| | | | |  | | By Marie J. French | With help from Irie Sentner
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Gov. Kathy Hochul nominated Denise Sheehan and Uchenna Bright to the Public Service Commission, the state's powerful utility regulator. | Hans Pennink/AP Photo | A major post-Cuomo reshaping of the state’s powerful utility regulator is underway. Gov. Kathy Hochul has nominated two women to the Public Service Commission, garnering praise from environmental advocates with a third potential nominee waiting in the wings. Hochul has sent the Senate nominations for Denise Sheehan, a former Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner and current consultant for the state’s battery storage industry, and Uchenna Bright, a longtime environmental advocate and formerly with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We hope that these positions enable the commission to make decisions that align with the [climate] scoping plan… and understand that as a state we need to be hitting ambitious goals for our energy transition,” said Sonal Jessel, director of policy for WE ACT for Environmental Justice. The commission has vast authority and responsibility to hit the state’s renewable energy and zero-emission electricity targets, as well as a pivotal role in the transition of the gas system to reduce emissions. The PSC is managing a tightrope between growing short-term costs for the state’s transition off fossil fuels and the future climate and health benefits. The two nominees are well positioned to tackle this challenge, colleagues said. “Few people understand what happens at the Public Service Commission and it's so foundational to everything that people care about, so having somebody who I think is both a good translator, but truly understands the complicated-ness of it — is valuable,” said Dale Bryk about Bright, who she worked with at NRDC. Bryk is currently a senior fellow with the Regional Plan Association. “She's truly a thoughtful, collaborative, strategic person,” said Julie Tighe, president and CEO of the New York League of Conservation Voters of Sheehan, who is on the Capital Region board of the organization. A potential third nominee that Jessel and others are backing is Radina Valova, currently the regulatory vice president for the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and formerly worked as senior staff attorney and regulatory affairs manager for the Pace Energy and Climate Center. “She is well trained in making the very critical decisions the PSC is going to be making in the next couple of years,” Jessel said. A spokesperson for the Senate Democrats said movement on the nominees was expected in the “next couple of weeks.” One of the commissioners whose term expired in February plans to depart in April, after this Thursday’s regular session. Diane Burman, who has been on the commission for more than a decade, announced her plans to depart last month. John Howard, a former Cuomo aide whose term also expired last month, has sought to be reappointed. — Marie French
|  | From the Capitol | | | | 
Assembly Republicans announced a three-pronged plan to help families get affordable childcare. | Shawn Ness/POLITICO | BLUEPRINT FOR CHILDCARE: Assembly Republicans unveiled their new childcare program to help families get affordable childcare as the affordability of the service has shot up in recent years. Assemblymember Ed Ra, a Nassau County Republican, said that because of the pandemic, an estimated 70,000 childcare providers have faced enrollment woes and closures due to increased costs. The conference has a three-pronged plan to address the issue: tax credits, universal kindergarten programs and enhanced childcare services. “We're not going to support our families, but also boost New York's Academy by facilitating increased workforce participation amongst our parents,” Ra said at a Capitol press conference today. “It's estimated that our proposals would save a family over $2,300 annually, and it includes tax benefits for families and providers, as well as a resolution to call on the federal government to reinstate the enhanced Child Tax Credit.” The three-pronged plan includes four key proposals: an increase in the Empire State child tax credit; creating a new child care facility capital Improvement tax credit; calling on the federal government to reinstate the enhanced child tax credit and increasing the state earned income tax credit. “If we want to talk about making New York a more business friendly place, we want to talk about helping our small businesses and our childcare providers and you want to talk about supporting the families because that's what we really want to do here,” Assemblymember Matthew Slater, a Hudson Valley lawmaker, said. “I think we can do that by implementing this great package and providing property tax relief for these businesses.” — Shawn Ness ONE-HOUSE BUDGETS: The Assembly and Senate are expected to release their one-house budgets later today — outlining their prioritizes ahead of budget negotiations starting in earnest with Hochul this month ahead of the fiscal year that starts April 1. How to fund education, prioritize new housing and address the troubles at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn all loom large in budget talks. The sides are expected to vote on their resolutions Thursday before they leave town for the week. — Joseph Spector
| | FROM CITY HALL | | | | 
