What's The [Data] Point? Episode 75 -- 6/15, Crunch Time in Albany as Rent Regulations Expire, with REBNY's John Banks and Assemblymember Harvey Epstein [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

Rent regulations impacting about 1 million New York City apartments home to 2 million people are set to expire June 15. State lawmakers and Governor Cuomo have been negotiating how far to go in strengthening those laws in tenants' favor and whether to extend regulations beyond where they currently apply, both in terms of geography and a proposal that would effectively regulate rent increases for all apartments outside the traditional rent-regulated stock.

John Banks, president of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), and Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, a Manhattan Democrat and longtime tenant advocate, joined the show to discuss the future of rent laws in New York.

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!

(photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photo Office)

Though it is a relatively quiet year for elections, there are several just around the corner in New York City, with this year’s party primary day coming up on Tuesday, June 25.

The general election is November 5.

There are a number of judicial elections taking place across the city, among other races.

The marquee election on June 25 is the crowded Democratic primary for Queens District Attorney, a race without an incumbent. The primary is all-but-certain to decide the election given how Democratic Queens is, but the general election field is not clear yet. Only registered Democrats can participate in the Queens DA primary.

In fact, almost all of the primaries taking place June 25 are within the Democratic primary. The only Republican elections are for party positions in the state committee and the county committee.

There’s a second special election for Public Advocate coming up, but there are no primaries after only one candidate has emerged for the Democrats and one for the Republicans, incumbent Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and City Council Member Joseph Borelli, respectively. They will face off in November. Williams won the February special election that gives him the seat for the rest of this year, whereas the November winner will hold the position for 2020 and 2021.

There’s also a second special election, with a Democratic primary coming up June 25, for Williams’ old Brooklyn City Council seat. Farah Louis won last month’s special election, and is being challenged in the party primary by several candidates she just beat out. It’s unclear what the general election might look like in this election. Like Williams’ win, Louis’ win gives her the seat for the rest of the year, but the upcoming special election determines who will hold the position for 2020 and 2021, with the next regularly-scheduled city election cycle taking place in 2021.

Below is the full rundown of the races that will be on the ballot on June 25 and a partial preview of what’s on the ballot in November -- we won’t know the full November ballot for a couple of months.

-Supreme Court primaries elect delegates for judicial conventions (these apply to all Assembly districts; but only some are competitive and shown below)

-Civil Court and Surrogate’s Court elections are directly for candidates for those positions; again, only some are competitive this year

-There are no primaries for the citywide position of Public Advocate: incumbent Jumaane Williams is the Democratic nominee; Republicans plan to nominate City Council Member Joe Borelli of Staten Island.

June 25 Primaries

The Bronx
In the Bronx, there are no competitive primaries for June 25.

-Democratic District Attorney Darcel Clarke  is seeking reelection unopposed at this point.

-For two Supreme Court judgeships the delegate slates are running unopposed.

-For Civil Court, there are:
--two uncontested countywide candidates
--uncontested races in the 1st and 2nd districts: 1st is Wakefield, Williamsbridge, Parkchester, Soundview, Hunts Point, Castle Hill, City Island, and Throggs Neck; 2nd is Riverdale, Kingsbridge, West Bronx, Morrisania, and Mott Haven.

Manhattan
-For 3 Supreme Court delegate slates -- 71st, 72nd, 75th (plus alternates) -- there are contested Democratic primaries. All others are uncontested.

-For Civil Court, the 4th district judgeship (Murray Hill, Kips Bay, Peter Cooper Village, and Stuyvesant Town) is a Democratic primary between Lynne M. Fischman Uniman and E. Grace Park.

-Other Civil Court races are uncompetitive: two Countywide, and the 3rd (Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen) and 9th (Midtown and part of the Upper East Side) districts.

Brooklyn
-There is a special election primary in City Council District 45, where new incumbent Council Member Farah Louis, who won the May 14 special election, is being challenged by several candidates: Xamayla Rose, Monique Chandler-Waterman, Anthony Alexis, and Victor Jordan.

-For five 5 Supreme Court delegates slates, there are two competitive Democratic primaries in the 50th and 60th districts. The others are uncontested.

-There is a competitive Democratic primary for Surrogate’s Court judge, where incumbent Margarita Lopez Torres is being challenged by Elena Baron and Meredith R. Jones.

-For Civil Court, there is a Democratic primary for a countywide position between D. Bernadette Neckles and Edward King.

-And there’s a Democratic primary in the 6th Civil Court District among Alice A. Nicholson, Caroline P. Cohen, Chinyelu O. Udoh, and Tehilah H. Berman.

-There are Republican County Party elections for male and female State Committee and County Committee positions.

Queens
-There is a competitive primary for Queens District Attorney among Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, Gregory L. Lasak, Betty Lugo, City Council Member Rory I. Lancman, Jose L. Nieves, Tiffany Cabán, and Mina Quinto Malik.

-There are five uncontested races for Supreme Court judgeships.

-For Civil Court, there are two countywide judge races that are uncontested and a race for another countywide positions between Lumarie Maldonado-Cruz and Wyatt N. Gibbons.

-And there is an uncontested race for the 5th Civil Court District (Breezy Point, Roxbury, Belle Harbor, Rockaway Park, Seaside, Hammels, Edgemere, and Far Rockaway).

-There are Republican party elections for male and female State Committee members and county committee.

Staten Island
-Democratic District Attorney Michael McMahon is currently running unopposed.

-There are competitive Supreme Court delegate slate elections in the Democratic primaries for the 61st, 62nd, 63rd, and 64th districts. Other districts are uncontested.

-For Civil Court, one countywide race is uncontested, as is the race in the 1st Civil Court District (Elm Park, West Brighton, St. George, Mariners Harbor, Graniteville, Bulls Head, and New Springville).

-There are Democratic party elections for County Committee positions.

-There are Republicans party elections for County Committee positions.

[Voters can see exactly what their June 25 ballot will look like, if they have any elections to vote in, using Who's On The Ballot]

Ben Max contributed to this story.

(photo: Governor's Office)

As the Climate and Community Protection Act (CCPA) gains increasing support from state and federal legislators, the state Assembly and Senate will soon decide whether or not to vote on the bill, which now has a majority of sponsors in both houses of the Legislature but not the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The CCPA, described by many as New York’s attempt at a Green New Deal, has three major components. The bill would end reliance on fossil fuels by moving the state’s economy to 100% renewable energy by 2050, invest 40% of clean energy funds in disadvantaged communities, and provide higher wages for environmentally-friendly jobs.

In recent days, the coalition supporting passage of the CCPA, called NYRenews, has announced endorsements from officials including Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and most other members of the New York congressional delegation (Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Grace Meng, and Max Rose are the only members of the New York City delegation not to endorse the CCPA).

According to Steve Englebright, the lead Assembly sponsor of the CCPA, the bill is “based on the timeline scientists recommend to avoid catastrophe.”

In spite of growing support for the bill, it’s unclear if the two legislative majorities will make it a top priority for end-of-session negotiations -- the session is scheduled to end June 19 -- and Governor Cuomo has not included it in his recently-released top 10 priorities for the state over the next few weeks.

“I believe this is the most pressing issue of our time but I don’t want to play politics with it,” Cuomo said on WNYC radio’s The Brian Lehrer Show on Tuesday. “I know the politics is we can do everything by tomorrow. I’ve never done that,” Cuomo said. The governor repeatedly indicated to Lehrer that he wants to move aggressively to fight climate change but that the CCPA is not a realistic piece of legislation given its requirements to overhaul much of the economy.

Cuomo made headlines, and waves, last month when he said he “does not foresee anything specific for the end of the session” regarding climate change legislation.

The CCPA has passed in the Assembly every year since 2016, but a Republican-controlled Senate did not put the legislation up for a vote. With Democrats now controlling a wide majority in the Senate, hopes have been high that the bill would reach Cuomo’s desk. Legislators appear content to work with the governor to negotiate an agreement on new environmental regulations rather than force his hand. Often in Albany, the more contentious issues that find compromise are combined into a budget or end-of-session omnibus package.

Cuomo has warned of the possible economic impact of the CCPA. “When you talk about this transition for the economy, think about what you are talking about. No carbon emissions, new airplanes, no trains that run on diesel, all electric cars, closing all the power plants. This is a massive transformation,” Cuomo said on WNYC.

Still, the bill’s sponsors, activists, and others are pushing back against his pessimism. According to Englebright, the bill is not attempting to “do everything by tomorrow. 2050 is a time horizon well beyond tomorrow,” he said on Wednesday’s Brian Lehrer Show.

