| | | | |  | | By Joseph Spector | | | | 
Legislative leaders and top lawmakers meet to hold a general budget committee meeting on March 20, 2013, in the Legislative Office Building in Albany, N.Y. | Joseph Spector/POLITICO |
The General Budget Conference Committee, known colloquially as “The Mothership” in Albany parlance, held its first meeting Monday, officially kicking off budget negotiations for the fiscal year that starts April 1.
What does the meeting truly mean? Nothing. And the joint budget subcommittee meetings that are to follow Tuesday? Not much either. It’s the Legislature’s best attempt to show some openness and transparency in budget negotiations — but at the end of the day, legislative leaders and Gov. Kathy Hochul will meet behind closed doors in the coming two weeks to hash out the details in hopes of an on-time budget. “The Senate majority budget prioritizes investment in working and middle-class families and addresses the most pressing concerns of New Yorkers,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said to open up the half-hour meeting. “It recognizes that affordability generates opportunity.” The one-house budgets last week from the Senate and Assembly showed there’s a lot of distance between Hochul’s budget proposal released Feb. 1 and the Democratic-led Legislature — with differences on how to address the state’s housing needs, whether to make more changes to controversial bail laws and if additional charter schools should be opened in New York City. Hochul and lawmakers appear to be girding for a lengthy budget process that many expect will carry on well past the March 31 deadline. So much so that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie put the imperative on getting a good deal, not necessarily a timely one. “To be honest, I'm not as pressed by an on-time budget,” Heastie said, then added, “I've always felt a good budget is more important than an on-time budget.” What’s a good budget? One that lowers taxes and tamps down on spending — basically the opposite of what Democratic leaders have proposed, Republican leaders said at the committee meeting. “If spending more money helped with affordability, we would be the most affordable state in the country,” Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt said. IT’S MONDAY: March Madness has left Albany, but budget madness is just starting. Stay with us each afternoon as we keep you updated on the latest New York news in Albany, City Hall and beyond.
| | | | A message from GrubHub: Grubhub and Seamless partner with local restaurants to help them find new customers and serve their communities. NYC restaurants deserve flexibility and marketing choices so that they can compete with national chains. Amending the fee cap on marketing services allows all restaurants to stay at current rates for delivery while having the flexibility to explore marketing options at any time as their needs change. NYC Council: Support local restaurants and give them more marketing choices. | | | |  | From the Capitol | | | 
Supporters listen to speakers during a rally March 20, 2023, at the state Capitol in support of the Clean Slate Act. | Joseph Spector/POLITICO | CLEAN SLATE PUSH: This is the time of year when a rally is around every corner of the state Capitol, and Monday brought several – including a renewed push for the Clean Slate Act. The measure has been pushed by community advocates and some lawmakers for several years, but has yet to get over the finish line in Albany. The bill would automatically seal conviction records of New Yorkers once they’ve completed a three-year waiting period for misdemeanors or a seven-year waiting period for felonies, so long as it’s not a sex offense and the person has completed parole or probation. Supporters said the Clean Slate Act would help people be able to get jobs, find housing and restart their lives, saying that nearly half of U.S. children have at least one parent with an arrest or conviction record. The measure was included in the Senate’s one-house budget and was slated for passage out of the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, but it is unclear whether it can win over the full Legislature and Hochul, who has previously expressed for it. “It's important to recognize that people paid the price for whatever their conviction was and now give them the opportunity to start anew and build in their lives,” Sen. Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan) said. — Joseph Spector | | | | A message from GrubHub:   | | | | | From City Hall | | “WeNYC”: The swagger of Mayor Eric Adams was on full display Monday as he and Hochul launched a new citywide branding push in Times Square. After an impromptu drum solo from the mayor, he and the governor touted the city’s recovery since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. “New York is not coming back,” Adams said. “New York is back.” A press release from the governor’s office called “WeNYC” a civic action campaign meant to “mobilize New Yorkers in every community to help ensure that New York remains the greatest city in the world.” The effort is similar to the famously successful “I Love New York” campaign that was launched in the 1970s to shore up the state’s economy at the time in the wake of fiscal woes. "It's up to all of us to embrace this moment, just as they seized the moment in the '70s,” Hochul said at the event. The new logo caught mixed reviews online, though, with some criticizing it for its simplicity. “WHO APPROVED THIS,” tweeted Dewey Saunders, the design director for global branding company BDG.
