Raga cosponsors pro-Palestine bill his senate opponent helped write

The controversial “Not on Our Dime!” legislation originally introduced by then-Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani has attracted three new sponsors – including Assembly Member Steven Raga, who’s now running for state Senate against the activist who helped write the bill.

Raga appeared at a press conference in Long Island City Friday morning alongside a group of socialist elected officials backed by the New York City Democratic Socialists of America – state Sens. Jabari Brisport and Kristen Gonzalez, Assembly Members Diana Moreno and Claire Valdez and New York City Council Member Alexa Avilés – to promote the bill’s reintroduction. (Raga is a member of NYC-DSA but not endorsed by the group.) 

The legislation is targeted at nonprofit organizations registered in New York that facilitate illegal settlements in the West Bank or are implicated in Israeli war crimes in Gaza. It would allow the state attorney general’s office to strip those organizations of their tax-exempt status and create a private right of action for people harmed by those organizations’ actions to sue for monetary damages. When Mamdani first introduced the bill three years ago, it garnered intense backlash from supporters of Israel; state legislative leaders said it would never be brought to a vote, and 25 state lawmakers signed a letter accusing Mamdani of demonizing Jewish organizations. Mamdani didn’t attend the press conference, but he contributed a supportive quote to a press release about the legislation, saying, “I am grateful that (the bill sponsors) are carrying this work forward. They are fighting to ensure public funds reflect the needs and values of everyday New Yorkers.”

Raga’s decision to cosponsor the legislation comes as he runs a contentious race to succeed retiring state Sen. Michael Gianaris in western Queens. His main opponent for the senate seat is Aber Kawas, a pro-Palestinian activist backed by NYC-DSA who helped conceive of the legislation and worked with Mamdani to introduce it years ago.

Kawas was also present at the Long Island City press conference, and both she and Raga were all smiles as they told City & State how their shared support for the bill transcended their primary battle.

“I think we're just running for an open seat, but I think there are some things, some important bills that can help not just alleviate pain here in New York, but across the world, and it's our job to make sure that we're pushing the way, signing on to them,” Raga said after the press conference.

Asked why he hadn’t supported the bill when it was first introduced three years ago, he joked that Moreno “is more convincing than Zohran” and then gave a not entirely convincing answer about wanting to wait until the language of the bill had been finalized. “I just wanted to make sure this was the last version of the bill,” he said.

For her part, Kawas is just happy to have another elected official cosponsoring the bill she helped create. “As organizers, what we ultimately want is for people to grow and sign on to the bills that we help propose and help introduce,” she said – before joking that maybe she just needs to run against more state lawmakers to get them to sign on to the bill.

The Not on Our Dime! Act now has the support of nine Assembly members: Moreno (who replaced Mamdani as the lead Assembly sponsor), Raga, Valdez, Sarahana Shrestha, Phara Souffrant Forrest, Marcela Mitaynes, Emily Gallagher, retiring Assembly Member Nader Sayegh and Jessica González-Rojas, who is also running for state Senate. It’s currently backed by three state senators: Brisport (the lead Senate sponsor), Gonzalez and Julia Salazar. And it’s guaranteed to get at least one more senate sponsor next session; both Kawas and Raga told City & State they would back the bill in the senate if they’re elected.