Mayor Eric Adams (center) lauded the city's record-high jobs at Black Seed Bagels with Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, Workforce Maria-Torres Springer (right) and SBS Commissioner Kevin D. Kim (far right). | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office | RECORD JOBS: New York City now has a record-high 4.73 million jobs, nearly 300,000 of which were created under Mayor Eric Adams, he announced today. “We inherited this city in crisis, but we have turned New York City around,” Adams said. All sectors of the city’s economy have “roared back” since the pandemic, and the city has regained the 1 million jobs it lost during the Covid-19 pandemic “one year ahead of schedule,” said Maria Torres-Springer, the deputy mayor for housing, economic development and workforce. The strongest industries include education, healthcare, finance, information services and business services, Torres-Springer said, adding that it was “very encouraging” to also see leisure and hospitality come back after those industries were “decimated” by the pandemic. Still, Adams said there was more work to be done to “dig into the unemployment in Black and brown communities in general, but specifically the Black community.” Rev. Al Sharpton, an Adams ally who said he talks weekly to the mayor, bashed the high unemployment rate among Black New Yorkers on Thursday and called for more government contracts for minority-owned businesses. Adams said he spoke to Sharpton last week and that the two are going to “come together with other leaders and talk about how do we dig into the crevices of these communities and bring people back into the employment field.” — Irie Sentner | | On the Beats | | | | 
State Sen. Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Harry Bronson are pushing for a 3.2 percent cost of living adjustment a human service employees wage board, which would support nearly 20 percent of the state’s entire workforce. | Shawn Ness/POLITICO | #JUST PAY: State Sen. Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Harry Bronson are working together to secure a 3.2 percent cost of living adjustment and to create a human service employees wage board. “I know that we're asking for a 3.2 percent COLA raise, but in reality over the latest spate of inflation actually reached as high as 7 percent. I would argue that the governor is lacking when asking for just 3.2 percent,” Ramos, the chair of the Senate’s Labor Committee, said at a press conference with various nonprofits earlier today. There are over 800,000 human service workers in the state, nearly 20 percent of the state’s entire workforce. Bronson, the Assembly Labor Committee chair, said that the state needs to begin analyzing how to pay human service workers a living wage. “These human service workers work day in and day out to provide for everyone no matter who they are, to make sure that they have some justice in their lives to make sure they have some equity and to make sure that they can seize upon opportunities that might be presented to them. That's what you do for our families,” Bronson said. — Shawn Ness CAREER READINESS: Top New York City education officials are touting a program that prepares students for jobs in high-wage, sought-after fields like technology, health care, education and business. CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez and schools Chancellor David Banks today visited Richmond Hill High School in Queens to elevate the success of FutureReadyNYC, an initiative run by the Department of Education. FutureReadyNYC, which serves 100 high schools citywide, allows high school students to earn college credits from participating CUNY schools and partake in paid work experiences. This year, CUNY doubled the number of its colleges involved in the program from eight to 16 schools. “Preparing New York City’s children for successful careers is one of the greatest responsibilities that we have both at CUNY and at NYC Public Schools, and the continued growth of this program will mean that even more high school students will graduate ready to kickstart their futures,” Matos Rodríguez said in a statement. “And when these students are ready to continue their collegiate studies, our doors remain open at CUNY.” Last year, Adams’ administration announced a new 19 million investment for FutureReadyNYC high schools. — Madina Touré WHAT DSA WANTS: The New York Socialists in Office today will release its list of priorities for the state budget. The organization, which is composed of DSA-endorsed elected officeholders, is once again pushing some of its longtime goals for the budget this year, including an increase in taxes on the richest New Yorkers and addressing climate change. But this year, the group also wants a tax on private colleges to help fund CUNY. And the DSA is supporting a measure to create more oversight over artificial intelligence: The lawmakers are backing a bill to disclose which generative AI tools they are using. — Nick Reisman
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — Lawmakers are trying to address the state’s shortage of dentists. (State of Politics) — Hurdles for affordable housing being built on land owned by religious institutions could be coming down as the program has gained a Republican backer. (Daily News) — Southold Town, Long Island hired one of its own trustees, who is also the son of its supervisor, to lead its solid waste department at a salary of $125,000 per year, sparking calls for updated ethics laws. (Newsday) — E. Jean Carroll, who in January won $83.3 million in her civil case against Donald Trump, could be considering filing another defamation suit against the former president, her lawyer suggested today. (The New York Times) — AARP and the Empire Report hosted a forum with Assemblymember Ron Kim and state Sen. Cordell Cleare to discuss the growing crisis in the family caregiving realm. (Empire Report’s Youtube Channel) | | | | 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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