Leaders in both the Senate and the Assembly have indicated support for the CCPA, though they have not assertively pushed it of late. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie indicated the CCPA as one of his priorities in an agenda for the Assembly released at the start of the new session in January, but he has not been forceful about it of late. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins was non-committal on Friday’s Capitol Pressroom radio show, when asked about the status of the CCPA, saying she is “personally committed to doing the best climate change package.”

“We have a working group going on right now to see what we can do before the end of session as it relates to the CCPA. I believe we’re going to have something before we leave,” Stewart-Cousins told Capitol Pressroom host Susan Arbetter.

State Senator Todd Kaminsky, lead sponsor for the CCPA in the Senate, also said the CCPA is a priority, but the Senate is still ironing out some details. Kaminsky said he would like to see the bill include more provisions for energy efficiency and interim goals.

“Heastie has given us the compass direction on this,” Englebright said Wednesday on WNYC, appearing with Kaminsky. “I anticipate that we will pass it again this year. Speaker Heastie is committed because he understands the importance of this for all the people of the state.”

Activists, led by the extensive NY Renews coalition of labor unions and advocacy groups, are pressing hard.

“There's no time to waste on protecting New Yorkers from climate change, creating green jobs, and making sure we do it with racial and economic justice at the center,” said Bill Lipton, director of the New York Working Families Party, in a Wednesday press release from NY Renews touting that the CCPA had achieved a majority of sponsors in both houses.

Kaminsky and Englebright are optimistic about the CCPA”s chances, seeing similarities in the CCPA and Cuomo’s proposed climate regulations as a part of the budget passed in March.

“It has the same framework as the CCPA, so I don’t think we’re all that far apart in terms of where we are as a state decarbonizing our economy,” Kaminsky said.

A difference between the CCPA and Cuomo’s budget proposal lies within the 40% investment of clean energy funds into disadvantaged communities, Englebright said. These communities have often suffered disproportionately from lapses in environmental care, so it is especially important they receive investments in renewable energy, good jobs and training, Kaminsky said.

The deadlines for moving away from fossil fuels are also different, and while Cuomo’s benchmarks are focused on the state’s electricity, the CCPA is focused on the entire state economy. (Some legislators and activists want the more aggressive Off Fossil Fuels Act passed, but there appears little formal discussion of the legislation as the legislative session winds down.)

The CCPA also has the potential to increase economic investment in the state, Englebright said. If implemented it could “unleash the genius of American capitalism and New York innovation,” he said.

Despite Cuomo downplaying the CCPA, with its rising popularity, some, including Kaminsky and Englebright, expressed confidence the bill will be voted on this session.

“We have the votes – what are we waiting for,” Lipton said.

(photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

With 11 days of state legislative session left, including Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio headed to Albany to confab with Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to push for several legislative priorities.

Among the major items on his agenda, according to mayoral spokesperson Freddi Goldstein, are reforming rent regulations, legalizing marijuana, eliminating the Specialized High School Admission Test (SHSAT), authorizing design-build contracting at several city agencies, expanding the discretionary threshold for awarding contracts to minority- and women-owned businesses (MWBEs), restoring employer protection provisions for school bus contracts, repealing Section 50-a of the state Civil Rights law, which shields disciplinary records of police officers, parole reform, and allowing judges to consider dangerousness of an individual as a factor when determining bail.

"There's a lot going on in the final weeks here of the legislative session," de Blasio said at a Monday afternoon news conference, before meeting with legislative leaders. "I want to say at the outset, I want to express my admiration for Speaker Heastie and Leader Stewart-Cousins. What they've achieved already this year has been remarkable, it’s been historic. A lot more is going to happen over the next few weeks. This is going to be judged as one of the great legislative sessions in many decades."

De Blasio has mostly been quiet about his Albany priorities ahead of the June 19 end of the scheduled session, at which time a typical “big ugly” mash-up of bills may again pass through the Legislature and be approved by the governor. Active on the presidential campaign trial, de Blasio is making his presence felt in the state capital at what he says is the right time, given that little is decided in Albany before the final days before a budget is due or the legislative session ends. Questions linger, though, about de Blasios’ focus on his mayoral duties, including pushing his state agenda, and about what kind of clout the mayor has among state leaders.

Unlike past years, where the mayor had to contend with a hostile Republican-controlled Senate, de Blasio finds himself in a stronger position as he negotiates with and lobbies his own Democratic allies. The mayor did not meet with Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday but, on a few items on his list, he finds himself on the same page as Cuomo, who listed his own ten legislative priorities last week.

Cuomo’s top priorities include rent regulation reform, strengthening the state’s MWBE program, strengthening state sexual harassment laws, legalizing paid surrogacy, banning the ‘gay and trans panic defense’ for violent crimes, passing an Equal Rights amendment to the state constitution, approving drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants, ending the statute of limitations for second- and third-degree rape, passing a prevailing wage requirement for certain private construction, and pay equity for women.

“The first opportunity to pass these things was in the budget, so the items that are left are the items that we couldn’t pass in the budget for one reason or another,” Cuomo said at an unrelated news conference. “Either they were too difficult or we just couldn’t get to them as a matter of time.”

Rent regulations
In a May 20 op-ed for The New York Daily News, de Blasio railed against state rent regulations, which are expiring June 15 and apply to roughly 1 million New York City apartments, home to about twice that many New Yorkers.

Democrats, in control of both houses of the Legislature for the first time in nearly a decade, are advancing a massive overhaul of the current state rent laws that housing and tenant advocates have blamed for increasing unaffordability and a housing crisis in the state. It’s unclear at this time, however, if the Assembly majority, Senate majority, and Cuomo can get on the same page with exactly how aggressive they want to be in favor of tenants. So far, de Blasio has sounded mostly aligned with Cuomo, a bit more moderate than where Assembly Democrats say they want to go with the laws. The Senate majority has not outlined its agenda.

“For 25 years, the landlord lobby has had the upper hand writing these rent laws,” de Blasio wrote. “Now, we have a chance to do right by tenants and close the loopholes landlords have exploited. People’s homes and security are on the line. There’s no higher priority for the days left this session in Albany. I’m ready to fight alongside tenants, shoulder to shoulder, to get this done once and for all.”

Last week, in a Friday interview on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show, de Blasio again said his top agenda item is reforming rent regulations. “Well on the Albany I’d say rent, rent and rent,” de Blasio told Brian Lehrer. “I mean overwhelmingly, number one is to strengthen rent control, get rid of vacancy decontrol, get rid of the vacancy bonus, fix the whole situation with the major capital improvements and the apartment improvements so that tenants are not paying through the nose and constantly paying for something even after it’s already been paid off, protect folks who have preferential rents, you know, stop the abuse of them.”

Marijuana Legalization
De Blasio also insisted that the legalization of adult use of marijuana should be “done the right way.” It has been looking increasingly likely that marijuana legalization will again fall off the table as decisions are made in the capital. Cuomo has repeatedly said he doesn’t believe the votes are there in the Senate to pass legalization, citing reports from the Senate Democrats themselves.

“I still think it might happen, Brian, but I’m adamant about the fact it cannot lead to a new corporate reality and I fear this deeply that legalization of marijuana creates a new tobacco industry or a new opioid industry done the wrong way,” de Blasio said. “If New York State as a progressive state is going to legalize marijuana it has to be done in a way that really empowers community-based businesses particularly in communities of color that suffered for so long because of draconian laws that sent people to prison for low-level drug offenses.”

On Monday, he reiterated that position. "We have a chance to get it right. It does not have to be a sector dominated by big corporations. It can be something very different, and New York State has the power to do that, and that's what I'm going to fight for," he said. 

SHSAT
The SHSAT is a single test used to determine admission to the city’s eight specialized high schools, per state law that applies to the three most prominent of the eight. But de Blasio has sought to scrap the test in part to diversify the student population at those high schools, where black and Latino students are vastly underrepresented.

Though the mayor has the ability to eliminate the test at five of the eight schools, he has instead sought state authorization to do away with the test entirely. It is a controversial stance that has backers and opponents, and it appears unlikely that the Legislature and Cuomo will come to resolution on the issue by the end of session.

Design-Build
Design-build allows government agencies and authorities to solicit bids for infrastructure projects that, as the name suggests, combine both the designing and building aspects in one contract. It streamlines procurement, cutting down on time and costs. But New York City agencies need the state’s approval to use design-build, and Mayor de Blasio has repeatedly pushed for it to little avail. 

"Design- build is not high profile, but it's high impact," the mayor said on Monday. "We’re talking about a methodology that saves across many, many construction projects, can save literally billions of dollars, can save years of construction time, much better for neighborhoods." The key agencies and authorities for which the mayor is seeking design build authority are the Department of Transportation, Department of Design and Construction, the Parks Department, Health + Hospitals, and the New York City Housing Authority.

