$220B State Budget Signed Into Law
NO. 265 | Monday, April 11
Local News:
Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders in Albany reached a deal on the State budget, which includes rollbacks to the State's bail and discovery reform laws, money for the new Buffalo Bills stadium, and a gas tax holiday that could threaten funding for public transit.
The final budget included rollbacks of New York’s landmark 2019 bail reforms, changes to its discovery laws, and expansions of pre-arraignment detention and involuntary inpatient mental health treatment. While this legislation was less sweeping than Gov. Hochul’s original “public safety package” proposal, criminal justice reform advocates have condemned these changes. Mayor Adams plans to push for further rollbacks of criminal justice reform laws in the future.
Over 8,000 incarcerated people on Rikers Island missed their medical appointments in February, which advocates say indicate further deteriorating conditions at the troubled jail.
The Indypendent covered the prospects of the Build Public Renewables Act in the state legislature, as well as the impacts of NYC-DSA's electoral campaigns on the fight to win public power in New York.
Mayor Adams is planning to appoint Jessica Tisch as his new Sanitation Commissioner. Tisch is from one of New York's most prominent real estate families, and she has a controversial history of overseeing tech issues for the NYPD.
State lawmakers decided to postpone the conversation about mayoral control of NYC education until after the budget passes. For twenty years, the mayors of New York have had near-total power over the city's public school system.
Due to the current eviction wave, the three major legal services organizations that provide free counsel to Queens tenants facing eviction have nearly run out of capacity to take on any new clients for the remainder of April.
The New York City Council is going to pay the rent for its members' district offices in an effort to expand constituent services and increase pay for Council staff.
The MTA is touting the success of their new OMNY fare-capping pilot program, which gave over 168,000 riders a free weekly pass after 12 paid rides in the first month.
Andy Marte, the former Republican who was named head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, resigned his position after controversy emerged over former tweets of his supporting Donald Trump and the 'Pizzagate' conspiracy. Marte also ran against State Senator Julia Salazar in the 2020 primary.
Elections:
National fundraising groups associated with prominent mainstream Democrats are targeting New York's 11th Congressional district, where Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island) has been redistricted into a more competitive race.