Final Act

Good morning from Albany, New York, where all eyes are on the Assembly as the slog towards adjournment continues; as of now, they are scheduled to be in session through Tuesday night. The Senate gaveled out in the very early morning hours last Friday. 

Some legislation is done. Many of those bills are local issues, including sales tax extensions, parkland alienations, and so on, but others are extremely significant. For instance, the Senate and Assembly passed the Responsible AI Safety and Education Act, or RAISE Act, sponsored by Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Alex Bores. The legislation requires companies developing advanced AI models to have a safety plan in place, disclose any critical safety incidents, and create protections for employees and whistleblowers who identify potential problems.

Speaking on the need to create guardrails around AI, Gounardes offered, “New Yorkers want technology to make their lives better and easier, not put their health and safety at risk. My RAISE Act ensures AI can flourish while requiring the largest companies to have a safety plan so their products aren't used to hurt people. It's exactly the type of reasonable, common sense safeguard we'd expect of any company working on a potentially dangerous product, and it ensures no one has an incentive to cut corners or put profits over safety. The RAISE Act is a step into the future we all want and deserve.” The legislation was subject to an intense lobbying effort by Big Tech, who nonetheless failed to stop legislators from passing the most significant AI regulation in America. Bores declared, “We need to take heed when the leaders in this field say that there need to be safety precautions taken with this rapidly developing technology. The RAISE Act will ensure there are protocols in place in the event of a major security risk and help New York to react and prevent future incidents.” Despite the fearmongering, the RAISE Act is exactly the right kind of legislation for this moment. It installs safe and reasonable guardrails around AI while exempting academic research and protecting the space for entrepreneurial development and innovation. This is a big deal.

Lawmakers also approved a significant package of ten prison reform proposals, following a number of high-profile inmate deaths at state prison facilities. The bill requires the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) to turn over all body camera footage to the Attorney General’s office when an officer is involved in an inmate death and requires correctional facilities to install and maintain fixed security cameras 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The legislation also expands the state Commission on Correction from three members to nine, with the Governor choosing three, the Assembly Speaker choosing two, the Senate Minority Leader choosing two, and the Correctional Association of New York choosing two. State Senator Julia Salazar, Chair of the Senate Crime Victims and Corrections Committee, said, “This is really a victory today, but our work is so far from complete. It is focused on prison accountability, transparency, and improving conditions in our state prisons.” Nonetheless, these are important reforms.

The Fostering Affordability and Integrity Through Reasonable Business Practices Act—better known as the FAIR Business Practices Act—also reached the finish line in the Senate before lawmakers left town. The bill, which expands the Attorney General’s ability to penalize bad actors, is in response to presumed regulatory rollbacks at the federal level. The legislation was a major priority for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who declared, “As the federal government steps back from protecting consumers and small businesses, New York must step up to help working families and Main Street businesses. The FAIR Business Practices Act will protect small businesses from predatory lenders, homeowners from bad mortgage servicers, patients from abusive debt collection, and much more. This legislation will strengthen New York’s consumer protection laws to stop businesses from taking advantage of New Yorkers.” Expect significant back-and-forth on the details of this between the business community and advocates in chapter amendment discussions.

In an exceptional win for children, families, and educators, both chambers passed legislation establishing a Center for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia within the State Education Department to modernize New York State’s approach to reading curriculum with evidence-based literacy practices. “For years, we have failed children with dyslexia and dysgraphia. This Center will finally create a statewide approach to solving one of our most challenging educational issues. Giving our schools and teachers the knowledge to identify students with dyslexia and dysgraphia and the training to provide appropriate interventions like structured literacy will be life-changing for countless children,” said Assemblymember Robert Carroll, lead sponsor of the bill. "As someone who struggled with dyslexia as a child, I know firsthand how important early identification and intervention are to remediating dyslexia.” Senate bill co-sponsor Patricia Fahy said, “We're not just creating a Center, we're giving educators, families, and students the tools they’ve needed to address this issue for years. Early screening, structured literacy instruction, and high-quality professional development are not luxuries; they are necessities for ensuring every New York kid and student can learn to read and write with confidence.” The Center was a recommendation of the Dyslexia Task Force, and this year’s budget included $250,000 to launch the Center.

