The 2022 legislative session is well underway in Albany with budget negotiations about to begin in earnest next week as we return from our mid-winter break. Governor Hochul has proposed a spending plan for the 2022-23 fiscal year totaling $216.5 Billion. In 2003, my first session as a member of the Assembly, the state budget totaled $93 Billion. Since then, the grip on state finances by the Democrats has gotten stronger while taxes have continued to increase, crime has spiraled out of control, more than one million New York residents have escaped to states with lower taxes and safer neighborhoods, and employers have moved their businesses to states that welcome them rather than punish them with regulation and abusive taxation.
While the proposed budget addresses many needs that New Yorkers have and includes generous COVID bailout funding that will not be available next year, Hochul turned a blind eye to the bail reform issue and included a mandate on every local municipality in the state to provide for Accessory Dwelling Units, known as ADU’s, in local zoning codes to address, what she says is a lack of affordable housing.
By ignoring the adverse impact that bail reform has had in our state, and especially in New York City, Hochul is yielding to the Progressive Left as she prepares for the Democratic primary in June. With 75% of the Democratic vote residing south of the Tappan Zee Bridge, she is experiencing the same conversion to the far left that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, another moderate upstate Democrat, had after she was appointed to the United States Senate by Governor Paterson. The Progressive caucuses in the Assembly and Senate sought no input or advice from the judicial branch, the state’s District Attorneys or our men and women in Blue when crafting and then passing this reform legislation. New York City has experienced a 14% increase in serious crime with perpetrators getting arrested and then released according to the new statutes. Hate crimes are rising and each week we hear news of another subway rider pushed to their death in front of oncoming trains. Former Governor Cuomo failed the people of this state when he signed this malignant piece of legislation.
Hochul did remove her ADU mandate on municipalities in one of her 30-Day Amendments to the budget. After pressure from the Assembly and Senate Republican caucuses, as well as the state’s Mayors and Village Officials, she saw the handwriting on the wall that this blatant disregard for local control, the bedrock of town and village governance, would be a potential problem for her at the polls. The Progressive/ Socialist wing of the Democratic Party seeks to overturn single-family zoning, a long-stated goal. While removal from the budget appears to be a victory, the governor has said she will appoint a commission to further study the ADU issue and include members of local government. I remain wary of commissions appointed by this governor given the influence over her that the Progressive/Socialist Left has. Former Governor Cuomo made sure his commissions delivered what he wanted, and I believe this governor would do the same. Forewarned is forearmed.