MWBE Discretionary Funding
In the last few years, the city has successfully lobbied the state to increase the value of city contracts that can be awarded to Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs) from $20,000 for goods and services to $150,000. Last year, the city awarded $3.7 billion in contracts to MWBEs, up from $1.6 billion in 2015. In March, de Blasio announced a state proposal that would expand the discretionary threshold to $1 million, estimating that it would increase MWBE contract awards by $500 million each year. 

Reforming 50-a
Section 50-a of the state Civil Rights law prohibits the disclosure of the personnel records of police officers. Though the statute was not enforced for decades, the NYPD under de Blasio began to use it to prevent the disciplinary records of officers from being released to the public. De Blasio has defended the department’s about-face on the policy as simply compliance with the law, but has repeatedly said he supports reforming the statute, a position that has been echoed by NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill.

Bail and Parole Reform
Earlier this year, the state Legislature passed several criminal justice reforms, including severely limiting the use of cash bail. But, while reform advocates want to completely eliminate cash bail, de Blasio has instead supported a “dangerousness” standard that would allow judges to factor in whether a defendant could pose a risk to public safety. "Remember, there are some people who are profoundly dangerous who have a proven, unfortunately, a proven record of being dangerous to their communities, but are not a flight risk," de Blasio said Monday. "In those cases, [the] judge’s hands are tied and they do not have a ready way to hold them in the way they need to. We need to come up with a very precise definition of dangerousness so that it is not overused. But I think that's something that can and should be done while this legislature is still in session." Even as they accepted compromise on significant limits to the use of cash bail, legislators who backed bail reform have mostly balked at the idea of creating a “dangerousness” standard.

De Blasio is also in support of a bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Walter Mosley and State Senator Brian Benjamin, that would prevent parolees from being sent to jail for non-criminal, technical violations. The measure would further reduce the population of Rikers Island, which is necessary for the city’s plan to close the scandal-plagued jail complex. De Blasio has also pushed for New York State parolees to be removed from city jails, which the administration says is the only population that has been increasing at Rikers.

Employer Protection Provisions
De Blasio has pushed since 2014 to restore Employee Protection Provisions (EPPs) to all school bus contracts awarded by the Department of Education. EPPs require bus companies to hire workers based off a seniority list, to ensure adequate wages and pension benefits. The inclusion of EPPs has been a priority for the New York City Council as well; the Council’s Committee on Education passed a resolution last week calling on the state Legislature to approve EPPs in all current and future bus contracts.

MIssing from De Blasio’s End of Session Agenda
De Blasio’s recent comments and the list provided by his spokesperson do not include a variety of policies that the mayor has either expressed support for or interest in seeing addressed by state government. These include legalization of certain e-bikes and e-scooters, aggressive climate protection legislation, and more.

Note - This article has been updated to note that Mayor de Blasio supports reforming Section 50-a of the Civil Rights Law, not repealing it. 

Note - This article has been updated with the mayor's comments from a Monday news conference.

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

The state Legislature this week is in session four of its final 11 days of the scheduled legislative session, which is set to end June 19. There is a long list of issues and bills that could see resolution by the end of the session, headlined by the state’s expiring rent regulations, which apply to roughly 1 million New York City apartments. Governor Cuomo has laid out a ten-point agenda that includes strengthening those rent regulations, though the details are really what need to be worked out with the Democratic majorities in the two houses of the Legislature, and a variety of other policies like legalizing paid surrogacy.

Cuomo’s agenda is missing new environmental regulations, though legislators have expressed interest in trying to pass the Climate and Community Protection Act. That’s one of several issues to see if the Legislature is able to push Cuomo into agreement on anything not on his list. The governor will hold a press conference in Albany on Monday morning.

Mayor de Blasio, who was on the presidential campaign trail in South Carolina this weekend before returning to march in the Celebrate Israel Parade in Manhattan, will be visiting Albany Monday to lobby for his priorities. During a Friday interview on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show, de Blasio only named the rent regulations as his agenda. When pushed for more, he said making sure that marijuana is legalized the right way if adult-use regulations are passed, though that appears unlikely. The mayor did not offer any other priorities, though he and his administration have several others, including changes to MWBE contracting regulations, the legalization of certain e-bikes, and reform to the 50-a section of the civil rights law that shields police misconduct records.

According to the mayor's office, his end of session agenda includes rent regulations, employer protection provisions for the school bud industry, getting marijuana legalization done right, reforming the admissions requirements for the city's specialized high schools, MWBE discretionary threshold expansion, extending design-build authority to several city agencies and authorities, parole reform, the 50-a issue, and allowing judges to consider dangerousness when determining bail. De Blasio will flesh the agenda out a bit more when he holds a media availability Monday afternoon in Albany.

We may also this week see the typical monthly de Blasio-NYPD press conference on crime statistics that usually occurs the first week of a new month once data is available from the prior month.

It's a fairly quiet week at the City Council, but a few hearings are on the schedule, including an oversight hearing regarding NYCHA. The race for Queens District Attorney, which will be all-but-decided in the June 25 Democratic primary, will continue to heat up this week; the Board of Regents meets this week in Albany, and much more -- 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
"On Monday, Mayor de Blasio will travel to Albany to meet with legislative leaders on end-of-session priorities." At 2 p.m., "the Mayor will hold a media availability on his end-of-session priorities...In the evening, the Mayor will appear live on NY1’s Inside City Hall with Errol Louis."

Governor Cuomo will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. at the state Capitol on Monday.

The state Legislature will be in session on Monday in Albany.

The Board of Regents will hold a public meeting on Monday and Tuesday in Albany.

At 9:30 a.m. Monday, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie will give the keynote address at the Baruch College commencement.

On Monday at 10 a.m. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will speak to students at The Gateway School in Manhattan. At noon, Williams will participate in a press conference to launch Gun Violence Awareness Month. And at 7 p.m., Williams will be honored at the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club Gay Pride Awards.

At 11 a.m. Monday in Brooklyn, "Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul Honors Legacy of Women's Rights Movement in New York and Calls for Passage of the Equal Rights Amendment at P.S. 9 School Renaming for Suffragist Sarah Smith Garnet." At 4 p.m., "Hochul Highlights Support for Minority and Women Owned Businesses and State Investments in South Bronx." And at 5 p.m. "Hochul Celebrates Pride Month at LGBT Flag Raising Ceremony with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr." at Bronx Borough Hall.

At noon in Albany: "Representatives of national and state environmental, health, and consumer organizations will be joining State Senator Brian Kavanagh and State Assemblymember Jamie Romeo at a news conference...to urge the State Legislature and the Governor to take action against the immediate and growing threat to the public’s health posed by antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.”" Participants will include Kavanagh, Romeo, NYPIRG, Consumer Reports, EarthJustice, and Dr. Saul Hymes.

At 1 p.m. in Manhattan, the City Planning Commission will hold a session to review zoning-related applications from all five boroughs, and to schedule public hearings for June 19.

At 2 p.m. Monday at City Hall, ""First Lady McCray will deliver remarks at the Mayor’s Fund Board of Directors meeting. This event is open to the public...In the evening, the First Lady will attend the Public Theater’s annual gala."

On Monday evening in Queens, a debate among the candidates for District Attorney, hosted by Sunnyside Community Services and moderated by WNYC radio's Beth Fertig. All seven Democratic candidates are expected to participate.

Tuesday, June 4
Tuesday will mark just three weeks until the June 25 primary elections.

The state Legislature will be in session Tuesday in Albany.

At the State Legislature in Albany on Tuesday:
--At 10 a.m., the Senate Standing Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities and the Senate Standing Committee on Health will hold a joint public hearing on suicide and suicide prevention.
--Also at 10 a.m., the Senate Standing Committee on Consumer Protection and the Senate Standing Committee on Internet and Technology will hold a joint public hearing “to conduct discussion on online privacy and what role the State Legislature should play in overseeing it.”

At 6 p.m., City Comptroller Scott Stringer will host a Caribbean American Heritage Month celebration, honoring Carib News Inc., Sesame Flyers International Incorporated, and Mona Wyre-Maingo.

Wednesday, June 5
The state Legislature will be in session on Wednesday in Albany.

At 10 a.m. in Albany, the Senate Standing Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering and the the Senate Standing Committee on Domestic Animal Welfare will hold a joint public hearing “to Examine the Health of Racehorses while Training and Racing, and Resources for Aftercare.”

At 10 a.m. in Manhattan, the City Planning Commission will hold a public meeting.

At 5 p.m. Wednesday, it’s this week’s Max & Murphy show on WBAI radio, 99.5FM and wbai.org.

Thursday, June 6
The state Legislature is in session Thursday in Albany.

