set different prices for the same products<\/a> and an omnibus bill to pause and place strict regulations around large data centers.\u00a0<\/p>\nWhile the legislation this year didn\u2019t go as far as some progressives wanted, it continued to push the state farther to the left on certain issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Senate]()
<\/p>\n
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins at a news conference at the conclusion of this year\u2019s legislative session on Thursday. A former teacher, she gave lawmakers an A+ for their efforts.<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Hochul will now have until the end of the year to decide if she\u2019ll sign each of the bills approved by the state Legislature, veto them or request changes from lawmakers.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s become common for Hochul to negotiate changes to bills with lawmakers in exchange for her approval. Those changes are then approved by the state Legislature at the start of the following year before the laws take effect.<\/p>\n
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Democrats in the upper chamber don\u2019t pass legislation they don\u2019t support as its written but that they anticipated engaging in those kinds of discussions with the governor\u00a0in the coming months.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo we know, by best practice, that there may be conversations around these things?\u201d Stewart-Cousins said. \u201cYes, and because we are committed enough to whatever the policy is, we\u2019re willing to have those conversations and get to a space where everyone feels that the objectives are still being achieved.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, several other measures that were thought to have had momentum in the final days failed to pass.<\/p>\n
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![\"Environmental]()
<\/p>\n
Environmental advocates join state legislators and health care professionals in urging passage of the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act in May. The bill failed again this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
That included a heavily lobbied bill meant to shift the financial burden of managing packaging waste from taxpayers to large corporate producers. This was the third year it failed to gain traction.<\/p>\n
Also on that list was legislation sought by hospitals intended to push back on efforts from pharmaceutical companies to push higher costs on healthcare facilities that participate in a federal program to receive discounted drugs.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m never doing this again\u2019<\/p>\n
Lawmakers also declined to take steps that would address their frustrations over how Hochul used her executive leverage to hold up a deal on the state budget until her major policy demands were met.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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For much of the budget process, the governor, the Senate majority leader and the Assembly speaker or their top aides met behind closed doors, away from the rank-and-file legislators, and hashed out which bills would be passed and which would be set aside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The governor holds more power than lawmakers in state budget talks. She sets the agenda with her spending proposal and, as evidenced over the last five years,\u00a0Hochul hasn\u2019t been averse to having a late budget as she negotiates to obtain her priorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Assembly]()
<\/p>\n
Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie speaks to reporters shortly after Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled details of the state\u2019s budget. He was frustrated by the power imbalance in the state budget process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Timothy Fanning\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Lawmakers, on the other hand, aren\u2019t paid after April 1 if the budget is late. After eight weeks, a deal was finally struck.<\/p>\n
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Heastie fumed at the fact that Hochul holds more power than lawmakers during those discussions and suggested that Democrats in the state Legislature could take steps to change that dynamic in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m never doing this again,\u201d Heastie told reporters in May, as he also accused the media of not covering the issue enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That imbalance is the result of a decades-old decision by the state Court of Appeals that essentially affirmed the governor\u2019s power to negotiate policy unrelated to spending as part of the state budget.<\/p>\n
That could change through a lawsuit or an amendment to the state constitution brought in front of voters. Lawmakers left Albany on Friday without taking action on either of these avenues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Self assessment: A+<\/p>\n
Stewart-Cousins said she was proud of the work they did this year. If Stewart-Cousins, a former high school English teacher, could give lawmakers a grade, it would be an \u201cA+,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never lost sight of what we were doing,\u201d said Stewart-Cousins. \u201cWe pushed forward every day, even under very difficult circumstances, even without being paid. People came and never, ever lost the focus of trying to get to a budget deal that would be helpful for New York and New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her counterpart had a different take.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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![\"Senate]()
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Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt said lawmakers failed to address New York\u2019s high cost of living.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Republican Robert Ortt, the Senate minority leader, criticized Democrats, who control all levers of state government, for doing little to address New York\u2019s high cost of living.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the start of this session, the buzzword was ‘affordability,’\u201d\u00a0Ortt said. \u201cNew Yorkers are facing an affordability crisis, and we had a real opportunity to provide relief from skyrocketing costs that are burdening New Yorkers, but as we leave here, New Yorkers are not seeing more money back in their pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n
New York\u2019s redistricting fight<\/p>\n
Democrats in both chambers last week delivered first passage to a measure that could ultimately be considered by voters to change the state\u2019s redistricting process.<\/p>\n
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They framed it as a response to similar efforts in other states, like how Republicans in Texas redrew their state\u2019s congressional districts last year at Trump\u2019s encouragement to boost their party\u2019s influence in Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot ignore the reality that Republicans have repeatedly sought to undermine democracy through various attempts to gain political advantage,\u201d Stewart-Cousins said.<\/p>\n
And while that process will continue to be managed in New York by an independent commission, the proposed changes would give Democrats more power in that process.<\/p>\n
The intent of those changes is to allow New York\u2019s congressional districts to be redrawn before the 2028 elections. There\u2019s nothing they can do about those maps this year.<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s because New York\u2019s redistricting process is governed by an amendment to the state constitution approved by voters in 2014. Another amendment is required to change it.<\/p>\n
Before such an amendment can be placed on the ballot, it needs to pass twice\u00a0\u2014 once by a sitting state Legislature and again by the next class of state lawmakers seated after an election.<\/p>\n
Because the current state Legislature has now approved the amendment, it can receive second passage after the next Legislature is seated in January. It could then be placed on the ballot in November 2027.<\/p>\n
The amendment would allow the state Legislature to reopen New York\u2019s redistricting process beyond the current limit of once each decade and make new maps easier for\u00a0lawmakers to approve.<\/p>\n
