configurations, but they’d have to be independent.” In a statement on Tuesday, Hazel Crampton-Hays, a spokesperson for Cuomo, reiterated that stance, but stopped short of endorsing the Carroll-Krueger plan: “As the Governor has previously said, we are open to changes to the structure of ethics enforcement and we will review any proposals that are introduced.”

Both Carroll and Krueger, Democrats like Cuomo, argue that a constitutional amendment is essential, particularly with renewed attention in this last election cycle to the activities of JCOPE, headed by Seth Agata, a former Cuomo aide nominated by the governor and appointed as executive director by the agency's commissioners in similar fashion to his predecessors. The state agency, which monitors lobbying at the state level besides ethics violations, has been widely criticized as inefficient and overly vulnerable to political interference, while at the same time being entirely opaque to the public and lacking clear jurisdiction.

In particular, Krueger said the agency has failed to investigate incidents and allegations of sexual harassment, even when they are made widely known. For instance, in January 2018, then-State Senator and Independent Democratic Conference leader Jeff Klein was accused of forcible kissing a former staffer, Erica Vladimer, but JCOPE has yet to make clear whether it is investigating the claim and has not provided any information to either the public, press, or Vladimer in the year since since she spoke out. JCOPE officials have pushed back against such criticism, noting that divulging information about investigations is against the law. At a March 2018 meeting, Commission Chair Michael Rozen said the agency's silence does not indicate action or inaction. "No conclusions should be inferred by the Commission’s silence," he said.

The new agency, on the other hand, would have to establish a dedicated unit for sexual harassment investigations and would also have more expansive transparency provisions, being subject to the same Freedom of Information Law that currently applies to the executive branch (there are ongoing negotiations about extending FOIL to the Legislature).

Last year, JCOPE’s lack of transparency was put to the legal test. New York Republican party chair Ed Cox and Molinaro, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, sued the agency to force a vote on an investigation into Joe Percoco, the former top Cuomo aide who was convicted on federal corruption charges last year. During the trial, Percoco was found to have improperly used his executive chamber office while working on Cuomo’s campaign, but he was never investigated by JCOPE. On December 19, a state supreme court judge ruled that the agency must take a vote within 30 days and then inform the judge, though they were not ordered to release the details of the vote to the public.

“I don’t think that current model is working and I think we need to fix that...It’s just not designed to do its job,” Krueger said of JCOPE in a December interview. She and Carroll were joined at the state Capitol building on Tuesday by representatives of groups including Common Cause New York, Reinvent Albany, the League of Women Voters of the State of New York, the New York Public Interest Research Group, the New York City Bar Association, as well as a few legislators, such as Senator Jen Metzger and Assemblymembers Richard Gottfried and Carrie Woerner.

What remains unclear is whether the leaders of both legislative chambers will support the proposal. Requests for comment to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins’ offices went unanswered.

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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

Note - this article has been updated to clarify that Seth Agata was appointed by JCOPE commissioners, not the governor. It has also been updated to include public statements made by JCOPE chair Michael Rosen about why the agency does not comment on investigations. 

A 'Green New Deal' for New York and More: Where the Climate Change Conversation is Headed in 2019


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(Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


This is part of AGENDA 2019, a joint Gotham Gazette-City Limits project
Find the rest of the series here

After an election where the issue saw little mainstream political attention, climate change and what to do about it has come roaring back to the forefront of the New York political scene. Whether it’s because of a recent federal report outlining the economic damage climate change will cause if left unchecked, because New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has used her bully pulpit to push a Green New Deal, or the potential for more action after Democrats won control of the state Senate, there’s increased attention on both new and old legislation to try to beat back rising oceans, extreme weather and their effects.

At both the state and city levels, efforts to combat climate change are likely to be significant topics of discussion in 2019.

New York State
Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat starting his third term, has increasingly spoken out about the climate crisis during his time in office, even if his ideas and rhetoric haven’t always been what climate activists want from him. The state’s Reforming Energy Vision has set energy efficiency goals (a 600 trillion British thermal units efficiency increase) and renewable energy goals (50 percent of electricity) for the year 2030, and Cuomo helped to establish the U.S. Climate Alliance, a group of 16 states that have agreed to take measures to get their greenhouse gas emissions down to the level set by the Paris Agreement, despite President Donald Trump’s rejection of it.   

The governor also made news with a pair of announcements recently. First, he announced a new New York State Public Service Commission regulation that mandates utilities find ways to cut 31 trillion British thermal units of site energy (which is the heat and electricity consumed by a building), to move towards the goal of saving 185 TBtus 2025 (an energy efficiency framework that the governor said could create 50,000 jobs by 2025) along with an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars to develop better energy storage capabilities statewide.

Second, Cuomo gave a December speech outlining his 2019 legislative agenda, and called for a Green New Deal for New York, though he gave few details. While Cuomo’s Green New Deal is unlikely to look like a state-level version of the one Ocasio-Cortez is pushing nationally, the dual goals of such a program are reducing greenhouse gas emissions by enhancing renewable energies and creating green jobs.