At the City Council on Thursday:
--At 9:30 a.m., the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will meet.
--At 10 a.m., the Committees on Public Safety and Public Housing will jointly meet to discuss safety and security in NYCHA.
--At 1:30 p.m., the Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Sitting and Maritime Uses will meet.

At 8 a.m., the Association for a Better New York will host a discussion with U.S. Representative Max Rose (D-NY), where “the Congressman will be discussing his priorities and vision for New York City.”

Also at 8 a.m. Thursday, the annual Personal Democracy Forum will begin: “Making Tech Civic” at Civic Hall. “Our theme this year, "Making Tech Civic," is an interrogation and creative exploration into ways we can reverse some of the negative impacts technology tools, companies, and policies have had on civic discourse, economy, social structures, and politics. How can we build better information ecosystems? How do we make technology companies more civic? Has power and data become too consolidated in just a few companies, and if so, how do we hold those companies and our governments accountable to higher standards or regulations?” Speakers will include Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, New York City Chief Technology Officer John Paul Farmer, Craig Newmark of Newmark Philanthropies, and others.

At 10 a.m. Thursday in Lower Manhattan, the NYC Industrial Development Agency will hold a public hearing.

At noon Thursday, the New York State Board of Elections will hold a Commissioners Meeting in Albany.

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the Brooklyn Historical Society will present “Eatin’ Good in the ‘Hood,” a talk on the links between socioeconomics and access to nutrition. “Erick Castro of the Instagram account How to Be Vegan in the Hood and Iyeshima Harris of East New York Farms, dig into the realities of food inequality and trying to sustain a nutritious diet in an urban environment. Moderated by Esther Crain, Deputy Digital Editor of Health.” Reserve a ticket here.

Also at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the New York City Bar Association will host “#MeToo - Who's Watching the Courts?” “The #MeToo movement affects every part of society including the court system. How are the thousands of court employees as well as individuals and attorneys that are in the courts every day being protected? This panel will examine how this movement affects the courts and discuss how the federal and state courts monitor sexual abuse and harassment complaints.” The talk will be moderated by Jennifer Rodgers of Columbia Law School; panelists in attendance will be Hon. John Gleeson of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Former United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York; Robert Tembeckjian, Administrator & Counsel, at the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct; and Kay-Ann Porter Campbell, Managing Inspector General for Bias Matters, at the Office of the Inspector General, New York State Unified Court System.

At 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Jackson Heights, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, City Council Member Costa Constantinides, State Senator Jessica Ramos, Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, and City Council Member Daniel Dromm will host a town hall on the potential of a “renewable future” of Rikers Island. “Professor Rebecca Bratspies, founding director of CUNY Law School’s Center for Urban Environmental Reform (CUER), will moderate a panel that includes Cecil Corbin-Mark, Deputy Director and Director of Policy Initiatives at WE-ACT for Environmental Justice; Maritza Silva-Farrell, Executive Director of ALIGN; Rachel Spector, Director of the Environmental Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest; and Just Leadership.”

Friday, June 7
Mayor de Blasio may make his weekly appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show at 10 a.m. Friday.

At 10 a.m. Friday at Flushing Town Hall, the state Senate will hold a hearing "To examine the legalization of E-Bikes and E-Scooters."

At 6:30 p.m. in Brooklyn, State Senators John Liu and Andrew Gounardes will hold a community forum on school diversity and specialized high school admissions (specifically the SHSAT) in South Brooklyn.

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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 Brachfeld and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

Senator Zellnor Myrie at Thursday's pre-hearing rally (photo: @SenatorMyrie)

Following several reforms to the state’s election and voting laws that were passed by the state Legislature and signed by Governor Cuomo earlier this year, the New York State Senate’s elections committee seems poised to move ahead with legislation to implement a system of automatic voter registration.

At a public hearing on Thursday in Albany, the elections committee, chaired by Democratic Senator Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn, heard testimony from experts, election officials, voting reform advocates, and immigrant advocates, all of whom agreed that New York must implement automatic voter registration (AVR). The hearing came just after a crowded and energetic rally in the capital, led by the Let NY Vote coalition, at which legislators of both houses and advocates called for passage of AVR.

The key questions apparent on Thursday were whether AVR has support in the Assembly and from the governor, and what type of AVR system should be adopted -- a split opinion was clear at the hearing, which was called in part to help sort out the different proposals.

In 2016, Oregon was the first state to approve AVR, and since then, 17 other states and the District of Columbia have also adopted the system. In New York, which has consistently ranked low on voter registration and turnout, Myrie said AVR is “critically important to our democracy.”

“My goal is to bring New York from worst to first,” he said, with reference to the package of bills passed earlier this year, which included an early voting program set to launch this fall.

There have been several bills on AVR introduced this legislative session in the Senate and Assembly. Besides massively increasing the number of registered voters in the state -- roughly 2 million New Yorkers are eligible to vote but not registered -- AVR also promises to reduce the costs of election administration, make voting more efficient, and expand access for the state’s most vulnerable populations including low-income communities, people of color, and young people.

It would also complement the many reforms that the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed this year, including early voting, pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds, and portability of voter registrations The Legislature also consolidated the state and federal primary and approved the use of electronic poll books, and crossed one of three thresholds for other reforms, including same-day voter registration, that require a change to the state constitution.

The State Board of Elections showed its own split on the idea of AVR. In testimony submitted to the committee, Todd Valentine, the BOE’s Republican co-executive director, said, “Forcing inclusion against the voter’s will is an act of a top-down government. And saying that there’s an ‘opt-out’ clause is really flipping the script on free choice – the choice is made – you are in. This violates a citizen’s basic free speech rights, which includes expressing displeasure
with the electoral process by not participating.”

Robert Brehm, the Democratic co-executive director, who testified in person, supported it. “Certainly, automatic voter registration is an important reform,” he said, also hinting at the disagreement within the Board. “We have a bit of an ideology issue there,” he said.

Dustin Czarny, an elections commissioner in Onondaga County, and chair of the Democratic Caucus of the New York State Elections Commissioner Association, called AVR an “egalitarian benefit” and said the Legislature must pass it to build on the successful reforms from this session. “I’m here to caution against the feeling that maybe we’ve done enough, because we can never have done enough when it comes to voter access,” he said.

Though there was generally consensus at the hearing about the benefits of AVR, the panellists testifying before the committee disagreed over whether AVR should be implemented through a front-end or back-end system, or some hybrid of both.

In a front-end system, voters that interact with specific state agencies for different purposes – such as the Department of Motor Vehicles – would be automatically given the option to register to vote and choose one or no party affiliation, or opt out. In a back-end system, the state would use databases of New Yorkers maintained by different agencies to determine who is eligible to be registered and transmit that information to the state Board of Elections to add them to the voter rolls. The BOE would then inform those individuals by mail, giving them the option to choose their party affiliation or to opt out and not be added to the rolls.

Of the states that have passed AVR, only Oregon and Alaska implemented a back-end system. But both approaches have their weaknesses, experts said.

A back-end system could inadvertently enroll ineligible individuals such as undocumented immigrants and legal non-citizen residents, which could open them up to deportation or threaten their chances of obtaining citizenship. It could also enroll voters who want to maintain their confidentiality, such as survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.

Voters would also not be immediately affiliated with a party, which could lead to confusion because of New York’s closed primary system and early deadlines for switching party affiliation -- nearly six months before a primary. Voters, particularly in New York City, tend not to respond to mailers from the BOE, which means they could miss the opportunity to fix any issues with their registration.

But a front-end system would require agencies to ask an individual about their eligibility and citizenship, a fraught question particularly in a state with a large immigrant population among whom the federal government under President Donald Trump has created an atmosphere of heightened fear.

Other experts and advocates raised concerns about the lack of training among agency personnel about registration procedures and the dearth of accomodation for people with limited English proficiency. At an agency point of service, under constraints of time and with other priorities in mind, individuals could make mistakes.

Sean Morales-Doyle, counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, warned against a back-end system. “We don’t want people getting registered without knowing it,” he said, insisting that an AVR system should have protections for vulnerable communities and that it should be implemented through multiple agencies, including the DMV, which already processes voter registration applications.

But Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, said her organization tended to prefer the back-end system and emphasized that there are ways to filter information on voting eligible New Yorkers without adverse consequences. For instance, she noted that the Department of Health serves a far broader population than the DMV and has more than 6 million people registered for Medicaid, which tracks their status. “So we’re not asking the agency to ask citizenship questions that they’re not already asking,” she said.

It is often noted even under the current registration system that centering the DMV favors suburban and rural areas over urban centers given that city-dwellers are less likely to interact with the DMV.

Lerner urged the committee to ensure several provisions in any bill that passes, including creating a working group of agencies and advocates to study which agencies are best to implement AVR, ensure the security of collected data, and to require regular reporting on how the system is being implemented.

