(photo: Mayoral Photography Office)

1. Will Donald Trump be removed from office? Will he win a second term as president? What will be the results of any known or unknown investigations into Trump world, from Congress to New York Attorney General Letitia James to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York or elsewhere?

2. How will Mike Bloomberg fare in the 2020 presidential race? What impact will he have on the race (even if he isn’t the Democratic nominee)?

3. Who will key New York Democratic officials endorse for president? Who will win the April Democratic presidential primary in New York? Will that primary matter?

4. How will Chuck Schumer perform as Senate minority leader? Will the 2020 elections put him on a path to majority leader? Which other New Yorkers will play the most prominent roles in both government proceedings and the presidential campaign? What impact will AOC have in year two of her tenure and as a supporter of Bernie Sanders for president? What does Hakeem Jeffries’ year have in store?

5. Can Max Rose keep his seat? How will other New York House races turn out? Will any incumbents fall in the primaries? Might the second time be the charm for Adem Bunkedekko against Yvette Clark, for example? Who will prevail in the crowded ‘open’ race for retiring Jose Serrano’s seat? Will Democrats keep the House, and if so, will it be because of or in spite of key New York races like Rose’s and others outside the city?

6. Could Andrew Cuomo or Bill de Blasio or Kirsten Gillibrand (or other prominent New Yorkers) wind up in the administration of a victorious Democratic presidential candidate?

7. How well will New York fill out the 2020 Census? Will city and state government efforts prove successful in encouraging stronger participation than in 2010? How many congressional seats will New York lose?

8. What will drive Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2020 agenda?

9. What will Cuomo and the Democratic majorities in the state Legislature do for an encore after their historic and highly-prolific 2019? Will the Carl Heastie-Andrea Stewart-Cousins bond continue to flourish or will the two legislative majorities diverge more than in 2019? How will Cuomo’s relationship with the Legislature, and with each legislative majority, play out? How will the Senate Democratic conference hold up in year two if its new majority amid a legislative election year?

10. Will New York legalize adult use of marijuana? Will another go at e-bike and e-scooter legalization pan out? Will the state legalize paid gestational surrogacy? Will there be a compromise on a new prevailing wage law? New limits on solitary confinement? Any real movement on the New York Health Act for single-payer health care? Anything allowing ‘safe injection sites’ to open? New affordable housing laws? Additional voting and criminal justice reforms? Will the cap on charter schools in New York City be lifted? What other high-profile policies pass or fail?

11. Will state lawmakers tweak the new campaign finance and political party ballot access laws? How will the state's smaller parties fair under the new ballot line requirements, which are set to take effect for the presidential election? Will lawmakers pass legislation to institute legislative and executive pay raises and outside income limits that were struck down in court? Will there be any movement to reform or replace JCOPE?

12. How will Cuomo and legislators fill a $6.1 billion budget gap? Will there be any major changes to education aid, Medicaid reimbursements, economic development spending? Will there be tax increases? Significant spending cuts? How much will Cuomo try to raid from New York City?

13. How will implementation of key 2019 state accomplishments go? Will criminal justice reforms show positive results or will naysayers be proven right, or both? Will lawmakers change any of the new bail or discovery laws? How will initial implementation of the state’s new environmental and energy policies go, including the plastic bag ‘ban’?

14. Will there be any new steps by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli or the Legislature to move state pension money out of fossil fuel company investments? Will New York City’s efforts on this front move ahead as planned by Comptroller Scott Stringer and Mayor de Blasio?

15. Will we see other State Senate Republicans decline to run for reelection? How strong is the new left-wing movement, including the Democratic Socialists of America? Will progressive candidates unseat incumbent Democratic state legislators in the June primaries? Can the Democrats keep and grow their State Senate majority in November? Will there be any demonstrable moderate and/or conservative backlash to the state’s progressive swing?

16. Will the MTA’s subway service continue to improve? Will the MTA and the de Blasio administration get the city’s buses moving more quickly and reverse ridership declines? Will implementation of the new MTA capital plan move along as planned? Will the funding for it materialize as outlined?

17. Will Andy Byford remain at the MTA?

18. How will the MTA/NYPD crackdown on homelessness and fare evasion and other crimes in the subways go?

19. Will de Blasio announce any other busways? Will the city make any real dents in street congestion and traffic? Will there be any movement on curbing deliveries? Will the city do anything new about the way trash is collected from sidewalks?

20. What will the congestion pricing system look like?

21. Will there be any next steps from the City Council and Speaker Corey Johnson in efforts to “break the car culture”? Will the Council move to reduce on-street parking or create a resident parking permit system in certain neighborhoods? Will there be any demonstrable reduction in parking placard abuse?

22. Will the city improve on the 2019 setbacks to Vision Zero and reverse the increase in deaths among pedestrians and bike-riders?

23. Will there be any movement to decrease the per-ride subsidies in the city’s ferry system? Will there be any progress in integrating the ferries with MTA payment for buses and subways?

24. Will there be any real movement on the BQX? What will the city decide to do about the BQE? Might Cuomo swoop in?

25. Can Mayor de Blasio reinvigorate his mayoralty and improve his standing among New Yorkers? How much time will de Blasio spend on national politics? Will he wind up as a prominent surrogate for whichever Democratic presidential candidate he endorses? What city issues will he focus on, what will he propose in his 2020 State of the City speech and preliminary fiscal year 2021 budget?

26. Can the mayor and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams get paid personal time legislation passed? What else will Williams focus on in 2020?

27. What will de Blasio do about school desegregation, which aspects of his task force’s recommendations will he support? What will his new specialized high schools admissions reform plan look like? What will he do about property tax reform? What will the mayor’s Albany agenda include on education, property taxes, and other items?

28. What will 2020 bring in the ongoing Bill de Blasio-Andrew Cuomo saga?

29. Can de Blasio make significant progress with regard to NYCHA, homelessness, and other major crises and challenges facing the city? How many, if any, NYCHA infill development plans will move ahead? Which, if any, neighborhoods will the city rezone? How will the Gowanus rezoning pan out? Bushwick? Industry City? Will the mayor further tweak his affordable housing plan as promised when he announced Vicki Been as Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development?

30. What will be the big city budget battles of 2020? How will the City Council assert itself on the budget, legislatively, in its oversight capacity?

31. Can the mayor show progress with the city’s most troubled schools? Will de Blasio move to close more underperforming schools? How will the first full wave of 70,000 pre-K students fair on 3rd grade state exams? What’s next in the city’s oversight of yeshivas?

32. What’s next for ThriveNYC? Will the de Blasio administration’s “mental health roadmap” run by First Lady Chirlane McCray begin to show stronger results? Will there be additional City Council clamor for a reduction in funds provided to the initiative? How will the city’s recently-announced plans to better tackle problems associated with untreated serious mental illness pan out?

33. How will Dermot Shea perform in his first full year as NYPD Commissioner? Will he implement ongoing and promised reforms to key aspects of how the NYPD does business, including officer discipline and the special victims division, among others?

34. Will the 2019 uptick in murders be reversed? Will the increase in hate crimes, especially anti-Semitic ones, be reversed? Will the city stay on track in its plans to reduce the jail population, close Rikers Island jails, and build new jails? Will there be any indication of what's next for Rikers Island?

35. Will there be any change to section “50-a” of state civil rights law that has been re-interpreted by the de Blasio administration to shield NYPD personnel records?

36. Will anything be done to help distressed taxi driver-medallion owners in the city, especially with regard to their debt?

37. What high-profile departures from the de Blasio administration will we see?

38. How will Melinda Katz perform as Queens District Attorney?

39. What’s next for Tiffany Cabán?

40. Who will succeed Katz as Queens Borough President? If that person is leaving a City Council post, who will then win that next special election?

41. How much of a role with the scuttled Amazon deal play in Queens and other elections, including for state legislative seats?

42. What will jockeying for the city’s 2021 elections look like? What are the next steps in the early mayoral race? Who jumps into the race or at least flirts with it? How will the ‘big four’ expected Democratic candidates (Adams, Diaz Jr., Johnson, Stringer) seek to differentiate themselves? How will their fundraising go? Who will declare their candidacies for public advocate or comptroller, for the borough presidencies, for City Council seats? How will the early comptroller race play out? How will the looming city elections impact the City Council's government operations? How will looming implementation of ranked-choice voting impact campaigning?

43. What will early jockeying look like in the race to become the next City Council Speaker?

44. Will there be a definite answer about whether Chirlane McCray is running for elected office? If she is, which office?

45. Will Cy Vance run for reelection as Manhattan District Attorney? Either way, what will that early primary look like as 2020 progresses?

46. Will there be any shake-up or new leadership at the New York City Board of Elections?

47. How will implementation of all of New York’s elections (special elections, April presidential primary, June congressional and state legislative primaries, November general election) go, especially with regard to early voting and voter roll accuracy?

48. Just how high will voter turnout climb?

What did I miss? Let me know: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or @tweetBenMax (Yes, the headline says 50 questions, I'm leaving myself room to add two more.)

(photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

December 25, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: The Top 10 Stories of 2019 in New York Politics

The hosts break down the 10 biggest stories of 2019 in New York politics, from all-Democratic control in Albany to Mayor de Blasio's short-lived presidential campaign, from a federal monitor for NYCHA to a 'transformative' year at the MTA, Corey Johnson's quest to 'break the car culture,' and much 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.

(photo: Kristen Artz/Mayoral Photo 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 2020 will be interesting given that lawmakers in Albany must close a massive budget gap while the entire Legislature is on the ballot, Mayor de Blasio will be in his next-to-last year and trying to burnish his legacy, there's a Queens Borough President special election, congestion pricing is coming, NYCHA must be saved, the presidential election will loom over everything, and more. But what *exactly* will happen? Read below for some ideas.

Before (or after) seeing this year's predictons for 2020, revisit last year's predictions for this year, and see who did well and who didn't.

Have something to add to the conversation? Tweet @GothamGazette with your reactions or predictions for 2020 in New York politics.

Predictions for 2020 in New York Politics

City Council Member Helen Rosenthal (D-Manhattan)
New York City will figure out how to build eight park bathrooms for $3.6 million, not just one.

