A special session day that will go into the night

Jun 30, 2022

Lawmakers are in Albany today for a special session to take up a bill dealing with concealed carry and to potentially vote on a constitutional amendment to codify abortion rights.

It's rare special session, coming just before the July 4th weekend, and while the agenda is limited and fairly straight forward, this is Planet Albany after all, so nothing is done swiftly.

Lawmakers were bracing to vote late into the evening and night on the measures. Then they'll be off for the summer and not scheduled to return to the state Capitol until January, when a new Legislature is seated after the November elections.

Still, by Albany standards, the Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul are moving quickly to address the U.S. Supreme Court decision last week that struck down New York's century-old law that severely limits who can get a permit to have a concealed weapon.

The Republican-led court ruled that New York's law was too restrictive. Now the Democratic-led Legislature will allow more concealed carry permits, but will limit who can get them and where they can legally carry.

"That's why we're having this extraordinary session," Hochul told reporters on Wednesday. "That's what it's actually called, an extraordinary session, because we have to make sure that we make these changes and I want them done now."

The bill will ban concealed carry weapons in a long list of places, including subways, schools and medical facilities. And if a private business wants to allow concealed carry weapons, they would have to opt in to do so.

"The presumption is that private property owners will not want to have concealed carry weapons on their premises," Hochul said.

Meanwhile, lawmakers were looking to have a deal on an equal rights amendment to the New York constitution, hoping to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution following the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade.

As of this afternoon, the Senate and Assembly were reviewing proposals that would add new protected classes to the constitution's existing equal protection clause. One would bar intentional government discrimination against classifications like race, disability, sex and religion, bringing them under constitutional protection. But it would place them on the same level with religion and it would not codify a more stringent "disparate impact standard."

Lawmakers were also considering new language that would add explicit protections for New Yorkers to access abortion care, similar to a proposal that will soon go before California voters.

The amendment has been talked about for years, but it has continually faltered. Yet with the Roe decision there is more urgency to get abortion rights into the constitution.

A constitutional amendment needs approval of voters after it is voted on by two consecutively elected state legislatures. So if lawmakers approve it now, it can be on the ballot as early as 2023 — although supporters are more keen on putting it on the 2024 ballot when it's a presidential election year and larger turnout.

"I just want to get this done," said Hochul, who is up for election this year and would clearly like to tout the amendment's first passage during her race versus Republican Lee Zeldin, who opposes abortion rights.

IT'S THURSDAY: It's a special day in Albany right before the July 4th holiday weekend. Stay with us as we keep you updated on the latest New York news from the campaign trail, in Albany and from New York's City Hall. Summer is here, and the news keeps heating up!

From the Capitol

TICKETS HERE: Hochul signed legislation NY S9461/ NY A10500 that will increase transparency for consumers purchasing tickets to live events by banning hidden fees and increasing penalties when ticket agencies employ scalper bots and ticket purchasing software, outlaw the sale of free tickets and prohibit delivery fees on tickets that are delivered electronically or printed at home.

"This bill will expand penalties for malicious ticketing practices that have made live events inaccessible to New Yorkers for too long," Hochul said in a statement.

ON THE BEATS

HEALTH CARE: OnPoint NYC's Senior Program Director Kailin See tearfully called on the New York City Council to explicitly fund the two overdose prevention centers run by the nonprofit at today's Council committee hearing on opioids. The city will dole out $150 million over the next five years to programs that treat and prevent opioid use disorder, though they are unable to fund overdose prevention centers without changes to the law. — Amanda Eisenberg

— The City Council is releasing a "NYC Abortion Rights Act" legislative package today in response to the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. They will introduce seven bills and several non-binding resolutions. One bill would prohibit the use of any city resources to enforce abortion restrictions. Other measures would allow people to sue over interference with their medical care, require the city to provide abortion pills for free at its health centers, require the city to run an informational campaign on crisis pregnancy centers which oppose abortion, and require the Health Department to provide language access services for abortion providers. — Erin Durkin