In his speech Cuomo did lay out two central aspects of his Green New Deal vision, which he is expected to expand upon when he presents his State of the State policy book in January: getting the state’s electricity to 100 percent carbon neutrality by 2040 and eventually eliminating the state’s carbon footprint entirely. Cuomo also contrasted his belief and policy plans with that of the Trump administration’s attitude, saying that “federal government still denies climate change, remarkably turning a blind eye to their own government's scientific report.”

Still, his initial position falls short of what the state’s most vocal climate change activists are calling for. Those activists, who have formed the NY Renews coalition, reacted to Cuomo’s announcement by putting together a slick movie trailer with footage of climate disasters and a press release pointing out that electricity is 20 percent of the state’s total carbon footprint, all in service of continuing to push their gold standard: the Climate and Community Protection Act.

The CCPA, which has passed the state Assembly for three years only to be stalled in the Republican-controlled state Senate that is about to turn to Democratic hands, establishes what advocates have called a “climate justice” framework. In addition to setting legislative targets for the use of renewable energy (50 percent of energy statewide by 2030) and carbon elimination (100 percent fossil fuel free by 2050), the bill also directs any transition project getting state funding to pay a prevailing wage and directs 40 percent of whatever state investment goes towards climate mitigation efforts to go to low-income communities and communities most threatened by climate change. All of which, according to the bill’s prime sponsor in the Senate, state Senator Brad Hoylman, add up to what the Manhattan Democrat says is the best approach to a Green New Deal, “a three-pronged approach: jobs, labor [standards], and protecting vulnerable communities.”

What the ramp up to transition away from fossil fuels will look like is not laid out in detail by the bill, instead the text requires the creation of a New York State Climate Action Council and directs the Department of Environmental Conservation to establish greenhouse gas emissions limits and regulations to achieve those limits. The bill also establishes a Climate Justice Working Group, which would study how to expand renewable energy into disadvantaged communities and would “have a role in determining what that investment would look like,” Hoylman said.

Whether that means a heavy hand from the state or not is something that’s been up for debate, and a place where Cuomo’s proclamation means he may soon weigh in. In a previous interview with Gotham Gazette, three-time Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins -- who has been running on a Green New Deal for New York since the 2010 race -- suggested that it would take “a World War II-scale mobilization” to prevent catastrophic damage from climate change. “During World War II we nationalized 25 percent of manufacturing in this country to make sure we could turn on a dime to make the weapons we used to beat the Nazis. The private investor-owned utilities and energy companies, they haven't led the way to clean energy, so we may need more public ownership,” Hawkins suggested.

In Hoylman’s view, the state doesn’t have to seize the means of production or even take on the role of primary investor, as much as it should shape where the market moves money.

“I think it's a combination of private investment, but with some prodding by the state to direct investment into low-income communities and communities of color, which otherwise might be passed by the marketplace,” Hoylman said of getting renewable power infrastructure into low-income communities. “I see government's role as a corrective one and making certain that that we've solved the collective action problem, which is basically doing nothing and allowing the marketplace to proceed unabated and our dependence on fossil fuels to increase. That might be less expensive in the short term, but it’s going to be more expensive in the long term. And then secondly, protecting those New Yorkers who often get left behind in these types of transitions, in particular where they’re reliant on outdated modes of energy like fossil fuels.”

As the CCPA has languished in the Republican-ruled state Senate, and the years tick closer to 2030, Hoylman said he understands the need to move fast on the legislation when his party takes the helm.

“I think so,” Hoylman said when asked if it was imperative that the CCPA is passed in 2019. “You know, we're running out of time on a lot of aspects, but certainly, if we're going to move as quickly as other states like California, we need to pass this bill as soon as possible.”

Hoylman also said that he is sensitive to the challenge that Democrats have in passing the CCPA and the Climate and Community Investment Act, which would help fund transition efforts through a carbon tax, while avoiding the pitfall of looking like the tax-hiking and regulation-spewing liberals Republicans warned they would be, but that inaction would be even worse.

“I think a Democratic Senate will be very sensitive to raising taxes of any sort without a real understanding of what the point behind them is,” Holyman said. “We think the Climate and Community Protection Act actually creates revenue, given the costs associated with climate change, so I would ask, ‘what is the cost of us not doing anything.’”

While the governor hasn’t signaled a position on the bill, and seems to have left the specifics for his Green New Deal for his State of the State, Hoylman praised moves that Cuomo has made on the climate with his executive powers, like establishing a commitment to 2.4 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030 and banning fracking. With both houses of the Legislature and the governor himself invested in the larger idea of transitioning away from fossil fuels, Hoylman said he sees a paradigm “that will push Albany to act more decisively on the issue.”

Whatever any final Green New Deal for New York looks like will be a product of negotiations between Cuomo and the Legislature, possibly as part of the late March or early April state budget agreement for the next fiscal year.

The new chair of the Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee, State Senator Todd Kaminsky of Long Island has said he is excited to get to work fighting climate change. “In the face of climate change and the dire threat it poses to New York and our planet, our State must emerge as an environmental leader and demonstrate that we understand the urgency at hand and the need to act accordingly," Kaminsky said in a statement to Gotham Gazette. "I plan to hit the ground running as chair to take more aggressive steps to protect our environment and New Yorkers, including holding hearings on the Climate and Community Protection Act, and enacting legislation in support of other resiliency and renewable energy efforts.”

