One for the Books

Good morning from Albany, New York, where both houses of the Legislature adjourned sine die last week, officially marking the end of the torturous 2026 Legislative Session. It was the least productive session of the Hochul era, with a total of 759 bills passing both houses of the legislature compared to the average of 891 bills passed during each year of Hochul’s tenure. Still, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins believes the quality of bills is more important than the quantity, telling reporters, "Even though there's an uncertainty in terms of the budget duration, there was a certainty about our agenda. So, I can say that I'm leaving here feeling that we've accomplished the important things that we needed to accomplish.” 

Both houses advanced amendments to the state constitution that, if approved by voters in 2027, would allow New York to enter the national redistricting fray in 2028. The measure would empower the Legislature to redraw the state’s election districts while also removing the current constitutional language that prohibits partisan gerrymandering.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie outlined the reasoning for the amendments, telling reporters, “We want to be able to have as much flexibility in our districts as other states around the nation. This thing about asking New York to play fair while everybody else is playing ruthless, I think, is not right to ask us this.” This will need to pass a new legislature in 2027 and then be approved by voters in a statewide referendum.

The Senate and Assembly both passed a package of bills dealing with data centers, with the most notable provision being a one-year moratorium on data center construction. The final bill reflected a compromise from the originally proposed three-year moratorium, but the package still received intense opposition, notably from the state building trades.

Other highlights of the package include a requirement that data centers provide benefits to the communities where they are located, more robust energy-efficiency and environmental standards, and higher energy rates to reflect their substantial impact on the grid. 

The One Fair Price Act, sponsored by Senator Rachel May and Assemblymember Emerita Torres, got across the finish line and will prevent companies from using an individual’s data to set personalized prices. The legislation was a major priority for New York Attorney General Letitia James, though the Assembly declined to pass a companion bill that would have protected consumers from surveillance pricing and the technology that makes it possible in grocery and drug stores. 

The Assembly also punted on advancing the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act for a third straight year, despite substantive amendments from the bill sponsors intended to make the legislation more palatable for industry. The amended version of the bill would have required companies to achieve a 30% reduction in single-use plastics over the next twelve years, and while Heastie said he was personally supportive, the votes were not there. Heastie offered, “I'm a yes on the bill. But you need 76 yeses to pass a bill, and we don't have that.”

We will have a deeper dive into some of the other 769 bills next week.

Legislators left for the year without addressing the nearly half-million New Yorkers who are set to lose their low-cost, state-subsidized health coverage, known as the Essential Plan, due to changes at the federal level. The Senate and Assembly considered several proposals for the state to cover the costs, but ultimately decided that uncertainty about costs and eligibility prevented them from enacting a suitable plan. Stewart-Cousins implied Hochul was to blame, offering, “We did try—we suggested different ways. The governor was frankly not a supporter. So we are looking at, yes, that situation in July.” 

Elsewhere, Republicans in Alabama won a big victory in the nationwide redistricting wars last week with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling 6-3 that the state can adopt a congressional map drawn in 2023 that would likely result in a 6-1 Congressional District split for Republicans and would eliminate one of the state’s two majority Black districts, which are both currently held by Democrats. This is the first major ruling on racial discrimination in redistricting since the Court severely narrowed a key provision in the Voting Rights Act that, up until April, protected majority-Black districts. The ruling has already had negative impacts on Black political representation in states like Louisiana and Tennessee, and the most recent ruling on the Alabama case could have ripple effects for other Southern states looking to make similar changes. 

Primary elections rolled on across the country last week, including in Iowa where state Rep. and former Paralympic gold medalist Josh Turner won the Democratic primary for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat defeating state Sen. Zach Wahls. Turner will now face Republican Ashley Hinson in November to replace outgoing GOP Senator Joni Ernst. Republicans have enjoyed double digit margins in statewide races for the better part of the 21st century, though the race is emerging as a sleeper battle that could help determine who has control of the upper chamber come 2027. In the Republican gubernatorial primary, Businessman Zach Lahn defeated Trump’s endorsed candidate, Rep. Randy Feenstra. Lahn's message in favor of regenerative farming and against large agricultural corporations made him a favorite of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, and his narrow upset victory further highlights the divisions in the GOP and lays bare the limits of Trump’s political power outside of the Beltway. 

In New Jersey, Democrat Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, defeated a crowded primary field and will face incumbent GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr. for the state’s 7th District. Kean, a two-term incumbent, has made national news recently for his nearly three-month absence from Congress due to an undisclosed medical issue. The 7th District, which spans Democratic commuter suburbs in the east to deep-red rural towns in the west, as well as Trump’s Bedminster Golf Club, is one of the few truly competitive congressional seats left. In 2024, Trump carried the district by 1 point, and in 2025, Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill won the district by 1 point. In her victory speech, Bennett offered, “The difference between the two of us could not be clearer: I spent 15 years serving our country in uniform as a Navy helicopter pilot where I swore an oath to protect and defend the constitution, while Tom Kean, Jr. has sworn an oath to Donald Trump and his D.C. party bosses who are jacking up costs and ripping away access to health care.” 

In California, results are still rolling in from the state’s jungle primary system, but we know at least one of the candidates who will advance to the General Election in November: former Biden health secretary Xavier Becerra. More than 60 candidates were on the ballot to replace Governor Gavin Newsom, who is term limited, but two Democrats, Becerra and billionaire Tom Steyer, and one Republican, Trump-endorsed commentator Steve Hilton, separated themselves from a large pack that included Democrats like former Rep. Katie Porter, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, as well as Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. California will likely still be counting ballots for weeks, but as it stands, Hilton has a slight edge over Steyer for the opportunity to face Bacerra in November. In the race for Mayor of Los Angeles, Democratic incumbent Mayor Karen Bass will advance to the general election after receiving 34.8% of the vote tallied so far. Councilmember Nithya Raman is currently trailing former reality TV star Spencer Pratt for the second spot in November’s election, though Pratt is only in the lead by 1.1 points with Raman making up more ground every day. 

 -Jack O’Donnell