City Council Member Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan)
The State Legislature will finally legalize the adult use of marijuana and establish a system for the sale of marijuana products, which will bring billions of new tax revenue to New York. However, what will be the most important part of this legislation is how it addresses communities that have been disproportionately targeted for drug offenses. This must include economic justice components such as increased tax revenue investments in communities impacted by drug enforcement and opportunities for local residents of color to receive business permits and start-up support.

City Council Member Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island)
-Although I don’t wish it, a scandal will upend a leading mayoral candidate.
-We will have a new understanding of the Bloomberg administration and its legacy.

City Council Member Carlos Menchaca (D-Brooklyn)
In 2020, New York City will join 70+ cities around the country and honor its indigenous people by also observing Indigenous People’s Day on the second Monday in October.”

Marc Molinaro, Dutchess County Executive (R)
-Despite the most robust national economy in a generation and obvious need to control spending and reform government, Albany will raise taxes.
-The Mets win the World Series.
-Lawmakers accept JCOPE is a feckless embarrassment and replace it with truly independent ethics enforcement (Unfortunately this is even less likely than #2).

Mike Murphy, State Senate Democratic Conference
More Senate Republicans will abandon their sinking ship.

Kathryn Wylde, Partnership for New York City
The “courtesy” of ceding all zoning and land use decisions to the City Council member who represents the location in question will come to an end as term limited Council members look for their next job and recognize that the larger interests of the city are suffering as a result of this practice.

Christina Greer, Fordham University and FAQ podcast
-The headaches will just get worse for Mayor de Blasio and the real estate folks in his orbit. FOIA requests will continue to expose several questionable relationships and partnerships.
-Hakeem Jeffries’ star will continue to rise in DC as the president’s desperation rises and the Democratic House serves as the dam preventing American democracy from falling off a cliff.
-Max Rose will be victorious winning a second term.
-Southeast Queens will rally to help Donovan Richards narrowly win the Queens Borough President race.
-Gloves will come off this summer as the 2021 mayor’s race heats up.
-Marijuana legalization will continue to stall in Albany and will not be passed in 2020.
-Cuomo will slowly become a one man IDC by the end of the year.

Moses Gates, Regional Plan Association
-For the first time in over a century, Rikers Island will officially house something other than a correctional facility or landfill - likely a park, memorial and/or solar field.
-The lack of affordable housing will become as much of a political issue in Nassau and Westchester counties as it is in New York City.
-Building on the success at Rockefeller Center, the City looks at pedestrianizing everywhere south of 59th street between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
-The city moves the Wall Street Bull back to its original home in front of the New York Stock Exchange which finally takes down the fence and opens to the public with a new museum, catalyzing a new tourism boom in Lower Manhattan.

Nicole Gelinas, Manhattan Institute
-We'll see far more aggressive moves on the environmental front, both at the state and the city levels, from more bans or fees on different types of single-use plastic products to a rethinking of whether we can continue to produce so much household-generated trash, which costs an enormous amount to either landfill or recycle.
-We'll see a real public pushback against disorder in the subway.

Chris Coffey, Tusk Ventures
-Donovan Richards will be Queens BP.
-As soon as the presidential ends, the mayor’s race will come into focus. Still expect an unexpected candidate to get in the race.
-Getting big insider money out of politics will play a major role in the 2021 mayor’s race, especially real estate money. Voters also will be looking for a contrast with de Blasio, with a candidate who relishes New York and who will be passionate about being mayor.
-The City Council speaker’s race will also heat up by the end of the year. Expect the Hotel Trades Council and Democratic Socialists of America to play the two biggest roles. If the DSA can form a bloc (maybe with the Working Families Party), like 2013’s progressive bloc, it could be really powerful in a year where the counties’ roles are less clear given 35-plus new Council members. Council Members Rivera, Powers, Brannan, Ampry-Samuels, Adams, Salamanca, and Moya are all in the pre-hunt.

JC Polanco, attorney and consultant
-Working Families Party will be an albatross for many suburban candidates, hurting Democratic candidates in those areas.
-As the DSA and WFP declare war on incumbent Democrats, Chairs Meeks and Crespo will beat back several primary challenges in Queens and the Bronx.
-Governor Cuomo will create a centrist/pragmatic caucus made up of centrist and moderate Democrats and Republicans to fight off the WFP crazies.
-The economy continues to excel making it difficult for Sanders and Warren to win the nomination. Biden and Bloomberg will be the last two standing after Super Tuesday.
-One of Deval Patrick, Julian Castro, and Kamala Harris will be the number 2 for either Biden or Bloomberg.
-If a Democrat wins the White House, get ready for NY AG Tish James to be one of the first cabinet officials named as she becomes the next U.S. Attorney General.

Carol Kellermann, formerly Citizens Budget Commission
The Appellate Division will deny the City’s appeal in the challenge to the City’s real property tax law, TENNY vs NYC et al, and the administration and the Council will be forced to choose between a trial about how tax discriminatory the is and finally coming up with a more equitable property tax system.

Rita Pasarell, Sexual Harassment Working Group
In 2020 we will see worker power continue to grow, and additional gains from MeToo improving workers' rights against discrimination. Legislative staff will become more protected, and the strong unionization efforts from New York City Council staff will overhaul power dynamics and spread to other workplaces. We'll also see better-crafted sexual harassment investigations which honor victims and reduce trauma, instead of causing more harm.

Lauren Bailey and Nick Sifuentes, Tristate Transportation Campaign
-With no response on e-bikes from Albany, New York City will feel the pressure to find a solution and pass a local rule, finally ending the racist double standard for electric assist bike and scooter usage.
-More car-free bus only roadways will be announced, but where? We’d love to see Flushing, Harlem-125th Street, and maybe even sections of Grand Concourse, for starters.
-A vacant MTA board seat sits empty as politicos fight for the spot when we already know who it should go to: an MTA rider with a disability, who knows what the system needs to make it accessible to everyone!

Danny Harris, Transportation Alternatives
-Inspired by the success of the 14th Street busway, the Department of Transportation rolls out plans for new busways in Manhattan and the outer boroughs.
-City Council advances legislation and implementation of the "Bike Mayor" and Office of Active Transportation.

Bill O’Reilly, The November Team
-Governor Cuomo develops Carpal Tunnel Syndrome after signing 27,603 progressive bills into law. He is thereafter known as 'Lefty.' The WFP howls.
-Senate Republicans draw straws over who has to serve as minority leader. Senator Flanagan gets the short one again. ('Cmon', guys, three out of five.')
-Democrats compromise with upstate Republicans and move the state capital to Yonkers.

Andrew Rein, Citizens Budget Commission
-The legislature and Governor will amend state law to allow New York City to have a true Rainy Day Fund to be used when there is a recession or severe emergency. Then, city leaders will coalesce around a prudent set of city law changes requiring reasonable deposits to the fund and use only when truly needed.
-Governor Cuomo will resist imprudent calls for more fiscal gimmickry and counterproductive taxes during the currently expanding economy and lead the state to balance the budget with restrained spending in Medicaid and school aid to wealthy districts, and other targeted cuts.

Laura McQuade, Planned Parenthood of New York City (soon to be Planned Parenthood of Greater New York)
New York will have a supermajority of pro-reproductive leaders in both chambers of the legislature, which will be the first such supermajority in the Senate in New York’s history!

Marissa Hoechstetter, Reform the Sex Crimes Unit
The voices of countless survivors of sexual assault from across the city and state will continue to be a force for change. Whether anonymously through filings under the Child Victims Act, in name through testimony in support of the Adult Survivors Act, or in the streets through protests demanding real reform within law enforcement, survivors will be the ones to lead us forward in the fight to end sexual violence.

David Bloomfield, Brooklyn College & CUNY Graduate Center
-Throughout 2020, Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza continue to review the recommendations of the two-year study by their School Diversity Advisory Group.
-The state repeals the SHSAT requirement for specialized high schools. A year later, the mayor and chancellor appoint an advisory group to replace it while maintaining the test.
-The mayor and chancellor continue what the Department of Investigation called their “accommodating approach” to Yeshivas with no noticeable improvement in secular education among ultra-Orthodox youth.

Heath Brown, John Jay College
-Ranked-choice voting will be the number one topic of conversation in the run up to the mayoral election in 2021. Will everyone’s number 2 win in 2021?
-Every campaign will be looking for guidance on best strategy to play by new RCV rules. Look to experts like Jack Santucci for best advice on how RCV will play out in city elections moving forward.

Albert Fox Cahn, Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
-The City Council will pass, and the mayor will sign, the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act, regulating NYPD surveillance.
-The Assembly and Senate will begin to outlaw controversial uses of facial recognition, beginning with a ban of facial recognition in schools.
-Discovery reforms will begin to reveal an array of new police abuses that never before would have seen the light of day.

Aaron Carr, Housing Rights Initiative
-Andrew Hevesi’s Home Stability Support bill -- which would provide housing subsidies for low-income families at risk of homelessness -- will be signed into law.
-Between the bill recently put forth by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams that mandates a racial impact study for future rezonings, and a ruling by a Manhattan Judge which (correctly) strikes down the rezoning in Inwood, Mayor de Blasio finds himself in a precarious position, and will ultimately support the Public Advocate’s bill as well as a plan to create affordable housing in wealthy SoHo.
-Surprising none, Mayor de Blasio will miss yet another key deadline to propose a plan to reform New York City's broken property tax system. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, whose working-class constituents unjustifiably pay some of the highest effective tax rates in New York City, will take a more active role.

Vishaan Chakrabarti, architect
The successful transformation of 14th Street into a space for people, bikes and mass transit will have a far reaching impact on the future of streets across New York. A 2020 vision for a 21st century Gotham will finally assert the spatial, environmental and commuting rights of the 7 million New Yorkers who don’t own cars.

Bob Liff, George Arzt Communications
-Cuomo and de Blasio sue and countersue each other for slander and alienation of affection, agree to settle it in an MMA fight, which draws only 25 people to Madison Square Garden, all of them paid staff.
-Once again, the City Council will have a lower arrest record than the State Senate.
-The Conflicts of Interest Board collapses in disarray after its entire membership is arrested for nepotism and self-dealing.

Jon Reinish, SKDKnickerbocker
-The Democratic presidential primary will ALL come down to New York.
-An unlikely candidate will rise and run for mayor in 2021.

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

@GothamGazette

(photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor’s Office)

More than 49,000 people on parole in New York had their voting rights restored under a conditional pardon order, signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, in the year-and-a-half since it’s been in effect.