As Kaminsky indicated, while the CCPA is the main event of this year’s legislative session when it comes to climate change activism, there’s a lot on the undercard that the state has been grappling with. While public transit is usually thought of as the domain of New York City and the surrounding metro area, and the governor’s Buffalo Billion II program doesn’t have the cleanest lineage, advocates for a Buffalo light rail expansion are hoping Senator Tim Kennedy’s place as chair of the Transportation Committee will mean more funding for expanding the system as the city determines the best path forward.

Elsewhere, the state is pushing for renewable energy with an RFP out asking for vendors to deliver 800 megawatts of offshore wind power (with winners to be announced in the spring of 2019) which was a goal in Cuomo’s 2018 State of the State book, and the NY-Sun initiative, which offers education and financing for solar projects and has supported almost 90,000 solar projects around the state.

There’s also the New York Green Bank, which has invested over $500 million in areas like community solar, energy efficiency and storage projects. The Cuomo administration has continued work on its RetrofitNY project, an effort to find ways to affordably and scalably retrofit multifamily buildings in order to cut their emissions, although the effort hasn’t made it out of the “proof of concept and design phase yet.”

Outside of the Legislature and the governor’s mansion, there’s also the ongoing argument over Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s management of the state pension fund, which is worth more than $200 billion. Environmental advocates have pressed DiNapoli to divest the state’s pension funds from fossil fuel companies, a move that they say would not only hurt companies who contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, but also make the state pension fund more money. DiNapoli, for his part, has argued against making any sudden, sweeping moves without studying their impact, and that he has a fiduciary duty to get the best return possible for the state, while also putting $10 billion in state pension funds in a low-emissions and clean energy indexes. He’s also argued that by being an activist investor, he can push the companies toward more climate-friendly policies.

New York City
There are also proposals for New York City to take action, independent of the state, with ongoing action to cut emissions and a pair of high-profile bills that were introduced at the end of 2018. The de Blasio administration has included climate change in the OneNYC agenda, setting goals to make New York “the most sustainable big city in the world” and “the most resilient big city in the world.”

Part of OneNYC is the de Blasio administration’s target for emissions cutbacks, the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050. The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability put out a Roadmap to 80x50 in 2016 that set a path for emissions reductions by way of energy standards for buildings, expanding the use of renewable energy, increasing the use of mass transit and reducing the amount of waste sent to city landfills.

The city is set to begin construction on the “Big U,” a coastal resiliency measure made up of parkland and berms around lower Manhattan to protect it from flooding, in spring 2020, according to the most recent news provided by the de Blasio administration. The updated plan for the flood protection, which involves raising the East River Park, has been criticized though, for making the project costlier in what critics say is an effort to not inconvenience drivers on the FDR Drive and avoiding dealing with the Parks Department’s lack of any kind of post-storm maintenance budget.  

agenda19v2 aAfter the mayor got out ahead of allies and even his office with proposed energy efficiency mandates regarding retrofitting and caps on the amount of fossil fuels buildings can burn, the exact ideas he’d proposed never really took off. But, a recently-introduced pair of bills from Queens City Council Member Costa Constantinides run with the idea, and if passed, would introduce new emissions standards for many buildings 25,000 square feet or larger. Since large buildings account for two-thirds of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, backers of the Constantinides bills see retrofitting large buildings by doing things like installing energy efficient HVAC systems, hot water heaters, and electricity and lighting, as one of the most effective ways for the city to cut those emissions 80 percent by 2050. The bills, which had their first hearing in December, would open an Office of Building Energy Performance that can set new buildings emissions standards and also establish a financing program to help the owners of some buildings finance efforts to retrofit their properties to reach the emissions targets the office sets out.

“We need to start where the emissions are, and these large buildings are the right place to do it,” Constantinides said at a hearing to introduce the bills, noting that while buildings larger than 50,000 square feet only make up less than one percent of the city’s building stock, they give off 30 percent of the city’s total emissions. However, while the bill’s supporters have praised the exemption of buildings with at least one rent-stabilized unit from the most stringent efficiency requirements as a necessary way to protect residents from potential rent hikes from upgrades counted as major capital improvements, critics have called the provision a major problem. (In the event that the state rent laws are changed to prevent landlords from passing MCIs on to rent-stabilized tenants though, organizations like New York Communities for Change have expressed support for writing buildings with rent-stabilized units into the law.)

Mark Chambers, director of the de Blasio administration’s Office of Sustainability, told the City Council that the laws could create over 14,000 jobs related to the efforts to retrofit buildings and praised the establishment of a New York City PACE financing program as a way to make sure that property owners themselves aren’t burdened by the efficiency upgrades.

Elsewhere, activists who started a campaign this summer to establish a public bank in New York City recently rallied at City Hall to connect the potential municipal bank with efforts to fight climate change on a local level. First, advocates say that taking billions of city deposits away from larger banks like Chase and Bank of America, who finance fossil fuel extraction with some of their money, would be as effective a strike against fossil fuel reliance as the city’s underway efforts to divest its public pension funds from fossil fuel stock. Additionally, advocates say that a public bank would allow for cheaper financing of small-scale renewable energy projects that will be necessary in the coming transition away from fossil fuels.

