There are just three days left in New York\u2019s legislative session in Albany \u2014 and the State Legislature has a lot of catching up to do.<\/p>\n
Fewer than 350 bills have passed both the Senate and Assembly, meaning that the Legislature will need to go into overdrive to come close to matching the roughly 850 bills passed in 2025.<\/p>\n
There is always plenty blame to go around in Albany, but this year the clear culprit seems to be the glacial pace of budget negotiations with Gov. Kathy Hochul. Lawmakers finally passed the $269 billion budget last week<\/a>, giving them only one week to advance their own agenda.<\/p>\n In theory, the Legislature could stay in Albany as long as it likes to pass bills. In practice, members have already made travel arrangements to their home districts, to see family and campaign for the June 23 primary<\/a>.<\/p>\n That will put pressure on the Assembly speaker, Carl E. Heastie, and the Senate majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, to prioritize the bills that have the best chance of passing without much debate.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look at some of the issues vying for floor time this week.<\/p>\n A moratorium on data centers<\/p>\n As artificial intelligence has transformed New York\u2019s economy, it has also begun to shape the state\u2019s physical landscape through the data centers that power A.I.<\/p>\n But concerns about their environmental impact and energy consumption have led lawmakers in Albany to rally around a one year moratorium on new data centers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Initially, the push had been for three years. But after conversations with stakeholders, Mr. Heastie said, the Legislature had come to a compromise on one year. \u201cI think we\u2019re comfortable passing that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Over the next five years, the number of data centers across the nation is projected to triple, consuming more electricity than 28 million households, according to an analysis from the nonprofit Food & Water Watch<\/a>. Energy demands have already made electricity costs skyrocket<\/a> for residents nearby.<\/p>\n The fight over data centers has taken on a broader significance as lawmakers debate the future of the state\u2019s economy. Some unions support data centers, seeing jobs in their construction. But others warn that industry will only harm New Yorkers \u2014 polluting their land and water, and driving up the cost of their electricity before taking their jobs.<\/p>\n Ms. Hochul has suggested that she thinks<\/a> such decisions are best left to localities, raising the possibility that she could veto the bill if it passes.<\/p>\n Making redistricting easier in New York<\/p>\n Few things have animated Democrats more in recent months<\/a> than Republicans\u2019 attempts to redistrict congressional maps in their favor.<\/p>\n New York Democrats now want in on the act, hoping to pass legislation that would lay the groundwork to eventually allow mid-decade redistricting.<\/p>\n To do so would take an amendment to the State Constitution approved by two separately elected State Legislatures, and then backed by voters in a referendum.<\/p>\n The first major election that would be affected would be in 2028.<\/p>\n Leaders in Albany and allies of Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, have discussed<\/a> passing slightly different proposals to create flexibility next year when they have to pass the bill again.<\/p>\n Lawmakers in the end decided to move forward with one aggressive bill that would change the process for how the Independent Redistricting Commission works in the state. If the commission is deadlocked, the State Legislature would redraw the lines and maps would pass with a simple majority vote.<\/p>\n The proposal, which is expected to be voted on in the coming days, would remove a ban on drawing districts that advantage one political party over the other, according to a memo summarizing the legislation.<\/p>\n Most significantly, the proposal would allow for mid-decade redistricting outside of the census.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot ignore the reality that Republicans have repeatedly sought to undermine democracy through various attempts to gain political advantage,\u201d said Ms. Stewart-Cousins, the Senate majority leader. She added that lawmakers \u201chave a responsibility to protect all voters, including the minority communities, and ensure that every New Yorker continues to have a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n Representative Michael Lawler of the Hudson Valley, a Republican whose district is considered one of the most competitive in the country, railed against the proposition in a news conference.<\/p>\n \u201cDemocrats in New York are upset, not because they think the map is unfair,\u201d he said, but because in 2022 voters \u201cchose 11 Republicans out of 26 and that was too much for them.\u201d<\/p>\n An uncertain future in plastics<\/p>\n No bill has received more attention from lobbyists in Albany than a push to restrict single-use plastic packaging amid<\/a> ever-increasing evidence<\/a> that microplastics are not only in our water and food but also our bodies, where they can contribute to conditions like infertility<\/a> and cancer.<\/p>\n The measure, which would require producers to pay fines if they don\u2019t sharply reduce the amount of plastic packaging used for products sold in New York, is a key priority for environmentalists, particularly after lawmakers agreed to weaken the climate law<\/a> for Ms. Hochul, a Democrat.<\/p>\n The bill would transform the market for consumer products in New York, pressing the industry to redesign grocery and other goods using easily-recycled materials like glass, cardboard and metal.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Mr. Heastie said the bill didn\u2019t have enough votes to pass yet, citing concerns about cost.<\/p>\n Predictably, the measure has drawn stiff opposition from plastics manufacturers, including the American Chemistry Council, the American Petroleum Institute, DuPont, and 3M. A broad coalition of business groups<\/a> wrote in a letter to the state that the proposed 30 percent reduction in packaging waste over 12 years would create an unworkable burden.<\/p>\n But the measure is supported by many local governments, who would stand to benefit from the fees and the reduction in plastic waste and items to recycle.<\/p>\n Keeping surveillance out of pricing<\/p>\n In his final year in office, the deputy majority leader of the Senate, Michael Gianaris, is pushing legislation that would forbid grocery stores and pharmacies from using consumer data to peg prices<\/a> to a customer\u2019s perceived willingness to pay \u2014 known as surveillance pricing.<\/p>\n Mr. Gianaris, a Democrat representing Western Queens, knows it sounds dystopian. But he said that the technology is already available.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is something that is squeezing people at a time when they\u2019re struggling to pay their bills and get their family\u2019s budget in order,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Many in the tech industry oppose the measure, which they call \u201cdynamic pricing,\u201d claiming it pre-emptively regulates a practice that is currently being used only to offer customers specialized discounts. Mr. Gianaris\u2019s bill would also ban digital price tags at larger grocery stores and pharmacies, which may make it easier for stores to change prices quickly.<\/p>\n The bill has passed the State Senate, and now heads to the State Assembly.<\/p>\n Counteracting Trump<\/p>\n The Trump administration\u2019s decision to create a $1.8 billion<\/a> fund to compensate people who claim they were targeted by the Biden Justice Department has stirred outrage among Democrats and even some Republicans \u2014 to the point that the president himself is now reconsidering the fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some lawmakers in Albany don\u2019t want to take chances, however. Assemblyman Alex Bores, a Democrat who is running against Mr. Lasher for Congress, has introduced legislation that would create a 100 percent tax on the proceeds that any New Yorkers receive from this fund. Ms. Hochul has endorsed<\/a> the idea.<\/p>\n Elected officials in California are pursuing similar legislation, which appears to be a forceful \u2014 if symbolic \u2014 method of hitting back on Republicans in Washington.<\/p>\n