NEW YORK (NY)
City & State New York
April 10, 2020
By Julia Agos
Although the legislative session is in limbo, here’s what state lawmakers want to address.
The New York state legislative session is “effectively over,” at least according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. After passing a $177 billion state budget in early April, lawmakers are doing their jobs remotely due to the spread of the new coronavirus and the rising number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state.
But state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said that the body could convene as needed, raising the possibility of further legislative activity up through the session’s originally scheduled end date of June 2. Other lawmakers have flatly rejected Cuomo’s suggestion that the session is done, saying it’s not up to the governor. “First of all, we have three branches, bro,” state Sen. Gustavo Rivera said. “We have three. And therefore we get to decide when we go on.”
If the state Senate and Assembly do reconvene, here’s a list of bills and issues that could be at the top of the agenda.
Budget cuts
As part of the budget, state lawmakers authorized Cuomo’s budget director to adjust spending throughout the year in response to projected shortfalls. The Aid to Localities budget bill included language that gives the state budget director, Robert Mujica, the authority to make changes if updated revenue estimates show the budget to be unbalanced – which is likely, given an expected shortfall of $10 billion or more due to a major economic slowdown resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. The budget director could then withhold a certain amount from localities, including school aid. The Legislature would then have 10 days to respond to cuts, should they decide to.
“If revenues are short then we will put together a package of reductions, we’ll send that to the Legislature, they will have 10 days to review it and adopt jointly an alternative proposal,” Mujica told NY1’s Errol Louis earlier this month. “If there is an alternative proposal that works we’ll execute on that proposal or in the absence of the Legislature acting then we will execute on the original proposal.”
Recreational marijuana
State lawmakers failed to reach a deal with the governor before the budget deadline, putting legalized recreational marijuana on hold again. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, pot legalization was “too much, too little time,” according to Cuomo. As City & State reported this month, lawmakers wanted significant tax revenues set aside to reinvest in minority communities disproportionately targeted for marijuana offenses, while the governor wanted more flexibility by avoiding specific earmarks.
Extending the Child Victims Act
Some lawmakers wanted to add a one-year extension to last year’s Child Victums Act, which suspended the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse during a one-year window ending in August 2020. When the state court system halted all non-essential proceedings last month, including submissions under the Child Victims Act, supporters said the new extension would be critical. “It’s always been prudent to extend the CVA’s revival window by another year, matching similar policies in progressive states like California, New Jersey and Hawaii,” state Sen. Brad Hoylman, a sponsor of the original law and the proposed exension, said in a statement last month. “Now, the massive unexpected interruption to our judicial system makes the need for extending the CVA more urgent than ever.”
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