Brace yourselves, veto watchers: Hochul calls up nearly 100 bills

Gov. Kathy Hochul has until next Friday to act on 93 bills lawmakers delivered to her desk on Monday. Among them are two high-profile measures, one of which she vetoed thrice before. Hochul also called up seven more bills from state Sen. James Skoufis, whose legislation she has already vetoed nine times in a particularly pointed way. The last bill Hochul vetoed this year was almost two months ago, so New Yorkers may see a tranche of rejections before the end of next week.

With only a month left in the year, Hochul has about 250 bills that await her action, including the 93 currently on her desk. Hochul has so far signed over 570 pieces of legislation, but has vetoed just 28 so far. Some of the most controversial and anticipated bills still await action, after all. 

Hochul won’t veto every single piece of legislation on her desk right now, but reviewing her trends offer some ideas of measures she may choose to veto.

Among the bills on Hochul’s desk is the Grieving Families Act, a measure meant to update the state’s ancient wrongful death law to permit loved ones to sue for emotional damages. She has already vetoed the legislation three times in two years despite lawmakers’ attempts to amend the bill to address her concerns without completely gutting the proposal. With the apparent stalemate, legislators’ largely unchanged version passed this year. So unless Hochul has had a change of heart in the last 12 months, smart money is on a fourth veto. State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the bill’s longtime sponsor, said he has not heard anything about where Hochul stands this year.

The governor also has until next Friday to make a final decision on legislation pushed for by the New York City Council that would make it so the mayor can’t “bump” ballot proposals off in favor of his own. The current law prioritizes proposals from mayoral charter revision commissions, even though referendums could wind up on the ballot in other ways, such as a City Council-convened charter revision commission. It’s why the City Council’s push for a measure that would allow the chamber to weigh in on certain mayoral appointments never came to fruition: Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams convened a Charter Revision Commission, pushing the matter off the ballot. Hochul has not publicly taken a position on the bill, and sponsor state Sen. Liz Krueger said she doesn’t know which way the governor is leaning.

Hochul has gained scrutiny for her seemingly targeted vetoes of bills sponsored by Skoufis, a vocal critic of the governor. She hasn’t rejected every bill of his delivered so far, but those she has approved have mostly been minor legislation hyper-specific to his district. A few of the seven currently on Hochul’s desk fall under the category, but not all. One would increase the transparency of the state’s Freedom of Information Law, something supported by good government groups. But the governor already vetoed a different transparency bill from Skoufis earlier this year, despite calls that she sign it. Hochul’s office has previously denied any implication that she has vetoed any bill from Skoufis or anyone else for personal reasons. 

The governor also called up a number of measures that would create commissions, task forces or new offices of various kinds, or require agencies to conduct studies. Hochul has historically vetoed similar types of bills in bulk with a single veto message, saying they have nonbudgeted fiscal impacts that should be addressed in the next year’s spending plan, or that they are redundant with actions her administration is already taking. For example, a bill before Hochul now to enable a study of the proposed expansion of the Long Island Motor Parkway trail was one of 32 bills she mass vetoed in 2023. And the state budget still has not set aside money for its completion.

For Hochul’s part, a spokesperson said “the Governor will review the legislation” when asked about the prospect of upcoming vetoes on the various measures.