The sponsors of the NY Heat Act, having watched their original version fail to move again, introduced two compromise versions of the bill in a last ditch effort to advance their issue. The Senate passed the Customer Savings and Reliability Act, which includes a provision that would end the current subsidy for new natural gas hookups within 100 feet of an existing line and changes the state’s obligation to serve natural gas to all households, but still allows for more regional flexibility for utilities and consumers. The second bill only removes the 100-foot subsidy rule. This issue has stalled in the Assembly in the past, and it is unclear whether the new bill contains enough substantive changes to overcome strong opposition.

The Assembly will also have to decide what to do with the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, which passed the Senate earlier this year. The proposal has been one of the most heavily lobbied bills this session and would require companies to pay fees based on the amount of packaging waste they generate, as well as fund and oversee a new organization that would be responsible for fee collection and waste reduction initiatives. It would also require a 30% reduction in packaging over 12 years. The Business Council has proposed a compromise bill that enacts a version of the “extended producer responsibility” (EPR) but does not go as far as the requirements in the original. Assembly sponsor Deborah Glick has said she has the votes to pass the measure, telling reporters, “In talking to my colleagues, I believe I have the votes to pass it in this house,” but it will come down to whether or not Speaker Heastie brings the bill to the floor for a vote. We will be watching this over the next forty-eight hours.

Grocery stores have made a concerted effort, again, to pass a bill allowing for the sale of wine in their stores, nonetheless, the issue will stall for another year after the bill failed to pass the Senate. Al Stirpe, the Assembly sponsor, offered, “Anything to do with alcohol is difficult to change, but retail-to-retail is probably the only thing still left that's breathing right now.” New York is one of only ten states that does not permit grocery stores to sell wine, and opponents of the bill argue it would threaten small, family-owned liquor stores that have been in business for decades. 

More than just a battle over legislation, the end of session is also a time for politics in Albany! Enter Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY). The Congresswoman was in the Capitol last week railing against the $254 billion budget, a budget she pointed out, passed by majorities of Democrats in the State Legislature. Speaking at a press conference with Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt and Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay, Stefanik said, “Kathy Hochul and far-left Democrats have once again failed New Yorkers with this year’s legislative session” before saying she would decide on a run for governor in the “coming months.” 

Moreover, Stefanik had a chance to confront Hochul directly in last week’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing. Hochul appeared alongside Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to answer questions from the GOP over their respective states’ immigration policies. Stefanik used the entirety of her time to target Hochul, highlighting individual cases where illegal immigrants committed crimes in New York. Pushing back on Stefanik’s claim that she is “putting illegals first,” Hochul said, “That is not true. Rather than going after the viral moment, I suggest you look at the facts.” Both sides made their points, though the hearing was broadly an opportunity for Republican House Members to score points. The specific exchange between Hochul and Stefanik left many observers pining for a real debate between the two.

Hochul and Stefanik were not the only New York politicians to go at it in D.C. last week. A video clip captured Rep. John Mannion (D-NY) getting quite animated with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on the House floor, ultimately shouting at him to “get over there and get some fucking balls.” This was minor compared to Sen. Alex Padilla being cuffed after a confrontation at Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem’s news conference, but—man alive!—it is getting chippy out there, boys.

New Jersey, one of two states with a gubernatorial election this year, held primary elections last week. Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill beat out a field of five other candidates, pitching herself as the most electable candidate in a state that is no longer as reliably blue. At a victory rally, Sherrill told her supporters, "It's going to take a strong voice to cut through the noise from Washington and deliver for the people. So, I stand here tonight doing just that. And as a mom of four teenagers, you guys know I'm not going to put up with the incompetent, whiny nonsense coming from aggrieved MAGA Republicans.” For the Republicans, Trump-endorsed candidate Jack Ciattarelli defeated four other candidates in the GOP primary. Ciattarelli ran a very competitive race against current Governor Phil Murphy in 2021 and is hoping to build off that success with a base that remains energized by the 2024 election. In his victory speech, Ciattarelli said, “We made a strong statement about what the New Jersey Republican Party stands for: A party open to anyone and everyone willing to work hard and play by the rules; a party of Jersey values and common sense policies; a party that believes our best days are ahead of us if, if we have the courage to think big and act boldly.” We will be watching this, and Virginia, as bellwethers for the midterms. 

The music world got darker and duller this week. First, the death of Sly Stone, who believed everyone was a star, and then Brian Wilson. Hope you can find some good vibrations.

-Jack O’Donnell

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