11 minute read
FIRST READ
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins addressed reporters as the session drew to a close.
LAWMAKERS APPROVE GUN SAFETY MEASURES
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As they wrapped up legislating for the year, lawmakers in Albany agreed on a package of 10 bills meant to strengthen the state’s already tight gun laws and address violent extremism online. Perhaps most significantly, the state Legislature approved a bill that would require licensing to purchase and use a semiautomatic rifle, effectively raising the age to buy one from 18 to 21. When signed into law, New York will join only a handful of states that have placed a higher age requirement on the AR-15-style weapons, though other states have faced issues over the constitutionality of their laws. Another bill will, in most cases, prevent the sale to civilians of body vests – the type like the alleged Buffalo shooter wore that protected him from a retired police officer who was guarding the supermarket. Lawmakers also passed bills to strengthen the state’s Red Flag Law, which permits the confiscation of a person’s gun if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others by requiring law enforcement to file for an extreme risk protection order in those instances. Another piece of legislation will create a task force focused on violent extremist domestic terrorism fueled by racist ideology, with another making public threats of mass violence a crime.
STRENGTHENING ABORTION ACCESS TOPS PRIORITIES
State lawmakers tackled another national issue in abortion rights, as the U.S.
DNC IN NYC?
Mayor Eric Adams is hellbent on boosting the New York City’s economy, and what better way to do that than hosting the Democratic National Convention in one of the country’s bluest cities? At the launch of the city’s bid to host the 2024 DNC, keen observers noted that Adams was the only one out of the many distinguished guests to not don shoe coverings in the gleaming One Vanderbilt skyscraper. These, apparently, are the privileges afforded to mayors – and potential presidential candidates?
– state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, ruling on an off-topic GOP amendment to a bill, via Gothamist’s Jon Campbell
“No. No. No. No. No. No.”
– Rep. Jerry Nadler, who will face Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a primary, on whether he planned to retire, via The New York Times Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. New York had already codified the right to an abortion in state law in 2019, but the state Legislature approved several new bills that would protect abortion providers against miscondunct allegations and out-of-state legal action in cases where they offer care to out-of-state patients coming from areas where abortion may become illegal. Lawmakers also voted on other bills meant to strengthen the protections in the state, which were already among the strongest in the nation. However, a state constitutional amendment that would have codified various equality rights, including against discrimination based on pregnancy status and reproductive care choices, did not make it over the finish line despite strong pushes from advocates to get the ball rolling on the multiyear process to amend the state constitution.
VOTING RIGHTS COME TO NEW YORK
Rounding out the national topics that lawmakers took up was voting rights as they approved the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York, named for its federal counterpart that so far has failed to pass in the U.S. Senate. The landmark bill would codify a series of voting rights protections into state law in the wake of the recent gutting of
the 1965 Voting Rights Act and subsequent rollback of national protections. If signed into law, the legislation would represent the most comprehensive and strongest state-level protections in the country, with its sponsors looking now to the Congress to act on its own version of the bill.
LATE NIGHT NEGOTIATING
In true Albany fashion, bills that seemed dead found new sparks of life in the waning hours of the legislative session. On the state Senate side, a two-year moratorium on upstate cryptocurrency mining that passed in the Assembly appeared to be a lost cause before a latenight update showed that lawmakers had managed to reach an agreement. First came reports of its revival, then the actual passage of the legislation in the wee hours of the morning. On the Assembly side, the trajectory of the Clean Slate Act changed rapidly in the course of a day, with reporting revealing opposition from the state Education Department creating hesitancy among some members. By the evening, the bill sponsor revealed she had reached an agreement with education officials to get the legislation that would automatically seal the records of many New Yorkers with criminal convictions after a certain period of time. Once on its way to the graveyard, the bill suddenly was on the verge of approval.
National issues, including abortion rights and gun control, dominated the end of the state legislative session.
New York City’s new gun violence czar
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the appointment of a new gun violence czar on June 2 who will coordinate with liaisons from every agency and the city’s crisis management contractors “to address the root causes of gun violence and prevent shootings before they take place,” the mayor’s office said in a press release. The appointee, Andre T. Mitchell, is the founder of Man Up, a Brooklyn-based anti-violence organization that provides programs including mediating potential gang conflicts, youth counseling, employment services and hospital intervention.
“We’ve been using the same tactics over and over again, and we’ve been getting the same results. So no one should have a problem with us trying something different. Give us a chance to prove ourselves,” Mitchell said at a press conference alongside Adams at City Hall.
Mitchell, who told The New York Times he will serve in a “volunteer capacity,” will also co-chair the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force that Adams installed via executive order in January. NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, along with the deputy mayors of several departments, is also on the task force. The group was charged with coordinating with the “anti-gun violence liaisons” that Adams instructed each city agency to appoint.
Mitchell’s experience, Adams said, gave him a unique understanding of the range of issues that contribute to gun violence in minority communities. “I think we often dismiss it, because the victims of handgun violence for the most part are Black and brown and in the inner cities all across America, so we’ve normalized it and stated that is just the way it has to be. And we’re saying today, you’re damn right it’s not the way it has to be,” Adams said.