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It would also remove a prohibition on districts being drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent, specific candidate or political party, which Republicans said will open the door for blatant gerrymandering in New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the latest in a long line of attempts by Albany Democrats to rig the rules in their favor and protect their grip on political power, and New Yorkers should be paying close attention,\u201d Ortt said.<\/p>\n
Because the amendment would be presented to voters for approval, it\u2019s not among the hundreds of bills Hochul will consider through the end of the year.<\/p>\n
\nData centers paused\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
Lawmakers also approved an omnibus bill that, if approved by Hochul as passed, would prohibit the state from granting permits for new large data centers for one year.<\/p>\n
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The state would also be required to conduct a study on the energy use of data centers, the amount of water used to cool them, how much land they occupy, the volume of pollution they cause and the electronic waste they produce in New York.<\/p>\n
The bill would also set new guardrails around how those facilities are approved at the local level and how their operations impact demand on the state\u2019s energy grid.<\/p>\n
Developers would have to hold at least one in-person public hearing on those projects before a permit could be approved for them to move forward. They would also have to invest in residential energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n
![\"Environmental]()
<\/p>\n
Environmental advocates and progressive lawmakers at a rally in support of legislation that would put a moratorium on new data centers in the state.<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
But they would also face new energy-related mandates. Utility companies would have to create a new customer class for data centers that would allow any costs associated with connecting them to the grid to be paid for by their operators.<\/p>\n
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Data centers would also be required to be powered by renewable energy sources over time, starting with a mandate that at least a third of their electricity be produced without fossil fuels between 2030 and 2034.<\/p>\n
The bill was introduced in the final week\u00a0after months of discussions between lawmakers and industry stakeholders, who opposed it, said state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, who sponsored the measure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there has been significant investment in lobbying from big tech because for so long they have enjoyed writing the rules for themselves,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cBig tech has wanted us to do nothing because nothing benefits them.\u201d<\/p>\n
While tech groups had opposed the measure, it was also met with resistance from utility companies, like National Grid.<\/p>\n
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\u201cLarge load projects can lower electric bills, advance grid modernization, drive economic growth, and strengthen energy reliability for New Yorkers,\u201d said Sally Librera, president of National Grid NY. \u201cA statewide moratorium discourages investment in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
Librera said the company supports a proceeding currently underway before New York\u2019s energy regulatory agency to analyze how new large-load facilities, like data centers, should be treated in terms of their energy use.<\/p>\n
\nImmigration\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
New York will provide noncitizens with a slate of new protections against federal immigration officers, while imposing new restrictions and accountability measures on law enforcement agencies that assist with federal civil immigration enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Among the most significant changes included in the legislation is a new ban on agreements between New York law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The federal statute that authorizes the agreements\u00a0\u2014 Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act\u00a0\u2014 was added to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which was adopted during the administration of President Bill Clinton. The federal legislation\u00a0was amended in 2002 to authorize the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security\u00a0\u2014 which was created after the 9\/11 terrorist attacks\u00a0\u2014 to enter into written agreements with state and local\u00a0agencies \u201cso that\u00a0qualified personnel can perform\u00a0certain functions of an immigration officer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those agreements allow local officers to be deputized to help with detaining migrants targeted for deportation, including making arrests and holding them in county jails, in exchange for federal funding.\u00a0Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin and Rensselaer County Sheriff Kyle Bourgault have said they will not comply with the law. They intend to file a lawsuit against challenging the measure, saying New York lawmakers overstepped their authority.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Dozens]()
<\/p>\n
Dozens of protesters were arrested at the Capitol this session protesting immigration and climate issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
The package is intended to limit the reach of ICE in New York, where Democrats at both the state level and in large cities have been critical of the agency\u2019s tactics over the past year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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However, the package stops short of the broader New York For All measure sought by immigrant-rights advocates, who wanted a statewide sanctuary limiting cooperation between local agencies and federal immigration authorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Immigrant-rights groups, lawmakers and protesters argued New York\u2019s patchwork of local policies left many communities vulnerable to immigration enforcement. Dozens of demonstrators were arrested at the Capitol after attempting to block entrances to the Senate and Assembly chambers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hochul and legislative leaders ultimately backed a narrower compromise that adopted several of the movement\u2019s priorities while preserving cooperation with federal authorities on criminal matters.<\/p>\n
\nAuto insurance\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
Changes in the state\u2019s auto insurance law was a major component this year, with Hochul championing the cause as a lodestar for affordability in the state. New Yorkers pay some of the highest auto insurance premiums in the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Throughout the year, Hochul asserted that tightening the rules to prevent insurance fraud, such as staged accidents, would cause insurance companies to pass on savings to consumers, as well as create a more competitive insurance market that would also reduce costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Legislators had expressed skepticism that her proposals to crack down on insurance fraud would result in cost reductions for consumers. That disagreement had contributed to the delay in passing this year\u2019s budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While not everything Hochul proposed made it through, Hochul succeeded in getting changes to the state\u2019s insurance law in the final budget. That includes expanding the definition of insurance fraud to anyone who \u201chires, requests, encourages, orchestrates, or invites another individual to stage a motor vehicle accident.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Alexander MacDougall contributed reporting.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Assemblyman John T. McDonald III, bottom, in the Assembly chamber in the final days of the legislative session.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[609,844,9,11,10,1165],"class_list":["post-258048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-government","tag-latestnews","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-state-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}