ALBANY – Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic state lawmakers clashed Thursday after a prospective housing deal went kaput with just one day left in the 2023 legislative session.
The failed agreement would have boosted tenant protections while extending a controversial tax incentive for projects already underway, according to legislative leaders.
“It was clear that we could not come to an agreement with the governor on this plan,” reads a joint statement from Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers).
“It takes all three parties – the Senate, the Assembly and the governor.”
Hochul spokeswoman Julie Wood soon fired back while suggesting the two leaders were bluffing about being ready to pass a package of housing bills.
“Governor Hochul put forward nation-leading housing legislation in her Executive Budget that the legislature flatly rejected. Now, in the final hours of the legislative session, the Assembly and the Senate are blaming the Governor for their own failure to act.”
Friction between the governor and Democratic legislators comes as the state Senate and Assembly pass bills on a wide range of issues as the 2023 legislative session winds down though it remains unclear how many of them Hochul might sign or veto in the coming months.
Some bills appeared likely to pass both chambers before the expected end of legislative action on Friday night or Saturday morning.
- Both chambers are expected to pass the “Clean Slate” bill to automatically seal most types of criminal records once offenders finish their sentences, parole or probation.
- Ditto for legislation to establish a commission to study whether black New Yorkers deserve reparations for slavery.
- Bees likely think it’s sweet both chambers are passing legislation to limit a controversial pesticide despite opposition from some farmers and industry groups.
- Government watchdogs are barking about plans to overhaul the public campaign finance system in ways helpful for incumbents.
- Hochul faces a challenge from lawmakers who passed legislation updating longstanding wrongful death laws after Hochul vetoed what they passed last year.
“This is a classic Albany deal, right at the last minute, no public comment process, no hearings, no even discussion about what’s wrong with the system,” Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group said of the public campaign finance bill.
“Waiting for the last minute to jam changes through – that is classic Albany last-minute dealmaking and usually when that happens, it’s not in the public’s best interest.”
Hochul typically refrains from revealing her position on legislation before she decides whether to sign or veto it. She also leans on a legislative tool called a chapter amendment to hash out deals with lawmakers where they agree to approve tweaks the following year in exchange for her signature.
Some controversial bills still face significant hurdles as of Thursday evening.
- The state Senate has passed Sammy’s Law to allow a 20-mile-per-hour speed limit in New York City though the effort appears stalled in the Assembly.
- Assembly Democrats also have not passed legislation to increase worker protections on the catwalk despite approval by the other chamber.
- “Tappan Zee” will likely not get added to the name of the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge despite the Senate giving the idea the green light.
The looming end of the session punctuates six months of complicated relations between Hochul and state lawmakers following her election to a full term in office last November.
Her nomination of Hector LaSalle as chief judge provoked a fierce backlash from organized labor and state Senate Democrats who eventually voted down his bid to become the first Latino leader of the state judiciary in New York history.
More fighting came during the state budget process as Hochul tangled with the Democratic supermajorities in the state Senate and Assembly over issues like tweaking bail reform, imposing more pressure on suburban communities to increase affordable housing, and lower-profile issues like banning menthol cigarettes.
A final budget eventually came a month late – the tardiest financial plan in more than a decade.
State lawmakers have passed hundreds of bills over the past six months as well that Hochul will consider before the end of the year.
But it was the failure of state lawmakers to act on housing on Thursday that drew jeers from the political left on Thursday considering Democratic lawmakers could pass a veto-proof housing plan in theory if they wanted to – if they really did have a housing deal ready to go.
Wood, the Hochul spokeswoman, noted in her statement that “absolutely nothing stood in the Legislature’s way” to pass a housing package. Yet, none was ever introduced.
“You know things are bad when even Kathy Hochul calls the leaders’ bluff!” Mike McKee, treasurer of the lefty Tenants PAC, tweeted in response.