The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision told Gotham Gazette Thursday that 49,485 people have been re-enfranchised since the program launched in May 2018. Of those, 7,943 were later revoked, either because of a parole violation or a new conviction. Officials won't say how many parolees were not given voting rights after their case was reviewed pursuant to the order.

The initiative, created through executive order, is a leap away from the Jim Crow-style disenfranchisement of people involved in the criminal legal system in New York State, where roughly half of the 46,000 people incarcerated in state prisons and 35,855 on parole are African-American. Civil rights advocates want to see the state deepen its commitment by codifying the order into law to protect it under future administrations. And some advocates believe it’s time to go further still, extending the franchise to people in state prison.

“It’s a giant step for the state of New York. But we have still not reached the finish line,” said Esmeralda Simmons, the founding executive director of the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. “The people that we are urging to be restored to their voting rights are citizens of this state and of this country. And as citizens, the right to vote is a sacred trust and responsibility.”

For years, criminal justice and voting rights advocates have been pushing for rights restoration upon release from prison. State lawmakers have been sponsoring legislation to that effect since 2010, but bills have only twice moved out of committee in either house and they have never come to a floor vote, according to the State Senate website.

With Cuomo’s executive order, which was criticized by Republicans as an election year gimmick and praised by Democrats, New York joined 18 other states and the District of Columbia in authorizing people on parole to vote. But there’s no guarantee it won’t be pulled back by a successor to the governor’s mansion. The next state legislative session begins in January, offering lawmakers a new opportunity to codify the action in the second year of full Democratic control of both houses of the Legislature and the executive chamber.

Cuomo announced the executive order on April 18, 2018, at a conference in New York City hosted by Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for a third term against challenger Cynthia Nixon, who was running to Cuomo’s left. Standing next to former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the governor said, “I proposed a piece of legislation, General Holder, this past year that said parolees should have the right to vote. The Republican Senate voted down that piece of legislation, which is another reason why we need a new Legislature this November.”

“But I’m unwilling to take ‘no’ for an answer,” he continued. “I’m going to make it law by executive order and I announce that here today.”

Under the current order, on a monthly basis the governor’s office will review a list provided by DOCCS of every person released from incarceration onto parole during the prior month and make a determination as to whether they will be given voting rights. A month after signing the order, Cuomo announced the re-enfranchisement of 24,086 people under what the department calls “community supervision,” or parole.

The order says that individuals on parole are active participants in society and should be “permitted to express their opinions about the choices facing their communities through their votes.” It further states, “the disenfranchisement of individuals on parole has a significant disproportionate racial impact thereby reducing the representation of minority populations.”

Criminal convictions have been used to suppress black voters, in New York and throughout the country, since the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments granted equal citizenship to freed African-Americans and outlawed racial discrimination in voting. It works in tandem with laws that have disproportionately ensnared non-white people in the criminal legal system.

According to a press release issued by the governor’s office at the time the executive order was signed in 2018, “African Americans and Hispanic New Yorkers” comprise 71 percent of people disenfranchised because of their status on parole. There are currently 46,000 people in state prisons, according to the DOCCS website, of which the latest statistics show 48 percent are African-American, and another 24 percent Hispanic.

Until 2013, the history of racial disenfranchisement in many parts of New York State, including New York City, required preclearance from the U.S. Attorney General under the 1965 Voting Rights Act before any changes impacting voting could be made. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled part of the Voting Rights Act outdated and unconstitutional, rendering the preclearance provision unenforceable, a cut to civil rights activists who lamented the loss of the historic and hardwon provision.

While applauding Cuomo’s executive order, many advocates had hoped to see it included in the slew of long-sought voting reforms passed the following session by the Democratic-controlled State Legislature.

“Restoring the right to vote to people who have paid their debt to society only strengthens our democracy, while promoting successful re-entry into our community and ultimately, making New York a safer and more just place to live,” wrote Caitlin Girouard, the governor’s press secretary, in an email. “Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, New York is making it easier to vote – from early voting to modernizing our election system - because voting is a basic right of citizenship and fundamental to our society.”

Advocates want to see legislation passed and enacted as soon as possible, concerned with what they have seen as a tepid approach to re-enfranchisement in Albany -- especially in the wake of the so-called “blue wave” 2018 elections that swept a cohort of progressive lawmakers into office this year. “It was on the table last year when all of the historic voting rights legislation passed, things that voting rights advocates have been asking for for 20, 30, 40 years...The fact that this was dropped was a bad signal,” Simmons said.

She added, “But that doesn’t mean it will not happen. I believe its time has come.”

A bill sponsored by Senator Leroy Comrie and Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell, both New York City Democrats, would have codified re-enfranchisement upon parole. It would also require state agencies to develop support and outreach programs for people leaving prison, and training for the public servants involved in the process. But the legislation failed to gain traction and died in committee.

Let NY Vote, a coalition of good government, grassroots, and labor organizations, which was instrumental in pushing state voting reform in 2019, will be pushing to codify voting rights for people on parole in the next state legislative session, which is about to begin.

According to Sarah Goff, Deputy Director of Common Cause NY, a founding member of the coalition, the group will also be pushing for the full voting rights of people who are currently incarcerated.

That would set New York apart from most other states, placing it with one of the least restrictive voting laws for people who have been incarcerated. Only two states -- Maine and Vermont -- allow people in prison to vote. Goff said accompanying that push will be an effort to amend the state constitution to prohibit prison-based gerrymandering.

“The advocates from the formerly-incarcerated community who have been so heroic in pushing reforms forward in New York City and New York State...were very disturbed at the turn of events and are pushing forward with our full support to make sure that this happens this time around,” Simmons said, speaking for The Center for Law and Social Justice, which is also a member of Let NY Vote.

How Parolee Re-enfranchisement Works in New York
Since Cuomo signed the April 2018 order, the governor’s office has worked with the Executive Clemency Bureau within DOCCS to review each case based on a number of factors, “including if the person is living successfully in the community by maintaining required contact with his or her parole officer and remaining at liberty at the time of the review,” a DOCCS spokesperson wrote in an email. Voting rights are revoked again if a person goes back to jail, either for a parole violation or a separate felony conviction.

The DOCCS spokesperson wrote: “Every individual who was under parole supervision, as of April 18, 2018, and every individual who has since been released from state correctional facilities to parole supervision has been reviewed by the Department’s Executive Clemency Bureau to determine their eligibility for a conditional voting pardon.”

Asked how many of them had not received the conditional pardon the spokesperson replied, “No comment.” The governor’s office did not respond to the question in an email.

According to DOCCS, the pardons are hand-delivered by a person’s parole officer, along with a voter registration form and location of the office where it can be submitted. Individuals can also find the status of their rights restoration using the Parolee Lookup feature on the DOCCS website. The spokesperson confirmed the list and other information are reviewed each month by the governor’s office before a conditional pardon is granted or revoked.

Of the 38,855 people under community supervision in New York State, a DOCCS factsheet published December 1 indicates 15,670 individuals are in New York City. The boroughs with the most parolees are the Bronx and Brooklyn, with 4,500 and 4,400, respectively. Manhattan is home to about 3,400, Queens 2,800, and Staten Island just 585.

“We need to have those voices heard at the ballot box. A democracy is not a democracy unless all citizens are able to participate.” Simmons said.

(photo: governor's office)

New York State is set to adopt a new electoral campaign finance system, with voluntary participation, lower individual contribution limits, and a new public matching system to amplify small donations. It is based on the recommendations of a state commission, which also raised the threshold for political party ballot access, that will become law unless the state Legislature acts to amend them by Sunday, December 22, which legislative leaders have given no indication they will attempt.

But while many reform-minded elected officials and advocates have long-desired a new public campaign finance system for New York, reactions to the proposals, has been decidedly mixed and included a chorus of criticism related to how high donation limits would remain, how high the bar for a party ballot line would be raised, and what the commission didn’t touch at all.

Most government reform groups critiqued the final plan, even as they begrudgingly embraced that some progress would be made, however limited. Other groups rejected the proposed system and, along with several state lawmakers, are insisting that the Legislature must take it upon itself, and should have in the first place, to craft a new campaign finance system for the state, and without the distraction of party qualifications.

All the critiques may be moot, though, if a pair of lawsuits against the commission’s mandate succeed, leading the entire system to be scrapped.

The New York State Public Campaign Financing Commission, a nine-member body, was appointed this year by Governor Andrew cuomo and the majority and minority legislative leaders to drastically overhaul the state’s campaign finance laws and curb what many see as the corrupting influence of massive campaign contributions. It recommended a new campaign finance program in which candidates running for statewide office or a seat in the state Legislature will be able to receive matching public funds for small dollar campaign contributions of up to $250, to boost the support of everyday New Yorkers and discourage reliance on wealthy donors.

Though contribution limits were reduced, they remain relatively high – statewide candidates can raise $18,000 from an individual donor, down from about $70,000 but still far higher than the $5,600 limit for a presidential candidate. An individual will be able to donate $10,000 to a State Senate candidate, down from $19,300; candidates for State Assembly can bring in $6,000 from individual donors, down from $9,400.

The commission also did not touch on state party committees, which can raise $117,300 from individuals and then send that to the candidate of their choosing without any limits. The commission also did not create restrictions, as advocates had called for, related to contributions from those either engaged in or seeking contracts from the state. These so-called “doing business” restrictions have been a signature reform in New York City, where a successful public matching funds program has been in place for three decades.

The commission steered clear of fusion voting, which allows candidates to appear on the ballot on multiple party lines and gives minor parties a potentially larger degree of influence in state politics. Minor parties worried that the commission would attempt to eliminate the fusion system, and sued to preempt it. But the changes to party ballot access could significantly alter the landscape of minor parties in the state: parties have had to see their gubernatorial candidate hit 50,000 votes on their party line in order to keep a ballot line for the next four years; under the new system, such access is reestablished every two years -- in presidential and gubernatorial elections -- and parties must see the top of their ticket hit 130,000 votes or 2% of the total vote, whichever is higher. In order to first appear on the ballot, a party and its statewide candidate will have to collect 45,000 signatures, up from 15,000.