Morales-Doyle, Lerner, and others generally agreed that AVR should involve multiple agencies, and that some flexibility should be built into the legislation to allow more agencies to implement it.

Sean McElwee, founder of AVR Now and co-founder of Data for Progress, also supported a back-end system, noting that from analysis of Oregon’s program, 44% of those registered through AVR cast a ballot in the 2016 election. “In the Oregon system, more than 90% of people do not opt out, so they’re either added to the rolls or have their registrations updated,” he noted. “In Colorado, prior to switching to a back-end system, only one in three people chose not to opt out.”

Senator Michael Gianaris has introduced a bill that would implement back-end AVR, and he argued at the hearing that he would rather put the onus of a registration system on the government rather than individuals. His bill contains a safe-harbor provision that would prevent an individual from being liable for a mistake in the state voter rolls. “An error in the statewide voter registration list shall not constitute a fraudulent or false claim to citizenship,” his bill reads.

But immigration advocates weren’t reassured by the provision, noting that federal enforcement agencies do not give immigrants the benefit of the doubt in such cases. “They do not weigh intent. They do not weigh method of registration,” said Amy Torres, director of policy at the Chinese-American Planning Council.

That sentiment was shared by Wennie Chen, senior manager of civic engagement at the New York Immigration Coalition, and Monica Vargas-Huertas, deputy northeast director of NALEO Educational Fund. “Errors that can cause serious negative collateral consequences are more likely to go unnoticed until it’s too late in a backend system,” said Vargas-Huertas.

With eleven session days left in the legislative year, the Assembly has yet to even discuss the issue of AVR. “We will talk about it with our members,” said Mike Whyland, a spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, in an email.

(photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Why is Mayor Bill de Blasio running for President? What's his pitch in the early days of his campaign? How was he received in Iowa and South Carolina on his first campaign trip? How might he gain some traction? What will this run do to his image at home in New York City?

Gotham Gazette's Ben Max hosted a discussion answering those questions and more featuring political strategist L. Joy Williams, WNYC radio's Brigid Bergin, and The New York Times' Jeff Mays. Watch the program, produced by Manhattan Neighborhood Network, below:

(photo: Edwin J. Torres/ Mayoral Photography Office)

In January, the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics, a governmental watchdog agency, revealed that it had held a closed-door vote on a potential ethics investigation into a former top aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo. The aide, Joe Percoco, was convicted on federal corruption charges in a highly publicized trial that also laid bare work he had done from his executive chamber office while on leave to work for the governor’s campaign.

Despite the obvious appearance of an ethics violation, JCOPE only held a vote on an investigation when its commissioners’ hands were forced through a lawsuit -- and even then, the outcome remains shrouded in mystery because JCOPE refuses to announce it to the public.

Created in 2011 to monitor the behavior of more than 250,000 public officials and to enforce state lobbying laws, JCOPE has become the epitome of New York State’s lax ethical oversight, and the agency’s opacity is a source of widespread consternation. As is the case with other watchdog entities, JCOPE has to balance the privacy of individuals against its duty to inform the public and instill confidence that it is effectively carrying out its work.

By design, many of these agencies are not required to inform the public about the complaints they receive, or are prohibited from doing so to prevent reputational harm against individuals or entities that may be the subject of a complaint. But good government groups say that must change in order to build trust in institutions, and that the public would be better served if agencies provided more transparency about how they handle complaints and report on outcomes of investigations.

JCOPE is just one of several governmental watchdog entities in New York, but its lack of disclosure is not unique. Among a variety of governmental bodies with mandates to scrutinize elections violations, nonprofit fundraising, and public integrity, there’s no standard protocol for reporting on the number and status of complaints received, the investigations initiated or concluded, or the final disposition and enforcement actions taken.

It’s true in many cases at both the state and city levels: other such entities include the State Board of Elections, the Inspector General, the New York City Department of Investigation, and the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board.

In New York City, for instance, recent news reports revealed that though two agencies had concluded that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s fundraising practices during his first term violated guidance about conflicts of interest rules, the mayor did not face any punitive action and neither agency -- the Conflicts of Interest Board and Department of Investigation -- publicly disclosed that it had ended its investigation or the results. Even after news outlets reported on the general conclusions of those agencies, the specific reports and their findings were either heavily redacted or kept secret.

Government reform advocates say some agencies aren’t following the letter of the law in reporting on their work, and they argue that all the agencies, either proactively or through legal mandates, should be releasing more information than they currently do.

“We feel like there’s inconsistency across the many enforcement entities in New York State as to how they make known, or don’t make known, the way they process complaints,” said Alex Camarda, senior policy advisor for Reinvent Albany, a good government group. “And generally speaking we’d like to see more transparency. At the very least, complainants ought to be told what the outcome is of their complaint after a period of time has passed, if not immediately.

This criticism rings particularly true in a recent case regarding an allegation of sexual misconduct against former State Senator Jeff Klein by a former aide, Erica Vladimer. JCOPE has refused to reveal the status of its investigation into the matter -- even to Vladimer, she has said.  

Camarda acknowledged that agencies have a duty to maintain confidentiality. Accusations of impropriety against an elected official, public servant, or candidate for office could serve to harm them if they are publicized but later found untrue. This would be particularly important in the case of spurious complaints, which agencies regularly receive and dismiss on a lack of merit.

But, Camarda said, “that hasn’t been the problem in New York State.”

“In this state, we’ve erred more on the side of protecting the reputation of the accused rather than transparency of complaints, and I think the pendulum needs to swing in the other direction, towards transparency,” he added. “The problem has not been that people are wrongly accused and their reputation is sullied as a result. The problem has been lack of enforcement. So we need to compensate for that by having greater transparency with how complaints are handled and making that known to the complainant and to the public.”

Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE)
The lawsuit over the Percoco matter, brought by New York State Republican Party Chair Ed Cox, was not the first time JCOPE was compelled by the courts to vote on an issue. In 2014, Donald Trump sued the agency to hold a vote on his complaint against then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office was suing Trump over fraud claims related to the now-defunct Trump University.

In both cases, JCOPE did not hold a vote within 60 days of receiving a complaint, as required under state law, raising questions about how regularly it flouts requirements. Even after holding a vote, JCOPE doesn’t disclose whether it voted to open an investigation -- the agency is exempt from the state’s Freedom of Information Law, as well as from the Open Meetings Law.   

Under the law, JCOPE only makes public the results of a Substantial Basis Investigation, which involves a more detailed probe of a particular complaint. (In case the complaint involves a member of or candidate for state Legislature, or a legislative employee, the agency isn’t authorized to impose any penalties, however, and refers the matter to the Legislative Ethics Commission.) Substantial basis investigation reports are also published online with related documents detailing the complaint and settlement reached.

While it has a broad mandate, in 2018 the commission processed 257 matters across a range of possible violations including conflicts of interest, nepotism, improper gifts, failure to file financial disclosure statements, and post-employment restrictions, according to its annual report.

Those 257 matters resulted in 27 investigations initiated. By the end of 2018, JCOPE had 38 open investigations and 93 matters pending review. The report only includes data in the aggregate, which, Camarda of Reinvent Albany pointed out, is in fact more transparent than other agencies but does not seem to fully comply with the law, which requires the agency to report a list of complaints and referrals received alleging violations, and the status of each complaint.

JCOPE spokesperson Walter McClure disagreed with this reading of the law, saying the agency cannot release certain information “because it would be providing confidential information to people who should not have access to it….[A]nything that has to do with an investigative matter is subject to the confidentiality provision and we cannot make it public unless or until the Commission votes to allow that.”

“This is just one small niche issue in a bigger enforcement system that we believe is a problem, and that is, we file these complaints, they seem to go into a black hole and we don’t get a lot of information back as to what happens, at any point,” Camarda said.

Reinvent Albany was among several civic organizations that sent a letter to Governor Cuomo and state legislative leaders on May 16, calling for an overhaul of ethics enforcement by amending the state constitution. The coalition of groups -- including NYPIRG, Citizens Union, New York City Bar Association, Common Cause NY, and others -- surveyed ethics agencies in 50 states and found that New York’s agencies, including JCOPE, are “among the very weakest in the nation” on independence and public accountability. “Few, if any, other states have ethics watchdogs so completely compromised by lack of independence, partisanship, lack of transparency and the other failings described,” the survey noted.

As the groups noted, JCOPE’s structure and independence, or lack thereof, have been a perennial cause for frustration. The agency’s commissioners are appointed by the state Legislature and the governor, who also chooses its chair. The executive director is appointed by a majority of the commissioners. The agency’s three executive directors so far have been close allies of Cuomo. Seth Agata, who was previously counsel to the governor, currently holds the position but recently announced that he would be departing for a job with a law firm.