“Waterfront solar projects, community solar projects, all of those kind of projects could be funded more easily if the intermediaries that were trying to do the good work didn't have to go to their very limited pots of money or could get money out of somebody bigger who wasn't predatory,” Stephan Edel, the director of the New York Working Families Project at the Working Families Party, told Gotham Gazette.

And while Edel had praise for the pension funds and the state’s green bank as effective tools in the transition to a green economy, he also said that a public bank could lend to projects that return on their investment somewhat slower. “A public bank still has to make safe investments, has to make that limited return, but it can look at a longer term set of benefits and it can look at investments that can have a long-term benefit because it's not looking to get its return in a quarter or make nine percent,” he said.

As for the proposal’s legislative future, the New Economy Project’s Ali Issa told Gotham Gazette that the Public Bank NYC coalition is working with “an array of state and city elected officials, including Council Member Mark Levine” to put a proposal for the bank forward in 2019.

Levine, for his part, provided a statement saying, “though we have made progress divesting from the fossil fuel industry, we must go further. Our City should put its own money to work for New Yorkers through a public bank, which would supercharge investments in critical projects throughout the five boroughs, and return financial power to the people and businesses that need it most.”

This is part of AGENDA 2019, a joint Gotham Gazette-City Limits project
Find the rest of the series here

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by Dave Colon, Gotham Gazette
     

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Max & Murphy Podcast: Should Andrew Cuomo Run for President?


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Ben Max, left, of Gotham Gazette, and Jarrett Murphy, right, of City Limits


January 2, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Should Andrew Cuomo Run for President?

2019 agenda 100 days 400Governor Andrew Cuomo just gave his inaugural address for his third term, remarks delivered from Ellis Island that further sparked discussion about Cuomo's possible consideration of a run for the presidency. While Cuomo has said he's not going to run for president and signs largely say he means it, he also appears happy to continue to stoke the embers and may give the notion another thought after passing elements of a sweeping "Justice Agenda" that he has laid out and says he will pass in the "first 100 days" of 2019. The hosts discuss Cuomo's potential pursuit of the presidential nomination, including the cases for and against a Cuomo candidacy, the larger Democratic presidential field, and more.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMax and @JarrettMurphy. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts, under "Max & Murphy," and listen to Max & Murphy live on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. on WBAI radio, 99.5FM or wbai.org

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by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
     

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35 Questions for New York Politics in 2019


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Cuomo & de Blasio celebrate Amazon to NY (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


1. Will Kirsten Gillibrand and/or Michael Bloomberg run for President?

2. Will Andrew Cuomo explore a presidential run?

3. How will Chuck Schumer perform as Senate minority leader amid a new power dynamic in Washington? What impact will Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have as she officially takes office and the year progresses? What other New York representatives will make significant impact in the new Washington, especially given new powerful committee roles? Will Gateway funding from the federal government come through? Are there other major decisions related to federal funding or policy that impact New York?

4. How will Cuomo’s third term start, with major accomplishments, acrimony with legislators - both? How much of his outlined "first 100 days" agenda will he get passed in that time period?

5. What will and won’t pass in Albany before and through a budget deal at the end of March? Will the budget be on time? How will the changes in the federal tax code affect New York? Where will the areas of more easy agreement be among the legislative majorities and Cuomo? What subjects will prove most contentious? What will be left over to the legislative session after the budget?

6. Will the Reproductive Health Act sail through? The Child Victims Act (with what details)? Will marijuana be legalized and if so, what will the regulations look like? Will congestion pricing pass? The Dream Act? Which pieces of gun control will pass? What will the New York Green New Deal look like exactly? Will cash bail be abolished? Will anything be done about plastic bags? Will rent regulations, such as and especially vacancy decontrol, be reformed/eliminated/extended? Will there be hearings and real debate over single-payer health care (the New York Health Act)? Will there be any movement on granting driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants? Will sweeping voting reforms actually be passed? Will there be strong new state government ethics and campaign finance laws? And so on...

7. Where will the annual fight over education aid land this year? What other key education battles will emerge? Will there be legislation related to teacher evaluations? Will anything happen regarding admissions to New York City’s specialized high schools? Will mayoral control of New York City schools be extended? What will happen with the charter school cap? Will mayoral control be extended to another municipality, like Rochester?

8. How will Andrea Stewart-Cousins perform as Senate Majority Leader and how will the new Senate Democratic majority run the chamber? Which new state senators will set themselves apart?

9. Will the Legislature hold tough oversight hearings? Will there be one on the MTA? Will there be hearings on sexual misconduct in government and the private sector? Will laws meant to prevent sexual misconduct passed in 2018 be strengthened in 2019?

10. How will Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie approach the new world order in Albany? How will Heastie’s relationship with Cuomo evolve? How hard left will the Assembly Democrats push?

11. Will state lawmakers take any significant action to change the outcomes of the decisions of the legislative and executive compensation commission?