The party qualifications are set to take effect right away, for the 2020 presidential election, while the new campaign finance system does not go into effect until 2026 legislative elections, two years after the next gubernatorial race. Those timelines are among the ways in which the commission’s recommendations appear to track closely with what Governor Andrew Cuomo may have designed in his own laboratory. Much of the commission’s work appeared to be directed or at least influenced by Cuomo-appointee Jay Jacobs, the state Democratic Party chair.

The state Legislature could choose to take up all the reforms and even tweak the system proposed by the commission in the upcoming legislative session, which begins January 8, or any thereafter. But there seems to be no appetite to do so from those in charge.

Spokespeople for the governor, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, all Democrats, did not respond to inquiries about whether they intend to amend the commission’s recommendations or let them stand, or even if they plan to introduce any further campaign finance legislation.

“There were some concerns. Some members are happy there’s a system,” Heastie said earlier this month, according to a Wall Street Journal report. “Some people are saying we can’t always let perfection stand in the way of good. I wasn’t alarmed by anything that the members raised.”

Cuomo, for his part, defended the commission after its report was released. “I think the commission was charged with a very difficult task, which was to reform the campaign finance system,” he told reporters after an unrelated news conference, arguing that the commission “made a number of inarguably great and dramatic reforms.”

In an op-ed in the New York Daily News, Assembly Members Harvey Epstein, Ron Kim, Yuh-Line Niou, and Linda Rosenthal, and Senators Gustavo Rivera and Julia Salazar wrote that the commission failed an opportunity to “break the tight grip of special interests and big money in our elections, take a giant step towards ending the era of dysfunction in Albany and empower everyday New Yorkers by making their voices heard through fundamental changes to our campaign finance policies.”

“Instead the commission approved a program that will do far too little to reduce big money’s dominance, will be in the hands of a dysfunctional agency too easily manipulated for partisan advantage and will only be launched years from now,” they added. “The commission also abused its power by using its process to launch an anti-democratic attack on New York’s minor parties that will make it unreasonably hard for them to remain on the ballot by raising the threshold of votes they must get.”

Though they are all but assured to fail, they vowed to introduce legislation before the December 22 deadline to make several fixes to the proposed system including further reducing contribution limits, putting administrative duties in a body other than the state Board of Elections, launching the program for the 2022 elections, removing the changes to party ballot thresholds and access, and adding a severability clause so if one proposal in the entire package is struck down by a court, the rest survive. “The commission’s proposal has fallen short, and the Legislature and governor have an obligation to act,” they said.

That group did not include all of the legislators who have spoken out publicly with their disappointment in the commission’s results.

Additionally, the Fair Elections for New York coalition, which spearheaded a massive movement for publicly financed elections this year, urged those same remedies in a November 27 letter to the governor and legislative leaders. “It is time to return to Albany to fix the Commission’s proposals and finally deliver the model for the nation New Yorkers were promised,” the coalition wrote.

The coalition includes several government reform groups – including Reinvent Albany, Citizens Union, the Brennan Center for Justice, New York Public Interest Research Group and Common Cause New York – which showed varying levels of support and condemnation for the proposals.

“With the recommendations approved today, the New York State Public Financing Commission has put together a solid foundation for a strong, state-level public financing system, the single most important reform any state can take in response to the Supreme Court’s infamous Citizens United decision,” said Lawrence Norden, director of Election Reform at the Brennan Center, in a statement when the commission concluded its work. “The commission’s program, if adopted, will bring more New Yorkers into the state’s democracy, as donors and as candidates.”

Reinvent Albany said in a statement the commission “deserves credit” for creating a small dollar matching funds program. But, they added, “Unfortunately, while better than the abominable status quo, the Commission’s proposal does not reduce the dominance of big money enough to earn Reinvent Albany’s support.”

Perhaps the most scathing critique came on Wednesday from Citizens Union, which rejected the proposals outright. “The proposals put forth by the Commission do not just fail to strengthen our democracy, they are anti-democratic,” said Citizens Union executive director Betsy Gotbaum and Board Chair Randy Mastro, in a statement. “They make it harder for candidates to qualify for the ballot, limit the choices of voters, offer incumbents an unfair advantage, and do not meaningfully limit the power of money in New York State politics. This program is designed to fail, and will only preserve the status quo in Albany. While Citizens Union has been long-time supporter of public financing of campaigns, we cannot endorse this package.”

Since the commission decided to tie all elements of its plan together as one combined package, the whole thing could be negated based on lawsuits from the Working Families Party and the Conservative Party. Though the suits are separate, they were heard by the same judge on December 12. The attorney for the commission did not appear.

Those legal efforts have been somewhat complicated by the final commission report. The suits sought to protect against interference with fusion voting, with attorneys for minor parties saying it was unconstitutional to give the commission that authority. The final report, however, addressed the adjacent issue of ballot access without directly targeting fusion voting, which has some arguing that the lawsuits no longer have any merit. Even Attorney General Letitia James, appearing on behalf of the state despite her previous affiliation with the WFP, filed a motion to dismiss them, saying that the lawsuits were irrelevant, according to a Politico New York report.

In a statement, WFP state director Bill Lipton said the commission’s objectives were transparent to see. "The Public Financing Commission's report makes clear that the Governor's principle motivation was to weaken the Working Families Party: there is no other reason to raise the threshold for third parties a full four years before public financing begins,” he said. “With the subtlety of a sledgehammer, the Governor and his allies tried to weaken New York's progressives before he runs for office again — instead, his blatant abuse of executive power has only further energized progressives for 2020 and beyond.”

In the wake of the commission’s final report, other small parties -- like the Green Party and Libertarian Party, which both typically run their own candidates and don’t participate in fusion voting -- have made some noise about a new lawsuit.

If no legislative action is taken and the lawsuits don’t amount to anything, the minor parties will need to kick into high gear in 2020 in order to secure the necessary votes in the presidential election.

Eventually, candidates and parties will begin adjusting to the new campaign finance system, which according to the legislation that created the commission will have an initial $100 million annual budget. The new program will be administered by a new Public Campaign Finance Board comprised of seven members – four will be the commissioners of the State Board of Elections and one each will be appointed by the governor and the state Legislature’s majority and minority parties.

(photo: governor's office)

The 2019 legislative session in Albany was, as Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins described it, “[T]he most historic and productive legislative session in New York State history, period.” The Democratic-controlled Legislature notched up a long list of victories, including many progressive bills that had languished under prior Republican leadership in the state Senate. But there remained unfinished business, imperfect new laws, and pressing concerns that have carried forward and will define the legislative calendar in 2020, which comes with its own set of particular challenges, in part stemming from upcoming elections.

Among the issues the governor and Legislature are expected to confront are a $6.1 billion projected budget deficit, health care, marijuana legalization, criminal justice reforms, campaign finance issues, gig economy protections, and more. Other topics of interest will include the annual debate over education funding, whether to reform New York City’s specialized high school admissions and property tax system, and more.

Legislators are set to be in session in Albany on 57 days in 2020, four fewer days than in 2019, and have front-loaded the business of the two legislative chambers into January and February after consolidating the state and congressional primaries into one day in June. State primaries had been in September until the change.

As every two years, each seat of the state Legislature -- 150 in the Assembly and 63 in the Senate -- is on the ballot, and sitting legislators will have to balance official duties with the task of seeking reelection, especially those competing in tough primaries. Instead of working until mid- to late June, as is usual practice, the last day of the session will be June 2. Primaries are set for June 23.

That accelerated timeline will be kicked into high gear once Governor Andrew Cuomo unveils his agenda for the year at his State of the State speech in Albany on January 8. That will be around the same time that the legislative majorities begin meeting in Albany, establishing their priorities for the session, and, if last year is a guide, moving forward on some pieces of key legislation. Cuomo will also present his Executive Budget for fiscal year 2021 sometime in January, a plan that will merge policy and spending, and must address a massive budget deficit that is likely to dominant much of the session until when a new budget is due on April 1.

The governor has already unveiled several proposals from his new “Making Progress Happen” agenda, including banning gun licenses for those convicted of certain “serious offenses” in other states, banning single-use styrofoam containers, closing the “rape intoxication loophole,” mandating automatic manual recounts in close elections, and banning fentanyl analogs that contribute to the opioid crisis.

He also noted in a news conference at the end of the 2019 session in June a few items he hadn’t gotten across the finish line but would again pursue in 2020, including legalizing recreational marijuana, legalizing paid gestational surrogacy, and passing a prevailing wage law for construction projects that receive government subsidies. “I’m disappointed that surrogacy did not get done, and I will continue to fight for that. Legalization of marijuana. Prevailing wage. Those are really the issues that did not get done, and I will revisit all of them next year,” he said.

Below are some of the most important items that will be on the 2020 agenda in Albany, including those of particular interest to New York City. Other issues could crop up again depending on what Cuomo decides to do with hundreds of bills he has yet to sign or veto, decisions he must make by the end of the year. Those include, for example, legislation to legalize e-bikes and e-scooters.

A Massive Budget Gap
The most pressing and immediate concern for the governor and Legislature will be a $6.1 billion projected budget gap for the next fiscal year, stemming from a substantial growth of Medicaid costs.

Year after year, Cuomo has claimed to cap growth of the state budget at 2% annually, but has often only provided the appearance of doing so through creative maneuvers that include moving spending either off budget or pushing it to the next fiscal year, as exposed by Citizens Budget Commission. At the same time, the governor did not heed urgent calls from fiscal watchdogs to increase the state’s reserves while the economy was flourishing, instead continuing to pump money into education spending, his economic development programs, and other initiatives.

Cuomo is expected to show his plan for closing the budget deficit when he presents his spending plan in mid-January.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie suggested last week that the solution may be to raise taxes on the wealthy rather than cutting spending on programs, including health care, that benefit the most vulnerable New Yorkers. “This is gonna be a tough budget year…unless money’s gonna fall from the sky, you always have to try to do things,” Heastie told reporters. “So when there’s a concern about having enough money, the two options always are do you cut spending or do you raise revenue. For us in the Assembly, we always believe in raising revenue.”

There are a few proposals from this last session that could potentially be revived including a pied-à-terre tax on second homes worth more than $5 million in New York City and an expansion of the current “millionaires tax” that Heastie unsuccessfully sought this year. The Assembly’s Democratic majority has repeatedly sought to make the state’s tax structure more progressive, but Cuomo and Senate majorities, whether Republican or, in 2019, Democratic, have resisted.

Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, when asked about the budget gap, said, “We will be spending time talking about that. Whatever happens, everybody is going to have to decide how to deal with the shortfall. We are obviously concerned. It is critical — our first fallback isn’t let’s raise taxes. We know how the burden of taxes on middle class and low-income New Yorkers is very difficult.”

She did, however, also say, “We have to be able to look at a myriad of possibilities.”

Cuomo is typically averse to raising income taxes (and has led the lowering of many rates), but has approved the regular extension of what was supposed to be a temporary “millionaires tax” implemented in the wake of the financial crisis at the end of last decade and has worked with the Legislature to institute a variety of new taxes and fees over the years. The Senate Democrats, keen on keeping and expanding their new majority, and rank-and-file legislators from both chambers may also balk at raising taxes in an election year. Identifying $6.1 billion to close the gap will be especially challenging without new revenue, however.

Citizens Budget Commission recently sent Cuomo and legislative leaders a letter suggesting a four-point strategy for finding recurring savings and closing the gap: reestablishing the Medicaid Redesign Team, which Cuomo first created in 2011, to find savings; sending enough education aid to needy districts to provide a sound basic education but otherwise limiting it elsewhere (the letter noted that the state sent $1.6 billion in school aid in the 2017-18 school year to wealthy districts that had sufficient resources to fund a sound basic education); reducing economic development spending; and reforming retiree health benefits.

Marijuana Legalization and Vaping Regulations
This year, the governor and Legislature couldn’t come to an agreement on full legalization of the adult use of marijuana and instead settled for decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana and expunging records of those convicted of such offenses.

Cuomo, who once called it a “gateway drug,” has already said legalizing marijuana is among his top priorities. In October, Cuomo and governors from neighboring states held a summit to coordinate regional policy on marijuana and vaping, and Cuomo this week announced the hire of Norman Birenbaum as Director of Cannabis Programs. Birenbaum was previously the implementation director for the Rhode Island Office of Cannabis Regulation.

“This is a very important topic and it's probably one of the most challenging issues that I know that I've had to address in the State of New York. It is complicated, it is controversial and it is consequential - and that is a very difficult and challenging combination,” Cuomo said at the summit.

While marijuana legalization may finally be realized next year, bills related to vaping are headed in the other direction. After a nationwide outbreak of vaping-related illnesses and a rising crisis of nicotine addiction among teenagers, the state imposed an emergency ban on flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine vaping liquids. Cuomo promised at the time that he would also propose legislation to ban deceptive marketing of e-cigarettes that targets teenagers.

Education
Each year, some advocates, educators, and legislators call for a massive increase in state education funding and each year, Cuomo proposes something much smaller. When the state budget is agreed upon, Cuomo and the Legislature often meet in the middle. The state Board of Regents recently proposed a $2 billion increase for next year, which would bring total funding up to $29.9 billion. Last year, the Board had requested a $2.1 billion increase but Cuomo only proposed $1 billion in his executive budget. The Senate and Assembly sought a $1.6 billion increase but in the end, Cuomo’s number was approved.

Advocates and legislators have long argued that the state is failing to meet the requirements of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity court decision in 2006, which would require billions more in Foundation Aid to be sent to the poorest school districts. Cuomo, however, has maintained that the debt is paid and the court decision no longer applicable, and said that the formula being followed by the state, particularly with recent adjustments, provides exceptional funding to local school districts. Cuomo regularly cites the fact that New York spends far more per pupil than any state in the country. Last year he insisted on new reporting requirements to see if school districts are then sending appropriate sums to the poorest schools therein.

Cuomo and others, including budget watchdogs, have called for a reimagining of how the state doles out its education aid in order to focus aid where it is needed most, but the Legislature, especially representatives from wealthier areas, has balked.

And in 2019 the state opted not to lift or altogether eliminate a cap on the number of charter schools in New York City, even as the cap has been hit, making it an issue likely to come up again in 2020.

Criminal Justice Reform
This year, the state Legislature approved sweeping reforms to the state’s pretrial criminal justice system, including banning cash bail for misdemeanors and various non-violent felonies and instituting open file discovery on a fast timeline so prosecutors and law enforcement turn over evidence to an individual facing trial within a quicker, mandated period.

Though the reforms have faced a backlash from various quarters, with Republicans, police officials, and district attorneys sounding alarms, and in some cases fearmongering, about public safety, legislative leaders have given no indication that they intend to water down the legislation. Still, the discussion is likely to continue as the reforms are implemented.

At the same time, advocates are pushing for more reforms that will address currently incarcerated people and those recently released from jail.

For the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement, the top priority is the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act, which would limit the amount of time a prisoner can be kept in solitary confinement to 15 consecutive days along with other reforms to prison procedures. The bill failed this year as legislators instead compromised with the governor to institute administrative reforms. 

Advocates with the group Release Aging People in Prison have vowed to pursue a bill that would automatically place anyone who is 55 years old and has served 15 years in prison under consideration for parole.

DecrimNY, a coalition of current and former sex workers and other advocates, is pushing for the Stop Violence in the Sex Trades Act, which would fully decriminalize sex work and expunge records for those convicted under current law. They may face a tough battle, however, as a rival coalition, New Yorkers for the Equality Model, have opposed full decriminalization and instead are pushing to make the purchase of sex illegal while ending enforcement against workers, according to a Queens Daily Eagle report. 

Prevailing Wage
Among Cuomo’s end-of-session regrets was the failure of a prevailing wage bill that would have expanded the public works that qualify under the law in Long Island and upstate, while exempting New York City, which has its own prevailing wage law that was recently expanded. The bill was favored by building trade unions who are close allies of the governor though real estate developers, who have also been big contributors to his campaigns, opposed it. 

The governor blamed the state Assembly for the failure of the bill, vowing to take it up again next year. 

Surrogacy
New York is one of only three states that do not allow paid gestational surrogacy, and the governor’s attempt to change that law this year did not succeed after passing the Senate but failing in the Assembly.

The bill under consideration would have allowed gay and infertile couples to enter into a contract with a surrogate, and Cuomo saw it as an important measure for the LGBTQ community. It was opposed, however, by some advocates and legislators who raised concerns about exploitation of potential surrogates, particularly from low-income backgrounds.

As with marijuana legalization and the prevailing wage bill, Cuomo pledged to bring the paid surrogacy bill back to the table next year.

Gig Economy Worker Protections
Cuomo mentioned protections for gig economy workers in his first “100 days agenda” for 2019 but did not follow through with any legislative proposals. Since then, there has been increased attention on the sector with freelancers and gig workers increasingly contributing to economic activity across the state.

There have been several bills proposed by lawmakers that would tackle issues like wage theft or create portable benefits but none have seen movement. The State Assembly also held a hearing on December 5 on labor protections for gig economy workers, and seem to be gearing up to pursue legislation in the upcoming session. (New York City passed its own set of gig worker protections in 2017.)

Campaign Finance, Voting and Election Reforms
When the Legislature and governor couldn’t come to a consensus on creating a system of public financing for state elections, they decided to hand the task to a nine-member commission. That commission issued recommendations last month that will become law unless the Legislature returns to amend them before December 22, a contingency that appears exceedingly unlikely. The panel created a new public matching funds system for state elections, lowered individual campaign contribution limits, outlined a new state agency to administer the system, and perhaps most controversially, raised the bar for political parties to gain and keep ballot access.

There has been praise and criticism of the commission’s recommendations and government reform advocates have said the Legislature should reduce the contribution limits even further – for instance, under the planned system an individual can still donate $18,000 in total to a statewide candidate, compared to a limit of only $5,600 for a presidential candidate under federal law. Minor parties have even sued to prevent the new ballot thresholds from taking effect. It’s currently unclear if the Legislature will agree to give the new system a second look, which it could choose to do during the upcoming legislative session even if the new system becomes law this month.

After passing several voting reforms – including early voting, consolidating the state and federal primaries and universal transfer of registration – the Legislature also initiated an amendment to the state constitution to provide for same-day voter registration and no-excuse absentee ballots by mail. Both of those will have to be voted through again before being presented to voters in a ballot referendum. With full Democratic control, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that the measures will pass.

Automatic voter registration passed both houses of the Legislature last year, but then had to be recalled over issues with the bill language that coincided with the new driver’s licenses for all law. Legislative leaders said at the end of session, when recalling the bill, that they would fix it and pass it again in 2020, and that the error wouldn’t impact the outcome because it wasn’t to go into effect until 2021 anyway.

Cuomo may also resuscitate a proposal he made last year to make Election Day a state holiday, and there is likely to be additional conversation around voting rights for those who’ve spent time in prison.

Other Reform Issues
There is likely to be continued conversation in 2020 about transparency in economic development spending, and perhaps significant reform to how economic development programming works in New York; reforming or replacing the much-maligned state government ethics watchdog, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE); revisiting planned pay raises and a cap on outside income for legislators after a prior version, created by an appointed commission, was struck down in court; whether the state Comptroller should divest public pension funds from fossil fuel companies; among other topics that related to government ethics, transparency, management, and process.

New York Health Act
New York’s own version of a universal single-payer health care system, the New York Health Act, has been approved by the Assembly in the past but has failed to pass the Senate. Yet when Democrats had control of both chambers for the first time in a decade this year, the legislation was not on the agenda in either house. The sponsors have held hearings and are recalibrating the bill, and it’s likely to be front of mind for many legislators, particularly with health care one of the top issues in the presidential election set for next year, but it appears unlikely there will be the appetite for taking it up in Albany. 

Last month, the state Legislature held a joint hearing in Kingston, the last of a series of hearings across the state to solicit testimony on the proposal. Critics, which include Governor Cuomo, say implementing the bill would require a too-massive overhaul of the state’s tax, health care, and insurance systems. Labor unions have also opposed the bill, saying that their members enjoy health plans they do not want to give up.

Other New York City Concerns
Mayor Bill de Blasio has lingering stated priorities that he has not been able to get through the state Legislature and he may make yet another attempt at next year. De Blasio has called for reforming Section 50-a of the state civil rights law, which currently prohibits the city from disclosing disciplinary records of police officers to the public, and either eliminating the Specialized High School Admissions Test as the sole criteria for acceptance into the city’s top three specialized high schools, which are woefully unrepresentative of the city’s black and Latino students.

After a proposal he put forth to scrap the SHSAT and move toward a different admissions system went nowhere this year, de Blasio said he is starting over.

