Governor’s Congestion Pricing Folly Derails End of Session 

The end of the legislative session was severely disrupted by the Governor’s announcement of an “indefinite pause” on congestion pricing, and her failed attempt to get the Legislature to approve various cockamamie financing schemes as a substitute. We thank members of the Legislature, in particular the State Senate, for standing firm in support of congestion pricing. We applaud legislators for refusing to approve an “IOU” or increase the Payroll Mobility Tax solely for NYC as part of a “Big Ugly” end-of-session deal using the Governor’s message of necessity. (Despite the circumstances, we do appreciate a session that ends without a Big Ugly, which last happened in 2021.)

While the Legislature was deliberating on the Governor’s half-baked MTA funding proposals, a number of bills we were championing that would increase state government transparency or accountability stalled out and did not pass either or both houses. However, we were glad to see six bills we support pass both houses, including bills that extend and expand the red light camera program in NYC, require emergency contracts to be published, and increase the cap on Supreme Court justices.

Home Rule

• Expands and extends New York City’s red light camera program (A5259-A (Dinowitz) / S2812-A (Gounardes)) – Passed both houses

Open Government and Freedom of Information

• Requires municipalities to maintain municipal websites (A2852-A (Zebrowski) / S3353-A (Skoufis)) – Passed both houses
• Requires agencies to submit FOIL logs to Committee on Open Government (A9621-A (McDonald) / S8671-A (Hoylman-Sigal)) – Passed Assembly, but not Senate
• Clarifies NYS Freedom of Information Law (A5613-B (Zebrowski) / S1726-A (Harckham)) – Passed Assembly, but not Senate
• Strengthens FOIL attorneys’ fees (A5357-A (Steck) / S5801-A (Liu)) – Passed Senate, but not Assembly
• Authorizes the use of cameras in New York State’s appellate and trial courts (S160-B (Hoylman-Sigal) / A712-B (Weprin)) – Passed Senate, but not Assembly
• Discloses lobbying activities for confirmation or nomination of persons to state office (A8618 (McDonald) / S7883 (Gianaris)) – Passed Senate, but not Assembly
• Limits Commercial FOIL Exemption (A9975 (Rosenthal L) / S3257 (Hoylman-Sigal)) – Passed Senate, but not Assembly
• Reduces time public must wait to appeal FOIL delays and denials (A8586 (Raga) / S8128 (Skoufis)) – Did not pass either house

Clean, Accountable Government

• Requires contracts exempted from OSC oversight to be published (A10281 (Solages) / S9171 (Cooney)) – Passed both houses
• Authorizes Legislature to increase number of NY Supreme Court justices (A5366 (Bores) / S5414 (Hoylman-Sigal)) – Passed both houses
• Expands Authorities Budget Office powers (A8121 (Thiele) / S6746 (Ryan)) – Passed Senate, but not Assembly
• Ends automatic approval of some gubernatorial appointees (S7655 (Salazar) / A8022 (Shrestha)) – Passed Senate, but not Assembly
• Repeals 2019 changes to the Public Authorities Control Board (S8142 (Comrie) / A9231 (Zebrowski)) – Passed Senate, but not Assembly
• Requires cost estimates and MTA board approval for 20-year needs assessment (A8857 (Carroll) / S8099 (Comrie)) – Did not pass either house
• Establishes commission to study COVID-19 pandemic response (A8053-B (González-Rojas) / S8168-A (Salazar)) – Did not pass either house

Strong Democracy

• Requires candidates nominated for county committee to be notified by the NYC BOE (A494 (Epstein) / S6199 (Myrie)) – Passed both houses
• Allows pre-registered voters to apply for an absentee ballot (A3250-A (Epstein) / S6735-A (May)) – Passed both houses
• Establishes doing-business restrictions for New York State (S9697 (Myrie)) – Passed Senate, but not Assembly
• Authorizes NY to share voter roll data with other states (S6173-B (Skoufis) / A7052-C (Sillitti)) – Passed Senate, but not Assembly
• Requires disclosure of employer for campaign contributors (A6542 (Carroll) / S2362 (Rivera)) – Did not pass either house
• Moves NYC elections to even years (S9126 (Skoufis) / A10466 (Walker)) – Did not pass either house
• Makes last-minute changes to NYS public campaign finance law (S9835 (Skoufis) / A10539 (Magnarelli)) – OPPOSE – Passed Senate, but not Assembly
• Makes significant changes to NYS public campaign finance law (S8969 (Skoufis)) – OPPOSE – Did not pass either house

End Corporate Giveaways 

• Fully ends Opportunity Zone tax break (A2170-B (Dinowitz) / S543-B (Gianaris)) – Passed Senate, but not Assembly

Prohibits IDAs from taking taxes from schools (A351 (Bronson) / S89 (Ryan)) – Did not pass either house