Good Morning from New York...
Elsewhere, May showers bring June flowers. In Albany, June means Session may end soon! Assembly staff worked late Friday evening and was back early this morning amending bills and setting committee agendas for the three week sprint to the end. Another sign that the end is near: beginning today, all Senate bills must go through the Rules Committee. As the Three Leaders In A Room (no longer three men!) position themselves for final negotiations, we heard a familiar refrain last week from Governor Cuomo; accusing the Legislature of “complacency,” reminiscent of his taunts before, during, and after the budget process.
The Governor held a press conference where he signaled his expectation of an end of Session “big ugly” or omnibus legislation, a time and place where wacky things can and do happen.
Expect action on the elimination of ‘gay panic’ and trans panic’ defenses, a broadening of sexual harassment laws, legalization of gestational surrogacy, and the legislature’s push to fight antibiotic resistant “superbugs.”
Expect big fights over progressive priorities like recreational marijuana, and a definition of public works or prevailing wage deal. However, on these issues the devil is in the details. Do they get done at all? Where do they fall on range from progressive to moderate to conservative. The biggest battle will be on rent regulations since the current laws expire on June 15th and several of the newest (and most vocal) members of the Senate Majority were elected on promises to fight landlords and protect tenants.
What the next three weeks will have in store depends on how Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie can effectively manage their Conferences, and work with a Governor who has two terms of experience having the upper hand…stay tuned!
Let us know if you have particular issue you are watching or need information on.
MTA’s New Watchdog Vows to Root Out Fraud
A former federal prosecutor was confirmed as the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s watchdog on Thursday, telling state lawmakers that she would root out fraud at the troubled agency. The Senate voted to confirm Carolyn Pokorny (pictured) as the MTA’s inspector general after she spent the day speaking to legislators in committee hearings. Governor Cuomo nominated Ms. Pokorny to succeed Barry Kluger in the post after his retirement was announced on May 24. “I can assure you that rooting out waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse will be my highest priority,” Ms. Pokorny told lawmakers. Ms. Pokorny’s confirmation comes at a time when Cuomo and his surrogates have spent weeks criticizing MTA officials for not tackling what they say is potential overtime fraud at the authority. The allegations stem from a report in April by a fiscally conservative think tank, the Empire Center for Public Policy, which highlighted how some MTA employees earned hundreds of thousands of dollars of overtime in 2018.
So Completely Compromised': New York Watchdog Agencies Have a Credibility Problem
In January, the 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.
Upcoming Events
Monday, June 3rd
Mayor de Blasio will travel to Albany to meet with legislative leaders on end-of-session priorities
Tuesday, June 4th
Senator Brian Kavanagh and Assemblymember Jamie Romeo host press conference action on legislation against the immediate and growing threat to the public’s health posed by antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.”
Wednesday, June 5th
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.”
Friday, June 7th
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.
Links from This Weeks's News Around the State & Country
Public Weighs in on Sports Gambling Regulations
Conference of Mayors Backs Electric Bicycles and Scooters
Comptroller’s Report finds Growth in Tax Exemptions
AG James Calls For State Police To Wear Body Cameras
Cuomo Says He’s Skeptical Marijuana Legalization Can Pass In The Senate
Nadler: 'There Certainly Is' Justification for Impeaching Trump
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said on Friday that there “certainly is” justification for launching impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, but cautioned that the public first must agree that it’s warranted. Nadler emphasized that he intends to use the next few weeks to bring special counsel Robert Mueller’s report “to life,” providing for a television audience the dramatic evidence that Mueller compiled about Trump’s efforts to thwart the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Part of that will include testimony from Mueller himself, Nadler said, even if Mueller sticks to his promise to limit his comments to the findings of his report. Nadler said revealing Mueller’s words and findings to a television audience would educate Americans about the president’s conduct in a way they haven’t been to this point. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has so far firmly resisted mounting calls from Democrats to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump, worrying that such moves could endanger vulnerable House Democrats and arguing that the House must continue to investigate Trump. But 11 of the 24 Democrats on Nadler’s Judiciary Committee — which has jurisdiction over impeachment — have already demanded Democrats begin proceedings to remove the president, and that number has risen sharply in recent weeks.
Worth A Read
The Money Picture in the Queens DA Race, One Month to Primary Day
New Evidence Throws Census Citizenship Case into Question
Head of New York State Bar Association Lays Out Agenda
Kirsten Gillibrand’s Failure to Launch
Kirsten Gillibrand is only asking for a dollar. It’s not that she couldn’t use more money. In the first quarter of 2019, the junior senator from New York raised just $3 million for her presidential campaign, the weakest haul of the six senators running at that time and arguably one of the most disappointing totals of anyone in the sprawling Democratic field. Given her anemic polling since entering the race, Gillibrand’s feeble fundraising performance fanned skepticism about her viability to earn a nomination that Democrats believe will require close to $100 million in hard money raised.But at this point, Gillibrand isn’t focused on winning the primary. She’s worried about surviving the next few months. Despite a soaring national profile in the U.S. Senate, Gillibrand has failed to achieve liftoff as a presidential prospect. She has not broken 2 percent in a single national poll since officially declaring her candidacy in mid-March, andher 0.4 percent average in the RealClearPolitics aggregate of surveys places her behind the likes of Julián Castro, Tulsi Gabbard and even geeky long shot Andrew Yang.
Get to Know Your Legislators: Assemblymember Jamie Romeo
Assemblywoman Jamie Romeo represents the 136th District in Monroe County, including the towns of Brighton and Irondequoit, as well as portions of the city of Rochester. First elected to public office in 2018, she has led an extensive career in public service and advocacy in the Greater Rochester area.
As a lifelong resident of the Town of Irondequoit, outside Rochester, Assemblywoman Romeo became an activist as a young child, organizing neighborhood friends to form a 4-H Club that focused on environmental stewardship and volunteerism.
In 1993, she was instrumental in organizing the first Annual International Coastal Clean Up site at Durand Eastman Beach, along the shoreline of Lake Ontario. 2018 marked the 25th consecutive year of this event, helping to remove and catalog litter and debris not only to protect our natural resources but to learn from the data collected from shorelines around the world. Empowering others through public education and community service has always served as the foundation for Assemblywoman Romeo’s ambition.
Throughout her career, Assemblywoman Romeo has kept true to her grassroots beginnings through her past involvement in the Town of Irondequoit Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee, the coordinating committee to the Triple Bottom Line Conference, and as a former board member to Cornell Cooperative Extension of Monroe County. She also received the International Humanitarian Award by the United Nations Association of Rochester in 2011.
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