Meanwhile, de Blasio has also called for legalizing adult marijuana use and issued his recommendations for what the system should look like.

As the year begins, de Blasio will have two of his four seats on the MTA Board vacant. His nominations to the governor must then be presented to the state Senate for approval.

And the mayor has repeatedly pushed for more taxes on the wealthy for various purposes, from funding mass transit to affordable housing for seniors. It’s unclear if he may have a new wish list in January, though given the state budget deficit the mayor may find himself mostly playing defense given that the city’s coffers have been overflowing and Governor Cuomo has repeatedly sought to raid them.

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

Governor Andrew Cuomo launched his 2020 agenda, under the “Making Progress Happen” banner, on Sunday an initial legislative proposal that he will formally include in his January State of the State speech and policy book. Cuomo’s first plan builds on his lengthy gun control record with a proposal to prevent individuals from obtaining a New York State gun license if they have committed a crime in another state that is similar to a crime that would disqualify them from owning a gun in New York. The law would apply to “serious” misdemeanor offenses, according to a press release from the governor’s office, that appear to fit the current grey area, or loophole in a sense.

These “serious misdemeanors...include certain domestic violence misdemeanors, forcible touching and other misdemeanor sex offenses, and unlicensed possession of a firearm,” according to Cuomo’s office.

As he does each year leading up to his State of the State speech (this year scheduled for January 8 in Albany) Cuomo is certain to continue to reveal headline pieces of his agenda as this week unfolds. Cuomo's office released two additional planks of his agenda on Monday. He’s due to give a speech in Manhattan on Tuesday that is likely to include at least one new proposal. (This event was postponed on Monday.)

It’s also an important week for Cuomo’s 2019 agenda: the “green light” law that allows undocumented immigrants to access New York driver’s licenses is set to be implemented beginning Monday morning, though there could be tests to the law from some county clerks and others who oppose it (however a lawsuit was recently thrown out). Make the Road New York, legislators like sponsor Jessica Ramos, a Democratic senator from Queens, and others who pushed the bill have been getting word out and organizing individuals to apply for driver’s licenses this week. Cuomo and his aides appeared to waiver some on support for the licenses bill toward the end of last session, but the governor signed it into law while expressing concerns and trying to shift the burden of responsibility to Attorney General Letitia James.

Cuomo also took great interest in the MTA this year and the MTA Board, which he effectively controls, will vote this week on the authority’s 2020 operating budget. Most of the controversy around that budget has related to its planned inclusion, at the governor’s direction, of funding to pay for a significant increase in MTA police officers, which Cuomo has said are needed to combat fare evasion, homelessness, and attacks on transit workers.

And speaking of Cuomo’s agenda and where 2019 meets 2020: many are watching to see if there’s any indication that the state Legislature will take action regarding the outcome of the campaign finance commission that recently completed its work, with binding recommendations that will become law unless the Legislature and Cuomo act by December 22. There is little indication that legislative action is afoot to change the new campaign finance system and party ballot access requirements that the commission put forth, but a number of advocates and legislators are calling for changes.

Meanwhile, the state Legislature begins the week examining mayoral control of New York City schools during a Monday hearing in Manhattan. Mayor Bill de Blasio is not expected to testify himself, but schools Chancellor Richard Carranza is -- it is the first such hearing since mayoral control was extended with new, fairly modest changes to school governance processes.

De Blasio will be presiding over a ceremony related to the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund to start the week (see details below). On Tuesday, the mayor is expected at a ribbon-cutting for an affordable housing complex in Brooklyn and on Thursday de Blasio is set to host a NYCHA-related town hall on the west side of Manhattan.

De Blasio spent part of Sunday speaking at a Brooklyn church, where he pushed his plan to require 10 days of paid personal time per year for most employees. The City Council has been slow to get behind the plan as currently designed, with Council Speaker Corey Johnson saying he supports the goal, but wants to work out the details, with special concern for the smaller small businesses in the city. The bill’s lead sponsor is Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who introduced the bill several years ago when he was a Council member.

There was a vigil Sunday evening for Barnard College student Tessa Majors, who was murdered last week, and this week is expected to see continued attention on the safety of the Morningside Park area as well as the investigation into the murder.

And this week is likely to see continued discussion how the city, and its neighbors, are working to both prevent hate crimes and punish those who commit them.

Also this week, there will be a great deal of attention on national politics as the House of Representatives is expected to on Wednesday vote on the two articles of impeachment passed out of committee and on Thursday evening there is the latest Democratic presidential primary debate.

There’s a lot more on the docket this week, which promises to a see a major flurry of activity leading up to two holiday weeks and the end of the year -- 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?
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The run of the week in detail:

Monday, December 19
The MTA Board’s monthly committee meetings will take place on Monday.

At 7:15 a.m. Monday, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will appear on PIX-11 morning news; at 8:20 a.m., Williams will appear on NY1's Mornings on 1. At 10 a.m. Monday in Foley Square, “Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams will launch a Worst Landlords citywide tour, accompanied by elected officials and tenant advocacy organizations, to visit properties run by some of the worst landlords in NYC. The tour kicks off with a rally with elected officials and tenants to release the Worst Landlords Watchlist for 2019, and will continue to four buildings across the city.” After the rally in Foley Square, Williams will visit sites in the four boroughs other than Staten Island, including a NYCHA visit at Lincoln Houses in Harlem.

At 10:15 a.m. Monday, Comptroller Scott Stringer will host a roundtable with Fort Greene community stakeholders at The Mark Morris Dance Studio. At 11:35 a.m., Stringer will visit Griot Circle in Brooklyn. At noon, Stringer will visit Fort Greene Council’s Grace Agard Harewood Neighborhood Senior Center.

At 10:30 a.m. Monday at Beacon Theatre, “Mayor de Blasio will issue awards of a high civic honor to the individuals whose advocacy led to the permanence of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.”

At 3:30 p.m. at City Hall, de Blasio will "hold a public hearing for and sign Intro 1362-A, which bans the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes and flavored e-liquids in New York City...In the evening, the Mayor will appear live on NY1’s Inside City Hall with Errol Louis."

At 11:30 a.m. Monday, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson will speaks at the NAACP education initiative pilot with Council Member I. Daneek Miller and Hazel Dukes, President of the New York State Conference of the NAACP, at P.S./I.S. 116 William Hughley in Queens. At 1:30 p.m., Johnson will speak at a funding announcement for MRI Equipment with Council Member Diana Ayala at Metropolitan Hospital in Manhattan. At 7:30 p.m., Johnson will participate in WNYC's lead panel: The Real Story of Lead Poisoning, at The Greene Space in Manhattan.

On Monday at noon at City Hall, City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, chair of the transportation committee, other Council members, and advocates including Transportation Alternatives will hold a rally “to call on the City of New York to increase protections for cyclists and pedestrians” and “address the bills scheduled for the Transportation Committee hearing at 1:00pm in the Council's Chambers. Among them are the 'Bike and Pedestrian Mayor' bills, introduced by Council Members Rodriguez and Rivera as well as the 'School bus Stop-Arm-Camera' bill introduced by Council Member Kallos. Other bills include, Council Members Landers's legislation related to safety training for street permits and the prohibition of on-call scheduling for utility safety workers that also would provide advance notice of work schedules.”

At the City Council on Monday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Contracts and the Committee on General Welfare will jointly hold an oversight hearing on DHS Homeless Service Provider Contracts.
--At 11 a.m., the Committee on Rules, Privileges and Elections will hold hearing on multiple bills. 
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Transportation will hold hearing on multiple bills.
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Business Licensing will hold hearing on multiple bills.

At the State Legislature on Monday:
--At 11 a.m. Monday in Manhattan, the Assembly education committee will hold an oversight hearing on mayoral control of New York City schools.
--At 11 a.m. Monday, the Assembly social services committee will hold a public hearing on the Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative (ESPRI) at the Erie County Legislature in Buffalo. 
--At 11:30 a.m. Monday in Manhattan, the State Senate Committee on Higher Education will hold a public hearing on funding for public colleges.

At 3 p.m. Monday, “Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer is hosting a meeting of her Manhattan Complete Count Committee to hear from U.S. Census Bureau Regional Director Jeff T. Behler and continue preparations for the 2020 Census. The meeting will serve as an opportunity to coordinate Census activities for the new year and hear about the work being done by partners of the Make Manhattan Count initiative, including 10 grant recipients. Mr. Behler will provide a brief overview of 2020 operations and identify existing Census resources, toolkits, and personnel to facilitate partnerships, support events, and assist with messaging.”

At 5:30 p.m. Monday, the New York City Board of Correction will hold its next public meeting, in Manhattan.

At 6:30 p.m. Monday at CUNY Graduate Center, there will be an event focused on New York’s “progressive future” featuring State Senator Brad Hoylman and Attorney General Letitia James, with audience Q-and-A moderated by Micah Lasher. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is among the co-hosts and will also give remarks. Several other Manhattan elected officials and Comptroller Scott Stringer are among the co-hosts.

Tuesday, December 17
The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute will host an urban food policy forum titled “SNAP: 50 Years after the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health,” to commemorate the 1969 White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health which paved the way for the first major expansion of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP.) Speakers will include Alfredo Morabia, Editor-in-Chief, American Journal of Public Health; Marion Nestle of NYU and Cornell; Nevin Cohen of CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy and CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute; Nick Freudenberg of CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy and CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute; and others. The panel will be moderated by Janet Poppendieck, of CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute and Hunter College.

At the City Council on Tuesday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations will hold an oversight hearing on percent for art and public art in NY.
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Women and Gender Equality and the Committee on Civil Service and Labor will jointly hold an oversight hearing on the status of implementation of the city’s pay equity law and related legislation.

At 10 a.m. Tuesday in Manhattan, the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals will hold its next public hearing.

At 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in Albany, the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) will hold its next meeting.

At 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, there will be a ribbon-cutting celebration for “New York State’s first LGBT-friendly affordable housing complex,” a NYCHA NextGen building in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Residents of the complex, Mayor de Blasio, City Council Member Laurie Cumbo, other city and state government officials, and the developers of the project — BFC Partners and SAGE — will gather to celebrate the opening.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday in Manhattan, the Assembly Standing Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse will hold a hearing on substance use disorder services and barriers to accessing those services.