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March 19, 2023- New York City, NY- Governor Kathy Hochul delivers remarks at We Love NYC Rollout Campaign with Mayor Eric Adams (Darren McGee/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul) | Darren McGee/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul | New York City continues to struggle to fully bounce back from the pandemic, with subway ridership a fraction of what it once was on average and unprecedented empty office space in midtown. But the campaign’s launch comes just days after the MTA recorded its highest ridership levels since March 2020, when the pandemic first struck. — Zachary Schermele WATCHDOG WOES: Officials with the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the NYPD’s independent watchdog agency, said Monday the department has closed 114 cases so far this year. Of those cases, the department has agreed with the watchdog’s recommendations on 41 — a roughly 36 percent concurrence rate. Police commissioner Keechant Sewell rejected more than half of the agency’s disciplinary recommendations in 2022, according to an analysis from the Legal Aid Society published just last week. The new numbers came up at a hearing during which CCRB officials derided what they called “historic underfunding” of the agency in Adams’ proposed budget. Among their requests was to increase its number of employees from 237 to 315. — Zachary Schermele
| | | | A message from GrubHub: "Grubhub marketing services put us on the map and helped us expand our clientele." - Howie Jeon, Co-Owner of Yumpling in Long Island City, NY
Howie opened his restaurant, Yumpling in Long Island City, NY with the goal of sharing authentic Taiwanese with his local community. Grubhub and Seamless help local restaurant owners, like Howie, access marketing services to reach more customers and thrive, so they can compete against bigger national chains.
Our neighborhood restaurants deserve more marketing choice so they can grow and expand. Learn how NYC Council can support the local NYC restaurants we love. | | | | | | CONGESTION PRICING: Adams said Monday that congestion pricing will be an economic boon for the city as a coalition of New York and New Jersey lawmakers call on the Biden administration to kill the proposal. “I think moving congestion off our streets is not only smart for our environment, but it’s also smart for our economy,” Adams told reporters. “Getting stuck in traffic, unable to deliver items, it’s just bad for commerce.” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, an outspoken opponent of the state’s congestion pricing plan, said this week that the new tolling system for drivers entering central Manhattan will hurt the city’s recovery from the pandemic, the New York Post reported. Adams added he remains concerned about a finding in the MTA’s environmental review about the plan’s potential to increase truck traffic in the Bronx, but said, “I believe there’s a real opportunity to get this right.” — Danielle Muoio Dunn BATTERIES: Adams on Monday signed a package of bills aimed at cutting the number of fires sparked by lithium-ion batteries, which have increased by 44 percent between 2020 and 2022. Adams said many of the fires are caused by faulty and illegal devices in e-bikes and e-scooters, which many delivery workers use. The bills prohibit the sale or rental of powered mobility devices that don’t meet safety standards, require reports on the number of fires sparked from e-bikes or e-scooters and require an educational campaign on the issue. Adams also said he’s calling on the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission to ensure defective batteries aren’t sold in the city. — Danielle Muoio Dunn HALAL MEAL DISTRIBUTION: City Comptroller Brad Lander launched a series of halal meal distribution events in collaboration with Islamic Relief USA, a nonprofit; elected officials; community-based organizations and hunger relief organizations to give out 7,500 free iftar meals to families at grab-and-go sites citywide. The “Iftar On The Go” events will start on March 24 and continue through April 19 on a first-come, first-serve basis. “Communities in need should not have to worry where their next meal is coming from,” Lander said in a statement. “Ensuring Muslim New Yorkers have access to culturally appropriate food this Ramadan is crucial for addressing food insecurity.” Roughly 10 percent of New York households across the state are food insecure. Sharif Aly, chief executive officer at Islamic Relief USA, said the nonprofit is teaming up with Lander’s office again this year to address the growing needs of the community during a time of economic hardship. “As we witness inflation continue to rise, reduction in SNAP benefits, and a failure to increase the federal minimum wage in over 10 years, it is imperative that we take bold steps to ensure our neighbors are able to maintain a dignified quality of life," Aly said in a statement. — Madina Touré
| | | — An Orange County town is under FBI investigation for years of apparent fiscal irregularities. (Times Union) — New York could soon see hundreds — if not a thousand — of new electric buses on its streets, MTA says. (WNYC) — Local summer camp organizations are still being shut off from city pools. (THE CITY) — A new tax for Netflix could be on the horizon for New Yorkers. (New York Upstate) — April 7 will be the last day the DeCamp bus line service will run to New York City From New Jersey. (The New York Times) | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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