ENERGY: Hochul's administration denied a key permit for a gas-powered cryptocurrency mining operation in the Finger Lakes, saying the facility spews too much planet-warming pollution to be allowed under the state's climate law. Today's decision by the state Department of Environmental Conservation on the Greenidge gas plant is the latest step in New York to curb pollution from cryptocurrency mining facilities that have started to proliferate across upstate. "We are applying a new law to a new operation which had significant increases in emissions — almost tripling emissions," DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos told POLITICO. "The company itself was unable to demonstrate that it could come into compliance with the law." — Marie J. French

LAW ENFORCEMENT: The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that it is investigating the special victims division of the New York Police Department for patterns of gender-biased policing that the agency says have persisted for more than a decade. The special victims division has long been underfunded and underprioritized by top NYPD brass , which puts highly sensitive cases in the hands of inexperienced and under-resourced officers. Survivors and advocates have accused the division of bungling cases, which make it harder for other law enforcement officials, such as the Manhattan district attorney's office, to prosecute sex offenders. — Amanda

EDUCATION: New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned there will be "madness" if mayoral control over city schools is allowed to expire tonight, but said he expects Hochul to sign renewal legislation in time to avoid that. "If it lapsed, it just would create a lot of madness," Adams told reporters at an unrelated press conference today. "I am hoping that the governor signs the bill today. And there appears to be indicators that she's going to do so." Without a renewal, mayoral control will expire at 12:01 a.m. Friday. Another bill passed by the Legislature, which Adams opposed, would force the city to reduce class sizes. Hochul hasn't signed that measure either. — Erin Durkin and Georgia Rosenberg

— The City Council's Higher Education Committee held a hearing today to examine accusations of anti-Semitism at the City University of New York and other college campuses. The hearing was called after faculty at the CUNY School of Law backing a resolution endorsing the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment (BDS) movement. City Council higher education chair Eric Dinowitz, who also chairs the Council's Jewish Caucus, introduced a resolution calling on CUNY to compile data on bias incidents and hate crimes into a single report as well as engage in an education campaign or initiative. "While discussion of topics related to foreign policy will necessarily arise, the issue before the committee is not [what] one country or territory is doing," he said during the hearing. "The issue here is what we are doing in New York City … to confront those realities and to ensure that our Jewish students and their ideas are welcomed on our campuses."

Glenda Grace, CUNY's senior vice chancellor for institutional affairs, strategic advancement and special counsel, said the university is legally required to allow the expression of multiple viewpoints on campus and also said the university "unequivocally denounces anti-Semitism in every form." "Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez has focused on elevating dialogue and building bridges between people and groups of different backgrounds whose belief and divergent experience and history sometimes place them at odds," Grace said.

Council members expressed disappointment that the chancellor did not appear after the hearing was postponed to accommodate his schedule. CUNY said it is typically represented at Council hearings by campus leaders and subject experts and chancellors usually testify only at the budget hearing. "CUNY leadership was pleased to testify today about the University's ongoing efforts to combat antisemitism, violence, hate, racism and intolerance of any kind on our campuses, in our country and in the world," Joseph Tirella, CUNY's interim director of media relations, said in a statement. "This is important but hard, never-ending work, and we are always learning new ways to improve our efforts." — Madina Touré

The Campaign Trail

GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK: Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi finished last in the three-way Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday — the second time he has lost a bid to become governor. He lost a primary to Eliot Spitzer in 2006. Spitzer went on to win the general election but resigned in a prostitution scandal.

Suozzi bypassed a re-election bid to Congress to run for governor, despite the advice of other top Democrats. But Suozzi has long had hopes of taking up residence on Eagle Street.

He came up well short once again, finishing not only behind Hochul but behind New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who spent way less on the race than Suozzi.

"We lost the campaign, but we ran a campaign that was true to who I am and I am proud of the issues we talked about," Suozzi wrote today on Twitter. "I have no regrets and am grateful for so much — the wonderful New Yorkers I met; everyone who supported our efforts; and the best campaign team I've worked with."

AROUND NEW YORK

— State Sen. Diane Savino of Staten Island says she will go to work for Mayor Eric Adams' administration at the end of the year. She is not seeking reelection.

— Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick says county officials need to cut back on spending.

— A new affordable housing development in Rochester has been completed.

— Fore! Thieves posing as golfers have been targeting country clubs in the Capital Region.

— A Long Island man has been charged with a hate crime for defacing a campaign sign for Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin.

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