12. How will Letitia James perform as Attorney General? Will her efforts to investigate President Donald Trump, his associates and enterprises, show results? Will she be the independent actor she has promised with regard to Governor Cuomo and other elected officials?

13. What next steps will Comptroller Tom DiNapoli take in his management of the state pension fund, especially with regard to fossil fuel companies and the question of divestment? How will DiNapoli approach his oversight role?

14. Who will be the next head of the MTA? Will the MTA be restructured? Can the next MTA chair, Andy Byford, Governor Cuomo and state legislators save the subways? Can they, along with Mayor de Blasio, resuscitate the buses? Will MTA labor and construction costs be reined in? How will the MTA’s capital needs be funded?

15. Can Cuomo and de Blasio work together productively on anything? Many things?

16. Will Mayor de Blasio regain some mojo? Will the mayor put forth new, exciting ideas?

17. Who will be the next Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development? Will there be (m)any high-profile departures of top administration officials?

18. How will de Blasio’s programs evolve and proceed in 2019 -- will he adjust his affordable housing plan further? Will he figure out funding for the BQX by securing the federal dollars he says are needed? Can he again rethink his approach to homelessness to more quickly reduce the number of people living in shelters? Which neighborhoods will the city rezone in 2019?
Will crime continue to drop? Will the city become safer for pedestrians and bicyclists? Will the mayor do anything serious about street congestion?

19. What’s next in the process for Amazon to create a Queens campus? Will there be sustained protests? How will community outreach go? Will there be changes to the deal announced, like some planned return/investment of subsidies? Is there anything opponents, especially in the state Legislature, can do to stop or significantly alter the deal? How will the Cuomo-de Blasio alliance on Amazon evolve? Will they stay united in defense of the project or will the like-mindedness fray given de Blasio’s comments about subsidies?

20. What will be the result of the NYPD trial of Officer Daniel Pantaleo? Will anything larger change in how the NYPD deals with accountability for its officers? Will the state repeal or drastically alter the 50-a section of civil rights law that relates to making officers’ personnel records publicly available?

21. Who will run NYCHA? Will the federal government insert itself in a new, formal way? Will Mayor de Blasio appoint someone new as Chair? Will de Blasio and NYCHA move ahead aggressively with the new NYCHA 2.0 plan that de Blasio and others unveiled at the end of 2018?

22. How will Margaret Garnett perform as Department of Investigation commissioner? Will anything come of the reported investigation into whether Mayor de Blasio or City Hall officials interfered with a city investigation into the education yeshivas provide?

23. Where will things go with oversight of those yeshivas and new state guidelines to ensure they are providing substantially equivalent secular education to public schools?

24. Will anyone do anything about rampant parking placard abuse?

25. Will anything be done to help distressed taxi drivers in the city, especially with regard to medallion debt? What’s next in terms of regulating Uber/Lyft and such companies?

26. How aggressively will the city, the Department of Education and Chancellor Richard Carranza push local school districts to pass rezonings and changes in admissions policies aimed at racial integration? What will happen with de Blasio’s Renewal Schools program? How will the rollout of de Blasio’s “3-K” program proceed?

27. Who will be the next New York City Public Advocate (the election is February 26!)? Who will run in the fall election for that same position?

28. How will Speaker Corey Johnson perform as acting Public Advocate from January 1 to February 27? How else will Johnson make his mark in 2019? Will he give a State of the City speech and announce bold proposals? What will his push for city control of the subways and buses look like? Will the City Council pass bills the Mayor doesn’t agree to? Will it force the Mayor to use his first veto since taking office?

29. What will be the key battles in the next city budget negotiations? Will de Blasio and the City Council take steps to increase savings and reduce spending?

30. What will the 2019 New York City Charter Revision Commission put on the November ballot? How will those proposals fare? Will there be major overhauls to how New York City does its budgeting and/or land use? Will there be instant-runoff voting?

31. Who will be the next Queens District Attorney? Will there be competitive races in the Bronx or on Staten Island for those two DA positions?

32. Will Chirlane McCray’s political plans become clearer? Will we get any sense of what Mayor de Blasio is eyeing post-mayoralty?

33. What will be the next steps in the early 2021 mayoral campaign -- will Corey Johnson join Scott Stringer, Ruben Diaz, Jr., and Eric Adams as candidates clearly intent on running? Who else might float their names or signal their exploration? Who will take the first steps toward running for City Comptroller in 2021? Who else will emerge as candidates for the various borough president positions? (We know Jimmy Van Bramer is running for Queens BP and Robert Cornegy Jr. is running for Brooklyn BP)

34. Will there be apparent jockeying to become the next City Council Speaker?

35. What steps will Republicans in New York take to remake the party and prepare for future elections? What role will 2018 gubernatorial nominee Marc Molinaro have moving forward? Can the party develop its bench, and better line candidates up for citywide, statewide, and other key positions? Can it set the groundwork to regain the state Senate in 2020? Will the state party and party leaders rethink their approach to President Trump?

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by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
     

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This article has been updated.

Predictions! Experts Look Ahead to 2019 in New York Politics


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(photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)


As we usually do around this time of year, Gotham Gazette asked New York politicos to look into their crystal balls for predictions for the year ahead. Below you'll find insights from elected officials, advocates, analysts, and others who are tuned in to New York politics.