The call for an ethics agency overhaul has been echoed by state lawmakers. Among them is state Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat who has proposed an amendment to the state constitution to replace JCOPE with a ‘truly independent’ state ethics commission. [Read: ‘It’s just not designed to do its job’: Will New York reform its state ethics agency?]

“[O]ur official position has been, and remains, that when it comes to calls for reform/changes to the Commission and the proposed constitutional amendment that calls for a replacement for the Commission, it is up to the Executive and the Legislature to make decisions about the laws that govern what we do and how we do it,” said McClure, in response, noting that JCOPE itself has made legislative recommendations in the past to strengthen its authority.

State Board of Elections
In 2014, the state election law was amended to create a new independent enforcement division headed by a chief enforcement counsel, a role that has only been held by Risa Sugarman, who was nominated by the governor and confirmed by the state Legislature. The creation of the division and Sugarman’s appointment was meant to depoliticize the agency, whose commissioners are appointed on party lines, and lend credibility to the BOE’s oversight of election and campaign finance violations.

As with JCOPE, the BOE’s enforcement division has not been immune from criticism that it has failed to fulfil its obligations under the law and has shown minimal investigative activity. Last year, in an apparent power grab, the BOE commissioners voted to curtail the enforcement counsel’s power to issue subpoenas, and mandated that the division issue regular reports on investigations as well as complete them within six months.

At the time, BOE’s Democratic co-chair Douglas Kellner said it was prompted by the enforcement counsel’s failure to adequately investigate election law violations, despite thousands of referrals particularly related to candidates failing to file campaign finance disclosures. “I think it's pretty clear that I'm fed up with the current process of the enforcement unit,” Kellner said at the time.

At the root of that issue is the fact that the enforcement counsel’s unit is separate from the campaign finance compliance unit, which essentially keeps two oversight roles removed from each other. At public hearings, the compliance unit’s leadership has aired complaints that it receives little to no information from the enforcement unit.

“The BOE is its own strange animal,” said Camarda, of that structure. He added, “It’s the same problem we’re discussing as a good government group writ large but they can’t even find out within their own agency. And [Sugarman] argues that that’s an imposition on her work and the confidentiality of her work. It seems to me in the law and in the rules that the enforcement counsel is required to provide some transparency around the complaints that are received and how they’re handled.”

Reinvent Albany opposed the new restrictions on Sugarman’s subpoena authority but was supportive of the expanded disclosure on investigations and complaints. But, the reports -- with significant detail of complaints, investigations, and dispositions -- are only required to be sent to the BOE commissioners and co-executive directors. Reinvent Albany has pushed the Board to make the reports more broadly available to the public.

The numbers on the BOE’s 2017 annual report, the latest one available, bear out some of the critiques. The report notes that the division received 463 emailed questions and complaints from the public in the 2017 calendar year, but it does not mention how many complaints were received through telephone, snail mail, or other means.

Violations of state campaign finance law appear rampant but the BOE seems unable to properly uphold its mandate. In 2017, the enforcement division received 3,984 referrals from the compliance unit for non-filing of disclosures. By the end of the year, 2,880 still owed reports to the BOE. Additionally, 597 referrals were made for deficient filers who failed to comply after being informed that their disclosures were deficient. Between 2014 and 2017, the report noted, 2,101 referrals of deficient filers were made to the enforcement division; 329 were amended to fix deficiencies; one was deleted and 1,066 remained unresolved.

In total, the division opened 52 formal investigations and received authorization to issue subpoenas in four cases. Sugarman referred one case for further investigation and potential prosecution. And the division filed only six matters to go through a civil enforcement administrative hearing process.

In an email, BOE’s Sugarman declined to comment for this story.  

State Inspector General
The State Inspector General, a gubernatorial appointee, is charged with oversight of the state executive branch including every agency, department, division, commission, board, public authority, and public benefit corporation.

The IG’s office investigates allegations of criminal activity, corruption, and fraud and regularly makes referrals for criminal prosecution. According to the law, the office informs heads of agencies about investigative proceedings and releases public reports “as appropriate and to the extent permitted by law, subject to redaction to protect the confidentiality of witnesses.” The office often recommends reforms at state agencies and oversees their implementation.

Two other offices under the IG perform investigative roles dedicated to specific agencies and their services and purviews -- the Office of the Welfare Inspector General (OWIG), which oversees the provision of social services at the state and local level; and the Office of the Workers' Compensation Fraud Inspector General (WCFIG), which investigates violations of workers’ compensation laws (it also monitors the implementation of the state’s paid family leave program). Both these offices release annual reports detailing enforcement activity.

Until recently, Cuomo appointee Catherine Leahy Scott was in charge of all three offices. In January, Cuomo replaced her in the IG’s office with Letizia Tagliafierro, a longtime aide and former executive director of JCOPE. Leahy Scott continues to serve as acting welfare inspector general.

Among the three offices, the Inspector General alone does not release an annual report or make public the number of complaints received and investigated in a year.

In 2017, according to the latest annual report, the OWIG processed 650 complaints related to public assistance fraud, up from 562 complaints in 2016, about a 16 percent increase. The office’s investigations found more than $1.3 million in fraud and improper social service benefits payments. Twenty individuals were criminally prosecuted.

The WCFIG, in 2017, received 2,369 complaints, a more than 50 percent increase from 2016 (because of a new partnership with the National Insurance Crime Bureau, which made a large number of referrals in one go). Investigations found more than $1,043,000 in fraud, resulting in  23 arrests and 38 criminal cases.

Though the IG’s office itself puts out public releases about the conclusions of investigations resulting in criminal charges, the office does not publish an annual report summarizing its enforcement activity. A spokesperson for the IG’s office noted that the office publishes information as required by statute and that each complaint is thoroughly reviewed.

New York City Department of Investigation (DOI)
The DOI is the independent watchdog that monitors city agencies and has broad authority to conduct criminal investigations and make arrests and prosecution referrals. The agency, whose head is nominated by the mayor and approved by the City Council, conducts background checks of city employees, investigates fraud and corruption, monitors firms that receive large city contracts, and conducts investigations for the Conflicts of Interest Board. DOI also examines systemic issues at agencies and recommends reforms to reduce inefficiency and the risk of corruption.

As with other enforcement agencies, DOI has strict confidentiality rules and does not disclose directly whether it is conducting an investigation based on a complaint. But the agency does annually report, in the aggregate, on the number of complaints received, investigated and closed.

Those numbers are published in the Mayor’s Management Report, tracking enforcement activity by the fiscal year, as well as in an end-of-calendar-year statistics report. In fiscal year 2018, for instance, DOI received 13,073 complaints, made 2,540 policy change recommendations, and conducted 389 lectures on corruption prevention and whistleblowers. The agency made 762 referrals for civil and administrative action, 860 referrals for criminal prosecution, and its investigations led to 661 arrests.

The Department also issues detailed public reports on investigations that are concluded.

“Complaints made to the New York City Department of Investigation are kept confidential to safeguard the integrity of DOI investigations and protect the individuals filing those complaints,” said a DOI spokesperson, in an email. “DOI is committed to a transparent, accountable government, frequently proactively publishing findings of closed investigations through its public reports, and adhering to the Freedom of Information Law, taking requests for documents seriously and following the law in responding to them.”

New York City Conflicts of Interest Board
As the investigation into Mayor de Blasio showed, the COIB can be an opaque agency at times. De Blasio’s fundraising for an outside nonprofit from individuals who had business with the city triggered investigations at the city, state, and federal level. The state and federal cases closed without any criminal charges. Recently, THE CITY revealed that DOI concluded the mayor had violated COIB guidance and run afoul of conflicts of interest and ethics laws.

But COIB could not say whether it took any action and could not publicly disclose either the status of the investigation or the conclusion reached by DOI. Last week, the Board formally created a rule addressing the type of fundraising activity the mayor was found to have engaged in, releasing a statement to clarify its position. The City Charter, which governs the COIB, places strict confidentiality requirements on the agency, so much so that it cannot even confirm nor deny if a complaint has been filed or investigated.  

“It was good that they put out that statement because ultimately it did clear things up,” said Camarda of the recent developments involving de Blasio, “but it points to the problem, which is, we could not actually tell as a good government group that follows these things, why they did not assess penalties against de Blasio.”

On the other hand, COIB does release aggregate data on enforcement action taken each year in its annual report. In 2018, for instance, the agency opened 392 cases, closed 404 cases, imposed fines in 92 matters, issued 6 public warning letter and 22 private warning letters, made 76 referrals to DOI and received 150 reports from DOI. The agency also discloses summaries in the annual report of the types of enforcement actions taken each year, and publicly releases the full details of the disposition of a matter, including individuals' names and the actions taken by them. 