At 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Governor Cuomo will deliver remarks at an event hosted by the Association for a Better New York at The Ziegfeld Ballroom in Manhattan. (This event has been postponed to January.)

At 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Board of Elections in the City of New York will hold its monthly commissioner meeting.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Chalkbeat New York, the non-profit organization, will host a conversation with podcast creators Mark Winston and Griffith and Max Freeman of School Colors, for a discussion at the Brooklyn Public Library with special guest, MeQuan McLean from the Community Education Council 16.  

Wednesday, December 18
The Association for a Better New York will host a presentation and panel to discuss “Geography of Jobs,” a new report from the Department of City Planning from 8-9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Baruch College. Panelists will include Carolyn Grossman Meagher, Director of Regional Planning at the New York City Department of City Planning; Jonathan Bowles, Executive Director, Center for an Urban Future; Laura Curran, Nassau County Executive; Ruben Diaz, Jr., Bronx Borough President; Ingrid Gould Ellen, Paulette Goddard Professor of Urban Policy and Planning, NYU Wagner and Faculty Director, NYU Furman Center ; Jose Ortiz, Jr., Executive Director, New York City Employment and Training Coalition; Seth Pinsky, Executive Vice President, RXR Realty.

The MTA Board will meet on Wednesday at 10 a.m.

At the City Council on Wednesday:
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Transportation, the Committee on Mental Health, Disabilities and Addiction and the Committee on Aging will jointly hold an oversight hearing on Access-A-Ride.
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Women and Gender Equity and the Committee on Higher Education  will jointly hold an off-site oversight hearing on CUNY child care centers at the Shepard Hall Building at the City College of New York. 
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Public Safety will hold a hearing on creating a comprehensive reporting and oversight of NYPD surveillance technologies.

At 11 a.m. Wednesday in Albany, the Assembly Standing Committee on Racing and Wagering and the Assembly Standing Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse will jointly hold a public hearing on problem gambling. 

At 1 p.m. Wednesday in Albany, the New York State Energy Planning Board will meet.

At 5 p.m. Wednesday on WBAI radio, this week's Max & Murphy show will air (listen at 99.5FM or wbai.org), and will include discussion of the NYPD's controversial gang database.

At 6 p.m. Wednesday, the New York City Department of Education’s Panel for Educational Policy will hold its next public meeting at Prospect Heights High School in Brooklyn.

Thursday, December 19
At the City Council on Thursday:
--At 10:30 a.m., the Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Sitings and Dispositions will meet.
--At 10:45 a.m., the Committee on Land Use will hold a hearing.
--At 1:30 p.m., a City Council Stated Meeting will take place, prefaced as usual by a press conference led by Speaker Corey Johnson. This will be the final Stated Meeting, where new bills are introduced and bills passed by committee voted on by the full Council, of 2019.

At 10 a.m. Thursday in Albany, the Assembly Standing Committee on Agriculture will hold a public hearing on the “oversight of the SFY 2019-20 State Budget for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.”

Mayor de Blasio will hold a NYCHA-focused town hall on Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. at Bayard Rustin Educational Complex.

Friday, December 20
At 10 a.m. Friday, Borough President Melinda Katz and NYC Parks will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Queens Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Elmhurst Park. Attendees will include Mitchell  J. Silver, FAICP, Commissioner, NYC Parks; John Rowan, National President, Vietnam Veterans of America; Manuel Edenhofer, President, Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 32; and Michael O’Kane, Former President, Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 32.

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

Note: there will be no Week Ahead in New York Politics from Gotham Gazette for the next two weeks. We'll be back for the week of January 6, posting our next Week Ahead the evening of Sunday, January 5.

***
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).

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by Ben Max
@GothamGazette

What's The [Data] Point? Episode 86 -- $28.8 billion, with Andrew Rein, Andrew Perry, and Ana Champeny of Citizens Budget Commission [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

$28.8 billion is the cumulative four-year budget gap facing New York State between fiscal years 2020 and 2023. CBC President Andrew Rein joined the podcast to explain how the State should get its fiscal house in order. And for a special treat, CBC's Andrew Perry and Ana Champeny discuss regional economic development and New York City property taxes. Each discussion is a quick 10-ish minutes to get you up to speed on three key topics.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think: Ben Max of GG (@TweetBenMax), Maria Doulis of CBC (@MariaDoulis). Listen below or download wherever you get your podcasts!

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

This week begins with a great deal of focus on two pieces of Albany business: the law passed earlier this year to allow undocumented immigrants access to driver's licenses is set to take effect on Saturday (December 14), though it is the subject of litigation and protest, including from some county clerks who say they won't honor the law.

Meanwhile, one week after Assembly Democrats were in the capital for annual conference meetings, their Senate counterparts are scheduled to gather in Albany. One major topic hanging over the meetings is the binding recommendations from the state campaign finance commission that are set to take effect later this month unless the Legislature acts. A number of lawmakers from both houses have expressed their displeasure with the results of the commission, but it is not at all apparent that there is enough will in either house for action. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie indicated as much this past week after his conference met. This week will show at least some of what Senate Democrats are thinking after they meet.

The week also begins with renewed debate over the ultimately withdrawn deal to bring a major Amazon campus to Queens (where Senate Democrats were a key part of the opposition), given that news broke on Friday in the Wall Street Journal that the e-commerce giant is leasing new space in Hudson Yards for roughly 1,500 employees, far short of the 25,000 promised over many years if the Queens project had moved ahead, albeit with roughly $3 billion in tax breaks and subsidies. 

There's a lot happening this week, with many events to be aware of -- 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, December 9
Mayor de Blasio will appear on NY1's Inside City Hall in the 7 and 11 p.m. hours on Monday evening.

At 8 a.m. Monday, ABNY Census 2020 in partnership with all five boroughwide chambers of commerce will host an information and networking event about the 2020 Census, “2020 Census and Business: Engaging New York City business leaders in the 2020 Census.”

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

Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is in Puerto Rico Monday where he is speaking at the Public Employee’s Conference Convention.

At the City Council on Monday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Health and the Committee on Hospitals will jointly hold an oversight hearing on the city’s efforts to prevent and address HIV and Hepatitis along with related legislation. 
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Resiliency and Waterfronts and the Committee on Parks and Recreation will jointly hold an oversight hearing on Governors Island. 
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Housing and Buildings will hold a hearing on multiple bills.

At 11 a.m. Monday in Albany, the Assembly Standing Committee on Mental Health, the Assembly Standing Committee on Health and the Assembly Standing Committee on Veterans’ Affairs will jointly hold a public hearing on suicide prevention supports and services.

Monday at 11 a.m., "New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer will release an audit revealing alarming new findings about the MTA’s $600 million contract with Bombardier Transit Corporation to produce 300 subway cars."

At 11:30 a.m. Monday, the Fiscal Policy Institute will host “Tax Justice NY: Moving from Austerity to Prosperity” at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany. Speakers include Charles Khan, Organizing Director, Strong Economy for All; Michelle Gittelman, Revenue Working Group;  Pierce Delahunt, Patriotic Millionaires; Michelle Jackson, Deputy Executive Director, Human Services Coalition; Jasmine Gripper, Legislative Director, Alliance Quality Education; Mark Hannay, Executive Director, Metro New York Health Care for All; Paulette Soltani, Political Director, VOCAL-NY; Brenda Episcopo, President and CEO, United Way of New York State; and Dorothy Hill, Director of Policy, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy.

At noon Monday, "Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul Delivers Remarks at Opening of Renovated Woolworth Building Funded by the Downtown Revitalization Initiative" in Middletown.

At 1 p.m. Monday, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will join a press conference at City Hall with the Family of Antonio Williams and others "to demand transparency and accountability regarding Williams' death." At 6:30 p.m., Williams will attend the the New York County Lawyers Association 105th Annual Dinner. And at 7 p.m., Williams will join the 'We Fight On' Virtual Town Hall with Justice League NYC to "speak about policing and criminal justice reforms."

At 1 p.m. there will be the aforementioned press conference regarding the death of Antonio Williams, ""demanding answers and accountability over the NYPD killing of Antonio Williams and announcing the filing of a FOIL request." Along with Public Advocate Williams, participants will include Antonio Williams' father, stepmother, and brother, members of Communities United for Police Reform, City Council Members Brad Lander and Antonio Reynoso, and others. "Antonio Williams was killed by NYPD officers on September 29, 2019 after reportedly being chased and tackled by plainclothes Officer Brian Mulkeen. At least five officers reportedly drew their guns and opened fire, killing both Williams and Mulkeen. Williams was reportedly simply standing on the sidewalk when plainclothes officers jumped out of cars at him that evening. The NYPD has offered no explanation for why Williams was first approached or why they escalated the encounter without reasonable suspicion of a crime. Since Williams’ death, Mayor de Blasio and the NYPD have obstructed transparency and accountability for his family. They have refused to release the names of officers involved, and failed to produce body camera footage or any information about investigations or discipline related to the incident. According to Shawn and Gladys Williams, the only updates they have received about their son’s death have come from the media."

At 1:30 p.m., "New York Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy will be in Albany Monday and will hold a media availability to discuss the latest developments in Cuomo’s JCOPE coverup and the public finance commission report."

Tuesday, December 10
At 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, City Comptroller Scott Stringer will appear live on NY1 “Mornings on 1” with Pat Kiernan. At 3:30 p.m., Stringer will deliver remarks at "Celebration for Upcoming Implementation of Bail and Discovery Reform."

At 10 a.m. Tuesday, the New York City Board of Appeals will hold its next public hearing in Manhattan.

At 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in Manhattan, the Assembly Standing Committee on Codes and the Assembly Standing Committee on Correction will jointly hold a public hearing about sealing criminal records and expansion of youthful offender status.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday in Jackson Heights, Queens, Mayor Bill de Blasio and schools Chancellor Richard Carranza "will deliver remarks at the renaming of PS 398 to the Héctor Figueroa School." Comptroller Scott Stringer will be among those in attendance.

At 1 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will speak "at the 'NYC Worst Banks Award Ceremony' Press Conference. The Public Advocate will join elected officials and advocates including Public Bank NYC at a press conference to highlight the ways banks that accept billions of dollars in municipal deposits harm New Yorkers, NYC neighborhoods, and the planet." At 3 p.m., Williams will join a bail reform press conference "with a broad coalition of elected officials, faith leaders, and advocacy organizations, will discuss the upcoming implementation of bail and discovery reforms in one of several rallies happening across the state. Rallies will be held in New York City, Nassau County, Ulster County, and Albany County." At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Williams will attend "the Bronx Democrats' Holiday Party and Toy Drive."