We know that 2019 will be interesting given that Democrats are taking full control of state government, there's a new New York attorney general, there will be a new New York City public advocate, the MTA and NYCHA must be rescued, and more. But what *exactly* will happen? Read below for some ideas.

Before (or after) seeing this year's predictons for 2019, revisit last year's predictions for this year, and see who did well and who didn't.

The new round of political predictions, these for 2019, is below.

Have something to add to the conversation? Tweet @GothamGazette with your prediction for 2019 in New York Politics

Predictions for 2019 in New York Politics

Eric Adams, Brooklyn Borough President
-Meatless Mondays will take the city by storm, and government agencies will take a fresh look at their food procurement policies, with both public health and climate change in mind.

Marc Molinaro, Dutchess County Executive
-Legislature will assert and restore constitutional balance between the branches of state government.
-New Senate Majority won’t care about on-time budgets.
-Governor will yearn for a Republican State Senate.
-Governor legalizes marijuana but no one will get high.
-Child Victims Act adopted before April 1.
-Mets win the World Series!

Keith Powers, New York City Council member
-The L train closure will cause transportation woes, but construction will remain on schedule in 2019. Consider me an optimist.
-The City and State will take on voting reform ahead of 2020, including early voting in the state and ranked choice voting in the city.
-City Hall hosts a Yankees World Series parade in 2019.

Carol Kellermann, president of Citizens Budget Commission
-The City Property Tax Commission makes a proposal for a more fair and transparent property tax structure and it is enacted by the NYS Legislature.
-In its upcoming contract negotiations the TWU proposes a three year wage freeze to help address the serious fiscal stress on the MTA.

Kathryn Wylde, president of Partnership for New York City
-Business and labor will unite behind Governor Cuomo’s bold plan to restructure the MTA and fund its modernization with congestion pricing and smart legislators will bite the bullet and sign on.

J.C. Polanco, professor and former Republican candidate for public advocate
-The new Senate Majority will soon experience growing pains the likes Mike Seaver wouldn't even fathom. They'll discover that New York is diverse and I am not referring to race, gender or ethnicity. If it is not less New York City-focused and more New York State focused, many of those suburban districts won during the blue wave may revert to the GOP.
-This is the year that we see Ruben Diaz Jr. and Scott Stringer begin to cement their positions as top two candidates to succeed Mayor de Blasio.
-After being elected attorney general, sky is the limit for Tish James, now clearly the one to beat for governor in 2022. She will gain national prominence as she puts into action what she has promised us all along -- a complete Mueller-style investigation into the Trump Organization, with subpoenas and indictments flying out of her office en masse. If the Democrats win the White House in 2020, no question she would be in the short list for U.S. Attorney General.

Boris Santos, chief of staff to State Senator Julia Salazar
-The State Assembly plays an integral role in thwarting legislation that they would have otherwise passed during the reign of the IDC (legislation that they'll pass the buck on: NYS Health Act and the Climate Community Protection Act). I hope the NYS Assembly proves me wrong!
-We'll bear witness to the biggest public action/rally in Albany by New York tenants only to see Governor Cuomo get rid of certain loopholes and not extend rent protections to every single tenant in our State. I hope the Governor proves me wrong!
-Mayoral control of schools gets extended but for the first time we'll get to see electeds (i.e. Senator Salazar and others) finally be creative and propose a revised governance structure to our educational system.

David Bloomfield, professor at Brooklyn College and The CUNY Graduate Center
-Replacement DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett continues obstruction of governmental administration probe into de Blasio administration’s delay of Department of Education’s yeshiva investigation, eventually referring Mayor for criminal charges based on newly discovered emails.
-State Legislature maintains SHSAT admissions test for specialized high schools, creating new schools to expand enrollment in minority neighborhoods.
-Mayoral Control of city schools is renewed; Governor vetoes provision giving Community Education Councils new powers over charter relocations though current cap on new charters is maintained.

Jonathan Bowles, executive director of Center for an Urban Future
-The new Congress cuts a deal with President Trump that finally brings federal funding for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River.
-Amazon comes to Long Island City after announcing that it will reject all discretionary tax incentives and make a major new investment to bolster subway service in Queens.

Bob Liff, senior vice president at George Arzt Communications
-Marijuana will be legalized by April, but the legislators will be so stoned they will lose the paperwork and fail to get it to the governor.
-The Staten Island secession movement will re-emerge, followed by a campaign to make New York City the 51st state, followed by an attempt by Brooklyn to reverse the 1898 municipal incorporation.
-Hipsters frustrated by the L-train closure will attempt to flock to Borough Park – it will not go well.
-The Mets will win the National League East.

Joanne N. Smith, Founder/CEO of Girls for Gender Equity
-In 2019, the youth of New York will continue to rise up and speak out against injustice, and they will be supported in their efforts by any politician who wishes to have a future in this state.
-We will win the fight to change policies that turn public classrooms into junior prisons and that our schools, workplaces and other institutions will begin to prioritize addressing sexual violence, thanks to the work of the 'me, too' movement and its partners.

