With assist from Shawn Ness
Boosting penalties for individuals who assault retail staff is operating into the state finances buzzsaw.
Legislative Democrats have formally rejected Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to make it a felony for assaulting a retail employee, a mirrored image of how the social gathering stays break up over felony justice points and the best way to tackle voters’ issues over public security.
Hochul, maybe anticipating opposition from her fellow Democrats, sought to focus on her anti-shoplifting plan with bodega house owners and elected official allies right this moment in Albany.
The Purple Room information convention dovetailed with Hochul showing later within the day with Mayor Eric Adams to tout a plan meant to take away “ghost automobiles” from metropolis streets that evade tolls. It was a second that additionally served to paper over any notion the 2 Democrats had a rift over her transfer to deploy Nationwide Guard items and State Police troopers at subway stations.
Hochul this month has not shied away from alternatives to hammer away as soon as once more at crime and public questions of safety, which had been politically potent for her Republican challenger Lee Zeldin and down-ballot GOP candidates in 2022.
And addressing retail theft provides Hochul an opportunity to tackle a comparatively low-stakes challenge that New Yorkers expertise each time they attempt to purchase toiletries beneath lock and key at their native pharmacy.
Retail staff “are very susceptible, and so they deserve these protections,” Hochul stated.
She pointed to the broader influence of retail theft within the wake of the pandemic and the impact shuttered companies can have on a downtown.
“Foot visitors dwindles, folks go surfing and a few companies simply can’t make it,” she stated from her second ground workplace suites.
However on the Capitol’s third ground, the dialog was a distinct one over retail theft: Many Democratic lawmakers stay skeptical that greater felony penalties will result in a discount in crime.
Within the state Senate, Democrats backed Hochul’s proposal for a tax credit score for retailers to spice up safety. However they wish to unfold the $40 million round Hochul earmarked for a State Police activity power addressing retail crime by sending a few of that cash to native police departments.
Prime Senate Democrats insisted they’re prepared to barter with the governor over the problem, at the same time as they questioned whether or not retail staff themselves needed stricter penalties for assault.
“We’re all very delicate to the issue of retail theft, and we wish to tackle it,” Deputy Senate Majority Chief Mike Gianaris instructed reporters. “It’s not a lot an outright rejection as a distinct manner to take a look at it.”
Assemblymember John McDonald, a Democrat from the Albany space who’s supportive of accelerating penalties for assaulting retail staff, pointed to the broader aversion lawmakers have with inserting non-fiscal coverage into the finances.
Nonetheless, that opposition might give manner within the finances talks. The spending plan is due by April 1, the beginning of New York’s fiscal 12 months.
McDonald instructed Playbook “a majority of the members” he speaks with from totally different areas of New York are supportive of addressing retail theft.
“They wish to see motion in regard to penalties in most circumstances,” he stated. “However there are members who’re vocally in opposition to it. That is a part of a three-way negotiation.” — Nick Reisman
BABYLON BAIL REFORM: Republican lawmakers expressed outrage after 4 suspects had been launched with out bail after they had been charged with concealment of a corpse and proof tampering when the stays for 2 Yonkers residents had been present in varied places in Babylon on Lengthy Island.
The suspects as a substitute got GPS ankle displays and instructed to report back to in-person probation and give up their passports.
The crime has once more sparked a big debate across the 2019 bail reform invoice that eliminated money bail for many misdemeanors and non-violent felonies and gave judges discretion to contemplate options to incarceration.
“We are actually on our fourth iteration of the invoice, and we’re in search of a fifth and remarkably inside one state within the union,” state Sen. Anthony Palumbo, a Lengthy Island Republican, stated throughout a information convention right this moment on the Capitol. “All 49 states and the federal stage have a dangerousness commonplace {that a} decide can contemplate with respect to judicial discretion and as as to whether or not they need to maintain people charged with specific crimes.”
Palumbo and state Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, a fellow Lengthy Island Republican, are backing payments that will reclassify the dismemberment and concealment of a corpse to a category E felony and strengthen using GPS monitoring programs within the “most heinous case.”
“Somebody that’s prepared to chop up human stays and simply disregard them and throw them out into the general public, for a kid on their solution to faculty to search out, to me is harmful, and so they’re in peril. They seem to be a hazard to public security,” Assemblymember Michael Durso, who represents Babylon, stated. — Shawn Ness
HOCHUL ON HOUSING: Hochul sees a rising urge for food amongst elected leaders to deal with New York’s housing scarcity — and he or she’s taking credit score for that.