[Read: De Blasio Fundraising Exposed Grey Area for Ethics Board]

Note - This article has been updated to clarify that COIB does publicly disclose names of individuals and the full details of a disposition of a matter. 

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

Mayor de Blasio was back from a weekend presidential campaign trip to Nevada and spoke Monday at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum's Annual Memorial Day Ceremony. As another week unfolds for the mayor/presidential candidate, we’ll continue watching both his government and campaign schedules. This past week, before his weekend trip to Nevada, de Blasio spent Thursday in Iowa, flying there and back to participate in a rally calling on McDonald’s to pay its workers at least $15 per hour.

The mayor will deliver remarks Tuesday morning at a City Hall rally in support of legislation that would mandate "paid personal time off" for employees at most businesses, just before the City Council will hold a hearing on the legislation, the lead sponsor of which is Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. De Blasio had expressed support for the bill, which has been around for years, in his State of the City address earlier this year.

[Read: 8 Big Questions About Bill De Blasio's Presidential Bid]

[Watch: Breaking Down De Blasio's Presidential Candidacy, with Gotham Gazette's Ben Max, WNYC's Brigid Bergin, The New York Times' Jeff Mays & political strategist L. Joy Williams]

Meanwhile, it’s a short holiday week but a very busy one in local government. The City Council is especially busy this week, with a variety of legislative and oversight hearings, including several particularly noteworthy ones (on mandating paid vacation time, on the BQX, and others -- see listings below), and also a Stated Meeting at which new bills are introduced and bills passed through committee are voted on by the full Council.

The state Legislature is in session two days this week (Wednesday and Thursday) and, after those two, has just 11 session days left on the schedule, and a long list of potential issues to act on, from renewing and strengthening the expiring rent regulations to legalizing adult-use marijuana, e-bikes and e-scooters, and paid surrogacy to lifting the cap on charter schools in New York City, and more.

There was a joint legislative hearing on Friday on workplace sexual harassment, and there are proposals on the table to strengthen the state’s anti-harassment laws, another item that could be dealt with in the final weeks of the session. On Tuesday, there will be a joint hearing on the New York Health Act, which would institute single-payer health insurance, but that legislation does not appear on the table for potential passage this year.

This past Saturday, May 25, marked one month until the Tuesday, June 25 primary election in New York. The marquee but not only election on the ballot is the Democratic primary for Queens District Attorney, with seven candidates seeking the party nomination for the open seat. That race will continue to intensify as the vote approaches -- the winner of the primary is all but certain to win the general election in November and become the next DA. [Read/Watch: Campaign Ads: Queens DA Candidates Provide Video Evidence]

[Read: There are also judicial elections this year!]

There are 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, May 27
Monday is Memorial Day.

Tuesday, May 28
At 8 a.m. Tuesday in Manhattan, Crain’s New York Business will host “From Third Rate to First Class—Transforming New York's Airports.” The event will include discussion of “ the investment, expansion and improvement of New York’s airports into modern facilities the city can be proud of. The panel will discuss Gov. Andrew Cuomo's $13 billion plan to enhance JFK through state-of-the-art passenger amenities and to simplify the roadways to increase capacity. There will also be a discussion about the $8 billion plan to rebuild LaGuardia and whether there are other pressing airport issues that need to be addressed.”

At 9 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall, "Mayor de Blasio and First Lady McCray will deliver remarks at a rally for new Paid Personal Time legislation." Public Advocate Williams, who is the lead sponsor of the bill, will also be among those rallying and delivering remarks.

At the City Council on Tuesday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Aging will meet to discuss legislation that requires caseworkers at senior care facilities to complete mental health training, and to take refresher courses every 3 years. The Committee will also discuss a resolution urging the United States Congress to pass the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act.
--Also at 10 a.m., the Committee on Housing and Buildings will meet to discuss legislation that “requires building owners to post a sign that a portable ramp is available for access to the building at inaccessible building entrances, where that ramp exists.”
--Also at 10 a.m., the Committee on Civil Service and Labor will meet to discuss a bill updating the Earned Safe and Sick Time Leave Law by adding personal time as a protected category under the law. The bill, sponsored by former City Council Member/now Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for years, won the support of Mayor de Blasio in his State of the City address earlier this year. From the Council website: "This bill would update the Earned Safe and Sick Time Law by adding personal time. Employers with five or more employees or employers of one or more domestic worker would be required to provide all employees with personal time for absences from work for any reason. Like paid safe/sick time, employers would provide employees with one hour of personal time for every 30 hours worked by an employee, with a maximum of 80 hours of personal time in any calendar year."
--At 10:30 a.m., the Committee on Criminal Justice will meet to discuss a resolution urging the state government to pass the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act and another regarding a state bill that “reforms revocation presumptive release, parole, conditional release, and post-release supervision.”
--Also at 10:30 a.m., the Committee on Education will meet to discuss five bills. Three concern requiring the Department of Education to provide reports on after-school athletic funding, adaptive physical education for students with disabilities, and physical education curricula. A fourth resolution to be discussed mandates the Department of Education provide equitable access to all after-school athletic activities, and a fifth “requires inclusion of Employee Protection Provisions (EPPs) in all current and future school bus contracts in NYC.”

At 10 a.m. Tuesday in Albany, the Assembly and Senate Standing Committees on Health will hold a public hearing on the New York Health Act, which would “replace traditional health insurance coverage and public health coverage programs with comprehensive single-payer health coverage” in New York State.

On Tuesday at noon at 250 Broadway in Manhattan, “Senator Brad Hoylman and parents and their immunocompromised school aged children threatened by the ongoing measles epidemic will hold a press conference to urge the legislature to pass Senator Hoylman’s and Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz’s legislation (S2994/A2371) to end the non-medical exemption for vaccinations in New York. The measure is currently awaiting votes in both houses of the State Legislature.”

On Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., the New York City Board of Elections will hold a commissioners meeting.

At 3 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, a rally in support of Weeksville, led by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Council Members Laurie Cumbo, Jimmy Van Bramer, and Robert Cornegy Jr., as well as Rob Fields, Executive Director, Weeksville Heritage Center. The Council members will call for "Cultural Institutions Group Designation for Weeksville Heritage Center." Weeksville Heritage Center "celebrates the history of one of America’s first black communities for freed slaves...By marking this Brooklyn landmark and museum as one of the city’s Cultural Institutions Group (CIGS), Weeksville will get regular funding and maintenance instead of having to crowdsource for survival. Already, there are 33 institutions in this group, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Bronx Museum of the Arts. The last institution added the list was The Museum of Jewish Heritage in 1998."

At 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, the DemocracyReady NY Coalition “invites New York education stakeholders to participate in a free, interactive conversation exploring K-12 civic-education opportunity gaps as well as strategies to achieve statewide equity in civic learning.” The event will be held entirely online.

At 4 p.m. Tuesday, the NYU Furman Center will host “By the Numbers: The Diversity of New York City's Neighborhoods and Schools.” Panelists and moderators will include NY1’s Errol Louis; Richard Kahlenberg, Director of K–12 Equity and Senior Fellow at the Century Foundation; Sandra Soto, Principal of PS705 Brooklyn Arts & Science Elementary School; Jennifer Sun, Co-Executive Director of Asian Americans for Equality; and Maya Wiley, Henry Cohen Professor of Urban Policy and Management at the New School and Co-chair of the NYC School Diversity Advisory Group.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will co-sponsor a Pier 40 legislative forum, in M.S. 297’s cafeteria.

Also at 6 p.m., New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer will host an event for Jewish Heritage Month at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, honoring Joel Grey, Chanie Apfelbaum, and Mark Hetfield.

Also at 6 p.m., Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and State Senator Jessica Ramos will host a housing forum. “The discussion will focus on tenants rights with a focus on ways Albany must renew and strengthen New York's rent laws that expire on next month.”

At 6:30 p.m., the New York City Bar Science & Law Committee will host a panel discussion, “Environmental Law and Science Under the Trump Administration.” Speakers will include Mark Brownstein, Senior Vice President of Energy at the Environmental Defense Fund; Gabriel J. Daly, Mitchell S. Bernard Litigation Fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council; John S. Guttmann, Principal at Beveridge & Diamond; Ronnie Levin, Visiting Scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and former Scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency; and Romany M. Webb, Senior Fellow and Associate Research Scholar at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. The panel will be moderated by Sabrina McCormick, Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at George Washington University.

Also at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, State Senator Leroy Comrie, Assembly Member Alicia Hyndman, and the Drug Policy Alliance will screen the film “Grass is Greener” and hold a discussion focusing “on the ongoing marijuana legalization debate in Albany and ways lawmakers can advance Marijuana Justice measures.”