Heath Brown, professor at John Jay College
-By summer, Beto O’Rourke, Stacey Abrams, and Andrew Gillum will all visit Manhattan to step up exploration of presidential runs in 2020. The "invisible primary" will be anything but invisible this cycle and the money race will be focused on demonstrating as much small-dollar as big-dollar fundraising potential.

Jeff Foreman, director for policy and advocacy at Care for the Homeless
-Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi’s Home Support Stability bill to increase the “shelter allowance” for people on assistance in New York for the first time in decades finally gets a vote, and if it’s enacted it’s a step to actually reducing homelessness in New York City.
-The 7 train continues it’s unreliable and way overcrowded service causing Long Island City residents (where I live) even more anxiety about Amazon and it’s huge new headquarters.
-Consensus is that the Mets will win the NL East, but of course they won’t.

Stefan Ringel, communications director for Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams
-The winner of the public advocate special election will garner less than 20 percent of the total vote.

Marissa Hoechstetter, activist
-2019 will be the year of the survivor in New York State. Legislators at all levels of state and local government must listen to firsthand testimony of those directly and indirectly harmed by sexual harassment, assault, and abuse. Whether through long overdue, and as yet unscheduled, public hearings on sexual harassment in Albany, a hearing in the New York City Council about a proposed law allowing mothers like me to remove abusive doctors’ names from our children’s birth certificates, or an honest commitment by law enforcement officials [like Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance] to act on behalf of those seeking help regardless of wealth, victim-informed laws and policies must be front and center for legislators and electeds. If not, constituents will vote them out.

Eli Valentin, professor at Monroe College
-Jumaane Williams and Melissa Mark-Viverito are the top two contenders in the public advocate special election. Mark-Viverito wins, making her the first Latina to be elected citywide.
-Recreational marijuana passes the Legislature and gets Cuomo’s stamp of approval.
-Legislators get their long-awaited pay raise, with limits (though not outright ban) on outside income.
-Nothing will be done, yet again, on much-needed election reform.

Aaron Carr, executive director of Housing Rights Initiative
-Vacancy decontrol will be repealed.
-Early voting will be enacted.
-The LLC loophole will be closed, eliminating a major liability for Governor Cuomo, who has long promised to close the LLC loophole only to become the biggest beneficiary of it since its creation.

Jonathan Ben-Menachem, policy and communications associate, Fines and Fees Justice Center
-Albany lawmakers will pass legislation repealing driver's license suspension for failure to pay fines and fees.
-Jumaane Williams will be elected New York City Public Advocate.

Have something to add to the conversation? Tweet @GothamGazette with your prediction for 2019 in New York Politics. (Review the predictions for 2018 here)

WATCH: State Senator-Elect Jessica Ramos on Heading to Albany


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State Senator-elect Jessica Ramos (photo: Gotham Gazette)


This is part of AGENDA 2019, a joint Gotham Gazette-City Limits project
Find the rest of the series here

mnn jessica ramos

Jessica Ramos won an unlikely victory in the Democratic primary to then cruise to victory in the general election and become State Senator-elect for her Queens district that includes neighborhoods like Corona and Jackson Heights. Ramos was part of a wave of challengers who unseated former members of the Senate's Independent Democratic Conference, a group of rogue Democrats who formed a power-sharing coalition with Republicans. As part of Agenda 2019 and on Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Ramos talked with hosts Ben Max and Jarrett Murphy about her top priorities and the new power landscape she's entering in Albany, where she will be part of the new Democratic majority in the Senate, her approach to Governor Andrew Cuomo, and much more. Watch:

 Gotham Gazette:

This is part of AGENDA 2019, a joint Gotham Gazette-City Limits project
Find the rest of the series here

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by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
     

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Hochul Previews 2019 Cuomo Administration Agenda, Defends Economic Development Programming


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Lt. Gov. Hochul at the REDC awards (photo: the Governor's Office)


In a recent radio interview, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul highlighted the elements of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s newly-unveiled 2019 agenda that she plans to have a significant role in passing. Hochul also discussed and defended the administration’s Regional Economic Development Council program, explained her role co-chairing the new Childcare Viability Task Force, and discussed the timetable for a statewide $15 minimum wage.

As a guest on the Max & Murphy show on WBAI, Hochul zeroed in on the section of Cuomo’s agenda, which he outlined during a speech two days prior, concerning the lives of women. She hopes to help see the state codify Roe v. Wade abortion protections in the next session, to make sure contraception care is covered by health insurance, and to pass the equal rights amendment as part of the state constitution. “Something that is embarrassing that we have not done in our state is, actually, pass the Equal Rights Amendment, something we’ve been talking about for over a hundred years in this state,” she said.

Hochul also mentioned her work on the state’s plan to protect New York’s healthcare system from federal government efforts to end coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. She affirmed a Cuomo administration commitment to protect the coverage of pre-existing conditions for all and to “get prescription drug costs under control.” When outlining his legislative agenda on December 17, Cuomo included several elements related to health care coverage, such as codifying the state’s health insurance exchange that is part of Affordable Care Act programming.

Hochul called it “A very bold and ambitious agenda,” adding, “I love being part of an administration where we take on the big challenges. Nothing is too much for us.”