“I’m glad to see that individuals are actually coming round to the concept that housing must be constructed,” Hochul instructed reporters right this moment, responding to a query concerning the one-house finances proposals on housing. “It is a transition from a 12 months and even previous years — folks are actually saying, it has to occur. That to me is nice progress, and I’m actually happy with it.”
The Senate’s one-house proposal referred to as for creating a brand new state entity to facilitate housing building on state-owned land, and it signaled urge for food for a brand new model of the 421-a tax break in New York Metropolis — if it’s half of a bigger package deal that features the “core ideas” of the controversial “good trigger” eviction measure.
Hochul stated she doesn’t wish to “pre-judge” the one-house resolutions earlier than reviewing them, however emphasised that increasing manufacturing have to be central to a housing package deal. Final 12 months, her plan to mandate new housing was rejected.
“I put it on the market final 12 months in a daring manner, acquired folks speaking — one 12 months later, I feel we’re going to get one thing finished,” she stated. “So that they’ll be strong discussions concerning the method, however strolling away from this session with out doing one thing on constructing extra housing won’t be acceptable to me.” — Janaki Chadha
CUOMO CAN’T QUIT: Adams dismissed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s New York Submit op-ed calling to delay congestion pricing — even whereas the mayor isn’t fully bought on it himself.
“The previous governor has been in every single place these days,” Adams quipped with fun at a wide-ranging press convention right this moment when requested concerning the ideas of Cuomo, who’s itching for a political comeback.
Cuomo, who signed the regulation in 2019, says politicians are cowing to extremists by planning to implement a toll for drivers getting into half of Manhattan as quickly as June, questioning why to take action “when the migrant disaster, crime, homelessness, high quality of life and taxes are all urgent issues?”
Adams raised his ordinary issues in response — that congestion pricing might overburden sure working class drivers and that the scheme might damage town’s financial restoration. However he doesn’t know if that will be the case, pledging to depend on solutions from “specialists” with “substantial analysis and information” to information him.
“We’ve got to take a look at the information. This will’t be simply intestine, and this will’t simply be emotionally pushed,” he stated. “It is a main shift in how we use our roadways.” — Jeff Coltin
NO WORRIES: Adams expressed his ordinary confidence in reaching his Albany agenda right this moment, contemporary off a visit to the state capital for the Somos convention.
“We do that dance yearly,” he stated at a wide-ranging press convention at Metropolis Corridor. “And annually, we begin off the 12 months ‘Eric will not be going to get what he needs in Albany. They’re not going to do something.’ After which we stroll off with all these wins!”
The mayor, who served as a state senator for seven years, has been constantly defensive about his administration’s means to foyer lawmakers. His asks this 12 months embrace a four-year extension of mayoral management of faculties (he acquired a shorter one two years in the past) and legal guidelines easing housing manufacturing within the metropolis (he got here up brief final 12 months).
“That is the start of the method,” Adams stated, with the finances due in about three weeks. “It’s going to be alright. All we’ve to do is take a deep breath.” — Jeff Coltin
DIETL IN A HAYSTACK: The mayor’s longtime good friend Bo Dietl, who threw him a marketing campaign fundraiser, may very well be within the operating for a migrant providers contract if he meets the standards.
“We’re going to get the most effective value for New Yorkers,” Adams stated on the press briefing, referring to Dietl’s safety and personal investigation agency. “If Bo’s value is the most effective value, then we’re going to look and undergo the authorized elements of it like everybody else.”
Adams was responding to a POLITICO report that discovered high mayoral aide Tim Pearson delayed the opening of a migrant middle at Floyd Bennett Subject in Brooklyn as he tried unsuccessfully to land Dietl’s agency a safety contract on the facility.
Whereas Metropolis Corridor didn’t dispute POLITICO’s reporting that Pearson tried to carry Dietl into the fold — arguing solely that the ability’s opening was not delayed — Adams sought to discredit the story by blaming disgruntled workers and pledging to take care of the identical contracting requirements.
“There are individuals who stay administration after administration, and they’re simply offended,” Adams stated. “And so they name [reporters] up: ‘Hey, I noticed Eric eat a bit of fish.’”
Whereas the mayor did admit to dabbling in pescatarianism after a 2022 POLITICO report, his ordinary order of branzino and salad at Osteria la Baia was gleaned from an worker of the restaurant — not anybody in metropolis authorities.
And sarcastically, it was Dietl himself who even earlier flagged the mismatch between Adams’ public persona as a vegan and what truly appeared on his plate.
In July 2021, when Adams was nonetheless Brooklyn borough president however a shoo-in to change into mayor, he dined with the previous NYPD detective and John Catsimatidis, the billionaire political donor and commentator, at ultra-exclusive Rao’s on the Higher East Facet, in accordance with a report within the New York Submit.