At 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the City Council, a Stated Meeting will occur, prefaced by the usual pre-Stated press conference led by Speaker Corey Johnson.

The Regional Plan Association and the Pew Charitable Trusts will co-host a briefing from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Tuesday in Manhattan, “How Cities and States are paying to reduce flood risk.” Speakers include Tim Blake , Managing Director - Public Finance, Moody's Investors Service; James Lee Witt, former FEMA Administrator;  Rob Freudenberg, Vice President of Energy and Environment, Regional Plan Association; Matt Fuchs, Officer, Pew's Flood-Prepared Communities Initiative; Kate Boicourt, Director of Resilience, Waterfront Alliance; and others.

Wednesday, December 11
At 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Linda Lacewell will join Crain's New York Business "to discuss how New York state is working to protect consumers from predatory lending and fraud. She will also address her department's work to help student borrowers navigate their loans and its focus on regulation of new technologies, cryptocurrencies and cybersecurity."

At the City Council on Wednesday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Governmental Operations and the Committee on Justice Systems will jointly hold an oversight hearing on “day fines pilot program” and related legislation. 
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Environmental Protection will hold an oversight hearing on the challenges in managing the Department of Environmental Protection wastewater infrastructure. 
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Immigration and the Committee on Small Business will jointly hold an oversight hearing on city services and supports for immigrant business owners.

The New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board will hold its monthly public board meeting at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Manhattan.

This week’s Max & Murphy show will air at 5 p.m. Wednesday on WBAI radio, 99.5 FM or wbai.org, and feature discussion about how the NYPD and other law enforcement police gangs in New York City.

Thursday, December 12
At the City Council on Thursday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Health and the Committee on Hospitals will jointly hold an oversight hearing on rising health care costs.
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Housing and Building and the Committee on Aging will jointly hold an oversight hearing on senior affordable housing and related legislation.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, the State Senate Committee on Investigations and Governmental Operations, the State Senate Standing Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development, and the State Senate Standing Committee on Consumer Protection will jointly hold a public hearing at Hofstra University regarding real estate agents’ discrimination of homebuyers on Long Island. The hearing was provoked by a recently-published Newsday series.

At 11 a.m. Thursday in Albany, the Assembly Standing Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development and the Assembly Subcommittee on Museums & Cultural Institutions will jointly hold a public hearing on capital funding for arts and cultural organizations. 

At 12 p.m. Thursday in Albany, the New York State Board of Elections will hold its monthly commissioners meeting.

Friday, December 13 and the weekend
At 10 a.m. Friday in Albany, the Assembly Standing Committee on Libraries and Education Technology will hold a public hearing on funding New York State’s libraries.

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

On Saturday, the state's driver's licenses for all law goes into effect.

On Saturday at 5 p.m., Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will speak at the Alliance of Asian American Labor 12th Annual Convention in Manhattan.

***
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 Max & Gia Ramesh
@GothamGazette

Wednesday's Senate roundtable (photo: @NYSenBenjamin)

A roomful of top experts on New York’s property tax system -- an opaque topic that nonetheless touches every New Yorker, property-owner or not -- gathered for a roundtable discussion convened by state lawmakers Wednesday in downtown Manhattan. They were assembled at the hearing by State Senator Brian Benjamin, a Manhattan Democrat and chair of the Senate’s budget and revenues committee, to discuss solutions to the antiquated and unequal levy system that many want to see tackled in 2020, however overdue the action would be.

The issue has been a political “hot potato,” to use one lawmaker’s words, since the current property tax system was established through state law 40 years ago. Lawmakers, analysts, property owners, and others are now looking ahead to the next legislative session in Albany, which begins in early January, where a number of the issues raised Wednesday are promised to be on the table.

“What I have found so far as chair of this committee...is that the real property tax system is confusing, it’s complicated, and it’s not entirely fair,” said Benjamin, in opening remarks. The roundtable Wednesday followed a series of six public forums held by Benjamin’s office in all five boroughs over the past three months.

“The system as it currently exists was a temporary fix that was quickly outdated...Another bandaid or patch, in my opinion, will not fix this system. This system is broken at its core,” he said.

Wednesday’s conversation, which included economists, lawyers, and tax policy veterans, also unfolds in the context of a lawsuit challenging the system on the grounds that it imposes taxes disproportionately without regard to true market value -- a case that has the potential to drastically shake-up the property tax landscape.

At the same time, interested parties are awaiting the final report of an advisory commission established by city officials to comprehensively examine the entire system and make recommendations. The commission’s report, which was promised this year, would undoubtedly have implications for state legislators going into session in January. Wednesday’s roundtable was a kind of parallel effort by Benjamin to ready his committee for the technical and political heavy lifting it will face next year.

Other senators present Wednesday, all Democrats, included Liz Krueger, Leroy Comrie, Brad Hoylman, Robert Jackson, Zellnor Myrie, Andrew Gounardes, and John Liu, the former New York City Comptroller. For those legislators, in all but Comrie’s district in Queens, the effective tax rate on small owner-occupied homes is below the citywide average, according to an analysis of FY 2017 data by Tax Equity Now.

“This is by far one of the biggest issues I hear from my constituents,” said Gounardes, who represents parts of southern Brooklyn.

Among the biggest problems facing the state’s troubled system is that owners of similar properties can pay drastically different taxes. A 2018 study by the Citizens Budget Commission found that homeowners in the Bronx and Staten Island pay a higher percentage of the market value of their homes than they would in other boroughs, even though their homes tend to be worth less.

Another is the differential assessment formula used for different classifications of property, a vestige of the politically fraught landscape that created the current system, which now means the owners of some of the city’s most expensive co-ops and condos pay among the lowest real estate taxes.

The arithmetic used to levy taxes is complex. It involves four classes of property, each of which is valued differently and taxed on a different percentage of that value. To complicate matters, the rate at which the assessed value can climb in each property class is uniquely capped. Over time, the caps can lead to tax rates that lag behind the growth in market value, especially in booming neighborhoods.

Adding to the opacity of the system is a regime of abatements, rebates, and exemptions that obfuscate the logic behind a particular tax rate.

“The problem with the property tax is...nobody understands it, but nobody thinks they’re benefiting from it either. You have a really crazy system if nobody is actually patting themselves on the back and saying, ‘Wow, I’m getting away with paying much less,’” said Martha Stark, the former commissioner of the Department of Finance under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Stark is the policy director of Tax Equity Now, the group that brought the lawsuit against the city and state.

That case survived motions to dismiss by both the city and the state, which are now appealing the lower court’s determination. Stark said the courts could decide whether the suit can move forward in as little as a matter of weeks.

While it may be months before the lawsuit is resolved, officials say the city’s advisory commission may be coming out with its report soon, though no timeline has been provided.

In a statement to Gotham Gazette, Marc Shaw, chair of the commission and senior advisor at the CUNY Institute on State and Local Governance, wrote, “This is an enormously important issue for our city, and we want to get this right. We have made significant progress on the majority of the issues we believe are needed for reform, but a few do remain. Those issues need to be resolved before we release any report. We expect to have a preliminary report out soon for the public to review.”

A spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio, who signed the executive order creating the commission, said the administration does not have an update on the commission’s status.

Many of the experts in the room agreed that a starting point for reform should be that each class’s baseline assessment be a property’s market price, which in some cases is estimated based on sales of similar properties. Under the state’s current assessment methodology that is not always the case.

For the past four decades, the state has placed 1-, 2-, and 3-family homes in Class 1, where their assessed values are based on the sales price of the property. By contrast, larger residential buildings fall into Class 2, where they are valued based on the annual income they receive in rent. But co-ops and condos, which are often owner-occupied and comprise some of the city’s most expensive properties, also fall into Class 2. As a result, it is not uncommon for a co-op that sold in the millions to be valued at a few hundred-thousand dollars or less, based on estimates of so-called “comparable” apartments nearby. (A number of experts said Wednesday that the way the city identifies comparable apartments is also flawed, at times going far afield to find them without adjusting for variables like the differing land values in a region or whether they have comparable amenities.)

Complicating the politics further is the fact that in many areas incomes have not kept pace with the market value growth of property. That means people who purchased homes when prices were low often struggle to keep up with property taxes when neighborhoods gentrify. Several of the state senators present, all of whom represented districts in New York City, expressed concern that moving to a fully market-based system could mean some long-term homeowners will see a sudden rise in property taxes so great they would not be able to keep their homes.

“When I say the system should be based on market value, the starting point should be a real market value that people recognize. How one then decides what taxes someone is going to pay is very, very different. If you want to consider a person’s income afterward you could do that,” said Stark, responding to the concerns.

Jeff Golkin, a veteran property tax lawyer, warned against making changes too quickly, especially in real estate where the return on investment is often registered in the long-term. “You can’t take away rights that people have now. You can’t take people who are protected now and throw them into the fire,” he said, “...so change has to be done in a transitional grandfathering type of mechanism.”

Another issue is the size of the levy after a property’s value is determined. While state law dictates the tax assessment, the city controls the tax rate.

Roughly a third of the city’s budget comes from real estate taxes, the single largest revenue stream. Since fiscal year 2009, City Hall has kept the tax rate frozen, but rising market values and annual reassessments have allowed revenue from property taxes to increase year over year. The city’s advisory commission, created jointly by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, was mandated to make recommendations to reform the system without diminishing the revenue it generates.

One analysis found that under Bloomberg the city budget rose 31.6 percent above inflation. In 2002, his first year in office and as the city was reeling from the effects of the 2001 terror attacks, Bloomberg raised the property tax rate by 18.5 percent. Since de Blasio took office, the city budget has grown over $20 billion.

“I think that there is a real need for some fiscal responsibility, not just on the state level but on the city level. The city should not be able to levy themselves out of fiscal responsibility every year,” said Comrie, who previously served in the City Council.

“At some point you can’t keep burdening folks who can’t pay. Most people in my district are on fixed income, they’re not getting Wall Street bonuses every year,” he said.

Senator Krueger summarized the feelings of many of her constituents. “Please God, give us a system that we can understand,” she said.