Other elements of the agenda Cuomo outlined include legalizing recreational marijuana, passing congestion pricing program for New York City, crafting a “Green New Deal” for New York, and much more.

In the interview Hochul also discussed the goals for the $763 million in state funding allocated through the Regional Economic Development Councils, which she chairs, in its 2018 round eight, and addressed criticism alleging a lack of transparency in the allocation process and a lack of clarity around effectiveness of the grant program in terms of the jobs it creates.

She said the Cuomo administration’s primary objectives with the REDCs are economic development and job creation. For example, she said the funds would be used for workforce development in underserved areas, job training, and revitalizing main streets in communities throughout the state.

“We’re making a difference, and the jobs are coming back,” Hochul said. “We have over 8.1 million jobs here in the state of New York. That is the largest we’ve ever had in our state’s history.”

This year’s $763 million will be split among 10 different regions of the state, each of which submitted proposals in the annual competition. The amounts allocated to each region range from $66 million to $88.2 million, the most being awarded to Central New York. The initiative will fund 1,055 projects statewide, Hochul said.

The program was created by Cuomo in 2011, his first year in office, and has been at the heart of the governor's plan to jump-start the economy, especially in areas of the state that have struggled the most. Overall, the program has allocated $6.1 billion for 7,300 projects, and created 220,000 jobs, according Hochul.

“It is no longer Albany dictating where the money goes, it is really bottom up,” Hochul said. “And that is what is really transforming New York, upstate in particular.”

The REDC program is not without detractors. Critics, including outside watchdog organizations and elected officials, have cited both a lack of transparency in the process of how taxpayer funds are spent and a lack of specificity in terms of job-creation reporting.

Both the Citizens Budget Commission and Reinvent Albany have criticized the REDC program, questioning whether people can clearly see the REDC grants, recipients, and results, especially job numbers. Reinvent Albany criticized the 2018 awards for only allocating roughly half of the money in the form of state grants, with the other half in Excelsior Job Credits and Tax-Free Bonds. She highlighted that the $763 million advertised by the program is not actually representative of the total grant money allocated. It called the program “essentially a publicity framework for the governor to award dozens of small and large batches of state funding from very diverse sources in a game show format.”

Hochul defended the program, stating that all the information about the projects can be found online. “It’s crystal clear where the money has gone, and how it’s been allocated,” she said, though she did admit that she wasn’t sure if the job information was available, which it is not. She sought to assure New Yorkers that she and the governor are “careful stewards of the taxpayer dollar.”

Asked about the Childcare Availability Task Force that was recently announced by the Cuomo administration, and which Hochul is co-chairing, the Lieutenant Governor said the task force is intended to develop solutions for the lack of affordable child care across the state. Addressing this need will help allow women to meet their earning potential, Hochul said. She said the task force would conduct research on how best to tackle a deficit in affordable childcare. Hochul stated that the taskforce would advocate for the inclusion of child care resources in the workplace and to reevaluate how much childcare workers are paid. Hochul added that it is nearly impossible for a single mother to raise children while paying for child care on a minimum wage, which, she said, has created a crisis.

On the minimum wage, Hochul was asked about the timeline for reaching $15 an hour for all of New York State. The program is being implemented in regional stages, with New York City set to hit $15 at the being of 2019. But the timeline for upstate is less clear, with the original schedule, which was agreed upon in the 2016 state budget that passed the current phase-in, did not include a definitive timetable. This despite the fact that Cuomo and others regularly say the state has a $15 minimum wage.

Hochul was adamant that “there is a path” that gets the wage to $15 statewide. But citing different variables in the cost of living for different regions of the state, she stated, “It will eventually get to $15 throughout the state, I believe that.”

[Listen to the full interview with Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul]

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by Brendan Rose
@GothamGazette

Ben Max contributed to this story.

WATCH: A Veteran & A Rookie Discuss 2019 Plans for New State Senate Majority


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(photo: @MNN59)


This is part of AGENDA 2019, a joint Gotham Gazette-City Limits project
Find the rest of the series here

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Democrats won control of the State Senate in November and are set to take the majority in January, giving the party full control of state government. Senator Michael Gianaris, soon-to-be deputy leader of the conference, and newly-elected Julia Salazar, who will be the senator representing parts of northern Brooklyn, joined hosts Ben Max and Jarrett Murphy to discuss the year ahead, their individual priorities and where the Democratic majority plans to take the state.

 Gotham Gazette:

This is part of AGENDA 2019, a joint Gotham Gazette-City Limits project
Find the rest of the series here

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by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

Max & Murphy Podcast: Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul on 2019 Priorities


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Ben Max, left, of Gotham Gazette, and Jarrett Murphy, right, of City Limits


December 19, 2018 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul on 2019 Priorities

wbai 12 19 lt governor kathy hochulLieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul joined the show to discuss the Cuomo administration priorities for 2019, including which issues she plans to be most involved with, the state's economic development programming, her leadership of a new child care task force, the minimum wage, and more.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMax and @JarrettMurphy. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts, under "Max & Murphy," and listen to Max & Murphy live on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. on WBAI radio, 99.5FM or wbai.org

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by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
     

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