“Each males instructed The Submit that Adams ordered fish — with Dietl describing the BP’s dinner as ‘broiled fish. No olive oil’ and ‘spinach. No olive oil,’” the Submit wrote, whereas noting an Adams consultant disputed the account. — Joe Anuta
CONGESTION PRICING: State Sen. Michael Gianaris and Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani had been happy with the inclusion of fare-free buses in each the Senate and Meeting’s one-house budgets.
Gianaris and Mamdani beforehand requested for $90 million for the MTA to extend bus frequency and for fare-free rides, which is the precise value level within the Senate’s one-house decision.
The present free buses have already resulted in a 20 p.c improve in ridership on the free routes. It’ll be as much as lawmakers and Hochul to determine whether or not to incorporate the measure within the last finances deal.
“In the present day, each homes of the Legislature demonstrated their dedication to placing the MTA on the categorical monitor to ship a greater system for riders — and taking an evidence-based method,” the lawmakers stated in a shared assertion.
The duo is blissful that an “evidence-based method” is being taken. They cited a 17 p.c improve in bus providers in London earlier than the congestion pricing program was launched, and that “the best metropolis on the earth deserves the identical” as town strikes towards its personal congestion pricing plan for components of Manhattan. — Shawn Ness
SUNSHINE WEEK: Over 30 advocates for elevated authorities transparency despatched a letter to Hochul and legislative leaders to make the Freedom of Info Legislation (FOIL) stronger.
The teams are advocating for 4 totally different payments: the FOIL Timeline Act, the FOIL Reporting Act, the Limiting Industrial FOIL Exemption Act, and the FOIL Attorneys’ Charges Act.
Sunshine Week is an annual-newspaper impressed occasion to “carry sunshine” to the federal government. The letter comes just a few days after Reinvent Albany, one other transparency watchdog, revealed a report inspecting FOIL requests in six totally different businesses, discovering the necessity for enchancment.
One other research discovered that 75 p.c of native governments don’t make assembly paperwork public, and 35 p.c don’t even promote a gathering agenda.
The FOIL Timeline Act, sponsored by Sen. James Skoufis and Assemblymember Steven Raga, hopes to deal with the problem of businesses not responding to requests in a well timed method. It will improve the variety of days that businesses have to answer requests to 30 days and provides them a max of 60 days to really provide the requested information. — Shawn Ness
ACCESS TO REPRESENTATION: 5 main labor unions despatched a letter to Hochul to induce her to move the Entry to Illustration Act, which would offer authorized counsel to New Yorkers going through deportation.
“Our immigrant members and their households have a combating likelihood of staying right here in New York, of their communities, and on the job, if they’re represented by a lawyer,” the letter stated.
They’re calling on Hochul to incorporate $150 million within the state finances for immigration authorized providers and to arrange infrastructure that helps the wants of migrant New Yorkers.
The letter was signed by the New York State Nurses Affiliation, DC 37, Communications Employees of America and the 32BJ Service Workers Worldwide Union.
Based on a report from Middle for Migration Research of New York, 31 p.c of the state’s workforce are migrants.
“New York faces a labor scarcity, with almost half 1,000,000 vacant jobs and never sufficient staff obtainable to fill them. The contributions of immigrant New Yorkers are essential to the state’s financial power and future,” the letter stated. — Shawn Ness
CIVIL RIGHTS CHALLENGE: New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Authorized — a Palestinian rights group — sued Columbia College over the suspension of two pro-Palestinian teams final 12 months.
The organizations filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court docket in Manhattan on behalf of Columbia’s chapter of College students for Justice in Palestine and Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace, in addition to two particular person college students. They need to power the college to rescind the suspensions and reinstitute the golf equipment, who’ve referred to as for a ceasefire in Israel’s struggle in opposition to Hamas.
“That’s retaliatory, it’s focused, and it flies within the face of the free speech ideas that institutes of upper studying needs to be defending,” Donna Lieberman, NYCLU’s govt director, stated in an announcement. “College students protesting at non-public schools nonetheless have the suitable to truthful, equal remedy — and we’re able to struggle that battle in courtroom.” — Madina Touré
— The IRS launched a pilot program without spending a dime tax submitting in New York in addition to 12 different states. (State of Politics)
— The previous chairperson of the Hempstead Village Housing Authority was sentenced to 10 years in jail for fraudulently redirecting $1 million in funds and for accepting $100,000 in bribes. (Newsday)
— State lawmakers are grappling with a rise in police car crashes over the past decade. (Occasions Union)