Wednesday, May 29
At 8 a.m. Wednesday, the Association for a Better New York will host a presentation and panel “to discuss the future of employment and economic development opportunities in New York City.” The panel will include Jonathan Bowles, Executive Director, Center for an Urban Future; Purnima Kapur, Planning Consultant and Adjunct Faculty, Columbia University and former Executive Director, Department of City Planning; Gail Mellow, former President, LaGuardia Community College; Seth Pinsky, Executive Vice President, RXR Realty; and Bronx City Council Member Ritchie Torres.

At 8:30 a.m., the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce will meet for a Government Affairs Roundtable, with featured guest Andy Byford, New York City Transit President. (Note: this is a members-only event.)

At 9 a.m. Wednesday in Albany, the state Senate Standing Committee on Judiciary will hold a public hearing on “legislation authorizing and regulating compensated gestational surrogacy agreements.”

At 10 a.m. Wednesday in Albany, the Senate Standing Committee on Budget and Revenue and the Senate Standing Committee on Education will jointly hold a public hearing “to examine alternative ways of financing public education.”

At 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Brooklyn Navy Yards, the shared electric moped company Revel will hold a press conference with a major announcement included. “In addition to questions about news, members of the press can receive a training on the e-mopeds and tutorials on how to use the Revel app.”

At noon Wednesday on the City Hall steps, City Council Member Antonio Reynoso will announce the introduction of legislation to overhaul the private sanitation industry, and he will be accompanied by environmental justice and labor advocates and sanitation workers who support the legislation. “Those gathered at the press conference will speak to how a commercial waste zone system would improve the efficiency of the private sanitation industry, as well as the safety and environmental benefits that it would bring to the City at large.”

Also at noon, across from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, City Council Members I. Daneek Miller and Margaret Chin will will host a rally in support of the Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act. Also in attendance will be Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, FealGood Foundation President and 9/11 Advocate John Feal, Uniformed Fire Officers Association, and DC37 Executive Director Henry Garrido.

At a press conference at 1 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, “The eleven non-profits who make up the Alternatives to Incarceration/Reentry Coalition” and City Council Members, led by Vanessa L. Gibson, Daniel Dromm, Keith Powers, and Mark Levine, will push for city funding to alternatives to incarceration and prisoner reentry programs.

At 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, the City Council will hold a stated meeting in the Council Chambers at which bills that have been voted through committee are passed by the full Council and new bills are introduced. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who is set to introduce his legislation mandating a “master plan for city streets” with accelerated buildout of bike and bus lanes and pedestrian plazas, will host a pre-stated press conference at 12:30 p.m.

At 2 p.m. Wednesday, “the Center for Community and Ethnic Media at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and the Center for Community Leadership at the JCRC-NY invite journalists, community, government and business leaders to attend a half-day conference exploring the opportunities and challenges of the 2020 Census. The role of community and ethnic media in creating awareness about the importance of the 2020 Census and how an undercount could impact the city will be among the topics discussed.” Speakers will include Julie Menin, Director of the Census for New York City & Executive Assistant at the Corporation Counsel for Strategic Advocacy; Joseph Salvo, Director of the Population Division at NYC Department of City Planning; Steven Romalewski, Director of the CUNY Mapping Service; and Jeff Behler, Director of the New York Regional Office, U.S. Census Bureau.

At 5 p.m. Wednesday, it’s this week’s Max & Murphy show on WBAI radio, 99.5FM or wbai.org.

At 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Bronx, the Panel for Educational Policy will meet to discuss prior minutes, EarlyLearn Transfer of Employees from ACS to DOE, and school utilization proposals.

Also at 6 p.m., the Urban Land Institute will host “Population Trends and How They Impact the Way We Live.” Speakers will include Chris Jones, Senior Vice President and Chief Planner of the Regional Planning Association; Onay Payne, Managing Director of Clarion Partners; and Jon Vogel, Senior Vice President for Development at AvalonBay Communities. It will be moderated by Bret Boyd, Chief Executive Officer of Knoema.

Also at 6 p.m. Wednesday, the New York City Bar will hold a town hall on the current state of the IRS. Speakers will include Don Fort, Chief of IRS Criminal Investigation; Mary Beth Murphy, Commissioner of the IRS Small Business/Self Employed Division; and Nina Olson from The National Taxpayer Advocate. The town hall will be moderated by Caroline Ciraolo of Kostelanetz & Fink, LLP.

At 6:30 p.m., at The Mansion at Oyster Bay in Woodbury, City & State will hold a reception for its 2019 Long Island Power 100. “In addition to naming the most influential people on Long Island, the issue will also focus on the landscape of Long Island politics and feature industry focuses specific to the island.” Guest speakers will include U.S. Representatives Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Peter King (R-NY).

Also at 6:30 p.m., P.S. 133 will host the Gowanus Superfund Town Hall on canal clean-up, with a presentation by the Environmental Protection Agency and a keynote by U.S. Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-NY).

Thursday, May 30
At the City Council on Thursday:
--The Committee on Parks and Recreation, the Committee on Health, and the Committee on Transportation will jointly meet at 10 a.m. to discuss legislation concerning Hart Island, including transferring jurisdiction and control from the Department of Corrections to the Department of Parks and Recreation, as well as requiring the Department of Transportation to develop a transportation plan for public travel to and from the island. Two other bills will be heard at the meeting, concerning the creation of a task force on public burial policy, and a new requirement that the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene provide support to those who need assistance in the public burial of a loved one.
--At 11 a.m. in the Council Chamber, an oversight hearing on the Brooklyn Queens Connector will be held by the City Council Task Force on BQX.

On Thursday morning at 10 a.m outside City Hall, "Friends of the BQX will rally with project supporters on the steps of City Hall in advance of a City Council hearing on the planned light rail line that will run 11 miles along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront from Red Hook to Astoria. Friends of the BQX Executive Director Jessica Schumer will be joined by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, NYCHA resident association leaders from along the corridor, labor leaders, faith leaders, transit advocates, environmental organizations, small business advocates, workforce development organizations and tech advocates to tout the benefits of the project and urge continued progress forward by the de Blasio administration toward a groundbreaking. The rally comes as the project’s environmental review gets underway ahead of the City’s public review process."

At 1 p.m. Thursday in Albany, the Senate Standing Committee on Elections will hold a public hearing on “the creation of an automatic voter registration system in the State of New York.”

At 9 a.m., the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute will host a food policy forum: “Equity and the Public Plate.” The forum will discuss the Good Food Purchasing Program, “a metric based, flexible framework that encourages large institutions to direct their buying power toward five core values: local economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, and nutrition.” Speakers will include Ribka Getachew, Director of NYC Good Food Purchasing Campaign at Community Food Advocates NYC; Suzanne Adely, Regional Organizer, Mid-Atlantic and New England at Food Chain Workers Alliance; Chloe Waterman, Senior Food Campaigner at Friends of the Earth; and Kylie Repasy, Good Food Purchasing Program Researcher at CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute. The forum will be moderated by Craig Willingham, Deputy Director, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute.

At 5:30 p.m. Thursday, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli “will host an Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration. DiNapoli will recognize the contributions of T.J. Bindra, President and Founder of the Sikh Organization of New York, Gemma DeLeon Lopresti, Commissioner, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and Maf Misbah Uddin, Treasurer, District Council 37.”

At 6 p.m. Thursday, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz will hold a Gun Violence Prevention Town Hall “to raise awareness and work toward solutions to the epidemic of gun violence.”

Also at 6 p.m. Thursday, The New York City Automated Decision Systems Task Force will host an update and panel on their work to date. Panelists will include Chancey Fleet, Fellow for Data & Society and Assistive Technology Coordinator at the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, New York Public Library; Aaron Pallas, Professor of Sociology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University; and Rumman Chowdhury, Senior Principal and Global Lead of Ethical Artificial Intelligence, Accenture.

Friday, May 31
At 10 a.m. Friday in Albany, the Assembly Standing Committee on Health will hold a public hearing on rural health care services and the “unique challenges experienced in maintaining access to necessary health care services in rural areas across New York State.”

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

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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 Brachfeld and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

What's The [Data] Point? Episode 74 -- 1.28 cents, Patrick Orecki [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

New York State is underfunding upkeep of its roads and bridges to the tune of billions of dollars a year. There are several reasons for this, and potential fixes, including a vehicle-miles traveled fee, which Citizens Budget Commission's Patrick Orecki recently explored in a CBC report. He joined the podcast to explain the state of disrepair, why it matters, and how a smartly-done VMT could make a big difference.

Then, after that 20-minute conversation, hear a recent panel event that CBC and partners hosted in Albany on the prospect of a VMT.

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!