Albany Agenda

Lawmakers could return to Albany this week. Here’s what they want to get done.

We know what you’re thinking: Impeachment’s not the No. 1 priority.

At the top of the legislative agenda is extending the expiring statewide eviction moratorium in a way that will ensure that it can survive future legal challenges.

At the top of the legislative agenda is extending the expiring statewide eviction moratorium in a way that will ensure that it can survive future legal challenges. Wangkun Jia/Shutterstock

State lawmakers thought they wrapped up their work for the year on June 10, but they are all but certain to return to Albany for some legislative overtime as soon as this Wednesday, multiple lawmakers tell City & State. It is just a matter of when and how ambitious Democrats want to be on a range of outstanding issues.

At the top of the legislative agenda is extending the expiring statewide eviction moratorium in a way that will ensure that it can survive future legal challenges. Legislators also want to tweak the $2.7 billion Emergency Rental Assistance Program in ways that would help more tenants and landlords access aid more quickly. While that could be the extent of the legislative action this week, some lawmakers want to do a lot more than that.

Members of the state Senate and Assembly could consider a broad range of outstanding legislative issues beyond housing, but that all depends on who specifically calls on them to reconvene. Gov. Kathy Hochul could limit lawmakers to a relatively narrow agenda by calling for them to reconvene while state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie could beckon their members back for whatever reasons they want, though that would require them to upend the traditional legislative schedule.

Democrats in both chambers are meeting today to decide next steps, and it remained unclear before publication time whether Hochul or the legislative leaders would ultimately call for lawmakers to return to the state Capitol. Both chambers – which will no longer allow remote voting – traditionally wrap up their legislative work in the first half of the year even though they officially remain adjourned at the call of Stewart-Cousins and Heastie. This arrangement allows them to reconvene their chambers without requesting that a governor issue a call for a special session. Following the lead of the executive, however, could help the legislative leaders avoid a slippery slope situation with members eager to pack as much legislative action as possible into an unexpected late-summer session that follows a lot of drama surrounding the possible impeachment of Cuomo. 

A spokesperson for the governor said Hochul would have something to say about calling a special session “very soon” following an Aug. 27 statement where the governor said her staff would meet with the legislative leaders over the weekend to discuss next steps “to deliver relief to renters and homeowners in need as quickly as possible." Some lawmakers say a gubernatorial request for action on outstanding appointments like making Janno Lieber the permanent head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is also possible. 

If it were up to the political left, however, the legislative agenda would be much longer. Left-leaning Democrats in both chambers, as well as activist allies, say they want to pass parole reforms and the Clean Slate bill that would allow more people to have their criminal records automatically expunged. More than a few among them have not given up on the idea of impeaching ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The new ethical zeitgeist shrouding the Capitol has also energized efforts to replace the much-criticized anticorruption agency the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, strengthen laws against sexual harassment and maybe even update public meeting laws to allow remote proceedings at a time when COVID-19 cases are surging once again. 

What could be stopping the Legislature from getting all this stuff done sooner rather than later? The governor and legislative leaders might decide that a more limited legislative agenda is better at a time when the new governor is transitioning into her new job. Normalizing the idea that state lawmakers can meet in the latter half of the year could also undermine legislative leaders’ ability to wrangle deals in the future as the scheduled end of a legislative session approaches. Plus, calls for the state Legislature to reconvene in the summer and fall are nothing new – as are legislative leaders’ refusals to indulge them. Some lawmakers called to no avail for a special session in 2019 to address limousine safety in the wake of a deadly crash in Schoharie. While both chambers did reconvene in the latter half of 2020 to pass police reforms and complete some legislative work interrupted by the pandemic, the end of remote voting makes that a lot more complicated to do moving forward. 

Getting Hochul to call a special session gives Stewart-Cousins and Heastie a pretext to limit the legislative activity in the upcoming days to housing issues. One key reason why lawmakers got a pay raise a few years back was because their job has evolved to be much more than the part-time gig it was decades ago. Some Democratic lawmakers though say that the time has come for Hochul and legislative leaders alike to back the idea that lawmaking can be a year-round activity. “We should just have a fall session as a matter of course,” Assembly Member Robert Carroll of Brooklyn said in a text Monday morning. “Gov. Hochul has an opportunity to partner with the legislature and she should want us in Albany in September and October doing work showing she can lead the state.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.