2023 NYS Session: (So Far) Dem Supermajority Not Fostering a Healthy Democracy

The Assembly is due to return to Albany next week, and we hope they get to work passing bills that strengthen New York’s democracy instead of weakening it. 

So far this session, the Democratic Party supermajority in the State Senate and Assembly badly damaged the historic 2020 Public Campaign Finance Law. They also failed to complete their most basic job: voting on the important issues of the day. Among other things, legislative leaders issued weak excuses about why they never actually voted on – or even introduced – a housing bill. The Assembly shamefully wriggled out of voting on “Sammy’s Law,” a home rule bill allowing New York City to set speed limits as low as 20 mph, that passed the Senate and is supported by the Governor, Mayor, and City Council. 

With the Assembly reportedly returning around June 20th, we hope they vote on and pass these bills already passed by the Senate: 

• A2170 (Dinowitz) / S543 (Gianaris) – Fully Ends Opportunity Zone Tax Break 
• A3484-B (Gallagher) / S995-B, (Hoylman-Sigal) – LLC Transparency Act
• A1789 (Colton) / S979 (Mattera) – Allows Governor, Assembly, or Senate to Reject Public Authority Subsidiaries
• A7266 (Rosenthal, L.) / S2422 (Hoylman-Sigal) – Sammy’s Law, NYC Home Rule Bill Allowing NYC to Reduce Speed Limits to 20 mph
• A7179 (McDonald) / S6247 (Myrie) – Doing Business/Pay-to-Play Restrictions 
• A5934-A (Cunningham) / S6169-A (Cleare) – Voting Integrity and Verification Act (VIVA NY)

Huge Damage to New York’s Historic Small Donor Matching Law and Fair Elections

We urged the Legislature to vote NO on A7760 (Walker) / S7564 (Myrie), which is completely counter to the public campaign finance law’s goal of giving the average New Yorker a stronger voice. In time-honored, undemocratic Albany fashion, the Legislature deliberately introduced the bill in the last week of session in an attempt to deprive stakeholder groups time to raise a public ruckus. Just the same, the bill’s destructive changes were strongly opposed by the editorial boards of the New York Times, Newsday, Daily News, and Buffalo News, and the dozens of groups in the Fair Elections for New York Coalition. 

Governor Hochul should veto this bill to leave the small donor law intact and in effect for the 2024 election cycle as planned.

Roundup of Our Legislative Priorities
Open Government and Freedom of Information

• S5174 (Jackson) / A5118 (Thiele) – Strengthens FOIL Attorneys’ Fees, did not pass either house

Clean, Accountable Government

• A3778 (Zebrowski) / S521 (Comrie) – Repeals 2019 Changes to Public Authorities Control Board, passed Senate and Assembly
• A7404 (Solages) / S6941 (Cooney) – Publishes Contracts Exempt from Comptroller Oversight, passed Senate and Assembly
• A5786 (McDonald) / S4152 (Gianaris) – Reporting of Lobbying on Nominations, passed Senate and Assembly
• A2873-B (Kelles) / S5621-B (May) – Disclosure of Crypto Holdings, passed Senate and Assembly

Strong Democracy

• A7760 (Walker) / S7564 (Myrie) – OPPOSE – Undermines Small Donor Matching Law, passed Senate and Assembly
• A1722-A (Zinerman) / S1381-A (Comrie) – Plain Language for Ballot Proposals, passed Senate and Assembly
• A7179 (McDonald) / S6247 (Myrie) – Doing Business/Pay-to-Play Restrictions, passed Senate
• A5934-A (Cunningham) / S6169-A (Cleare) – Voting Integrity and Verification Act of New York (VIVA NY), passed Senate
• A6542 (Carroll) / S2362 (Rivera) – Disclosure of Campaign Contributors’ Employers, did not pass either house

End Corporate Giveaways 

• A2170 (Dinowitz) / S543 (Gianaris) – Fully Ends Opportunity Zone Tax Break, passed Senate
• A351 (Bronson) / S89 (Ryan) – Prohibits IDAs from Taking Taxes from Schools, did not pass either house
• A846 (Weprin) / S1632 (Kavanagh) – Repeals Madison Square Garden Property Tax Exemption, did not pass either house