Adams defended Mitchell after reports surfaced earlier in the day highlighting alleged financial mismanagement at Man Up. A Department of Investigation probe in 2019 found that money from Man Up, which receives millions of dollars in taxpayer funds, ended up in Mitchell’s personal bank account. The DOI also reported that Mitchell hired several family members to work for the organization. “The DOI did their investigation, they came up with recommendations. He followed the recommendations,” Adams said of Mitchell. – Sara Dorn
THE WEEK AHEAD
TUESDAY 6/7
Gov. Kathy Hochul, Rep. Tom Suozzi and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams debate for the first time in the Democratic primary for governor at 7 p.m. on CBS New York. INSIDE DOPE
The governor has only agreed to two debates – this one and another on June 16 – despite her two primary opponents hoping for more discussions. THURSDAY 6/9
The New York City Council Committee on Small Business holds a 10 a.m. virtual oversight hearing on combating commercial vacancies. MONDAY 6/13
Lee Zeldin, Andrew Giuliani, Harry Wilson and Rob Astorino debate in the Republican primary for governor at 7 p.m. on CBS New York.
POLITICS IS WILD
THIS YEAR’S END-OF-SESSION BEAR IS THE LATEST OF NEW YORK’S NONHUMAN INTERLOPERS.
The final days of this year’s legislative session got off to a bit of a … hairy start. A black bear managed to wander into Albany and was spotted just a few blocks away from the state Capitol as lawmakers worked out deals on legislation. For several hours, the bear captivated politicos as it attracted news crews, rubberneckers and even Albany’s mayor. When wildlife officials managed to get the bear out of the tree it had climbed up, video spread quickly on Twitter as onlookers awaited the climax of the animal interlude.
This was hardly the first time that a wild animal managed to capture the hearts and minds of the political class in New York – and hopefully it won’t be the last. They keep things interesting and have even had lasting cultural impacts for the wonks among us. The end-of-session bear joins a pantheon of other animals that have become minor celebrities.
By Rebecca C. Lewis
SUBWAY KITTENS
Before goats shut down the subways, kittens held that distinction. In 2013, two tiny straphangers somehow found themselves on the tracks rather than in a train, attracting the attention and sympathy of New Yorkers – well, except for GOP mayoral hopeful Joe Lhota, who said he wouldn’t have stopped trains to save the felines.
BUDGET COYOTE
A coyote was found on the fourth floor of a museum near the Capitol during the 2018 budget negotiations – and people loved it. It was caught and released back into the wild, but not before someone created a Twitter account for it.
LONG ISLAND BULL
This one is truly a saga. A bull escaped slaughter on Long Island in 2021 and managed to evade capture for an entire two months. Daily updates came out on the status of the bull, named Barney, for his many fans. Luckily for him, he was sent to an animal sanctuary when his time in the wilds of the suburbs came to an end.
N TRAIN GOATS
In 2018, two goats found themselves on the N train tracks in Brooklyn. No one knew where they came from, but they wound up being helped by former "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart, who took them to animal sanctuary upstate.
PIZZA RAT
No list is complete with New York City’s biggest animal celebrity, the pizza rat. The subway dweller entered our hearts when video caught him dragging an entire New York slice down the stairs, and he never left. Imitators have emerged since then, like the egg roll squirrel, but none truly compare.
A Q&A with Assembly Member
MONIQUE CHANDLERWATERMAN
It looks like you won in a landslide in the Assembly District 58 special election. To what do you attribute your success? The people. Knowing that the power was in the people. I had a grassroots campaign where the community members supported the vision and mission, and they’re the reason. I had a lot of great endorsements, but the best endorsement was the people in the community believing in the mission and vision, and coming out and voting.
You campaigned without the official support of the Brooklyn Democratic Party. Is it correct that you didn’t receive any kind of support from the Brooklyn Democratic Party or Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn? That’s correct. But the people spoke, and they chose who the best candidate was. I was glad to receive the Democratic line from a group of my peers from the county committee who know the work that I’ve done.
You also had the mayor endorsing your opponent, Hercules Reid, at the eleventh hour. Were you surprised by that? I’m not surprised by what anybody does nowadays. It doesn’t affect us one way or the other because what’s most important is the voters in the community. And you can’t deny the fact of the body of work that I’ve done, and the evidence of work I’ve done in the community, well before there was an election. I was born and raised in East Flatbush my whole entire life – educator, health care worker, community organizer, fighting to reduce gun violence. Those things didn’t just pop up because of the election. It didn’t matter who endorsed who, it was about who did the work. What are some of your goals in Albany? We have to continue advocating for true affordability when it comes to housing, income-targeted housing. If you don’t have proper housing, if you don’t know where you’re going to sleep at night, how can you function as a human being? You can’t go to school, you can’t go to work if you’re not stable in a house. So that’s one of the biggest issues. Then you could go to the public health crisis we have – gun violence, substance abuse, getting access to proper health care, mental health. There are a lot of social determinants of health that affect us in our community. And of course, equity in education.
Do you support “good cause” eviction? Yes, I do. I want to make sure that our renters are protected, our tenants are protected, and make sure that there’s a carve-out for our homeowners as well. Because there are small landlords who are doing great things, and who are part of the community as well. So we just want to make sure everybody is considered when it comes to “good cause” eviction, which (the bill) does. – Annie McDonough
NICO PIOTTO/GETTY IMAGES; MARC A. HERMANN/MTA NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT; NEW YORK STATE POLICE TWITTER; REECE T. WILLIAMS/NEWSDAY RM, GARY HERSHORN, YEVGEN ROMANENKO/GETTY IMAGES; ANTHONY MITCHELL
