Governor Kathy Hochul presented her vision for how she sees New York today. She highlighted and gave scant mention in her 61-minute address to a joint session of the Legislature to some important topics. Similar themes from her previous two messages were repeated in this year’s address. Hochul released 204 policy initiatives for the 2024-25 fiscal year, all this against the backdrop of a budget that totals $233 billion covering more than a $4.3 billion deficit from last year. The budget total is a more than a $4 billion increase over the current year’s total of $229 billion.
She called her proposed policy programs “a commonsense agenda for New York: fighting crime, fixing our mental health system and protecting New Yorkers’ hard-earned money.”
The governor talked about crime in grocery stores, on the subway and in synagogues.
“If government can’t keep New Yorkers safe, nothing else matters. In the last year, we’ve reduced gun violence, bringing shootings down by more than a third across the state. Murders are down 21 percent in New York City and 38 percent upstate,” Hochul said. “But certain types of crime have been stubbornly high. New Yorkers see it every day. Graffiti scrawled outside a synagogue. Baby formula locked behind plastic panels. A couple’s argument turned violent and was punctuated by gunshots.”
The Assembly GOP leader remained skeptical.
“She didn’t have much in the way of details, and the devil is always in the details. I’m curious to hear more about what she is proposing. She’s also going to need a willing partner with issues such as crime, for instance. She’s going to need a partner in the legislature and we’re willing to be that partner,” said Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay (R – Pulaski, Oswego County). “There are [Democratic] members in the Assembly and the Senate that don’t want to make any changes. They don’t want to increase penalties on anybody, so how are we going to stop shoplifting when we have people in the legislature that just want to put any criminal right back onto the street [after getting arrested].
Next was the economy and inflation. With a nod toward her union friends and to seniors, Hochul said she will “fight for minimum wage workers, because no one should labor 40 hours a week and still live below the poverty line. We’ll fight for seniors struggling to make ends meet on a fixed income and we’ll fight for children just beginning their journey in life,” Hochul remarked at the beginning of her speech.
As in years past, Hochul pledged to improve the environment.
“We’ll protect the environment by planting 25 million trees, fund resiliency efforts, expand solar power access and help our state meet our bold emissions targets,” Hochul said.
Domestic violence was a centerpiece of Hochul’s message.
“We must ensure everyone is safe at home by protecting them from domestic violence. Random attacks may get more press but New Yorkers are much more likely to be hurt by someone they know. In a third of all assaults, the attacker and the victim have a prior relationship. Our system fails with far too many survivors,” Hochul said. “Before last year, too many abusers had access to guns. So, we changed the law. Now, with the Supreme Court poised to possibly overturn a law that keeps guns away from abusers, the need to strengthen protections is more urgent than ever.”
Hochul made it clear she will add money to the budget for local law enforcement to carry out the mission.
“We are dedicating $20 million so district attorneys can gather evidence to prosecute abusers and take their guns away. We are committing funding so police can protect those most at risk of abuse and clamp down on repeat offenders,” Hochul said. “Every survivor should have the same chance to break the chain of violence and build a new life.”
Hochul shifted her crime message to “hate crimes, particularly the rising tide of antisemitism and Islamophobia.”
“Since the horrific attacks by Hamas against Israel on October 7th, there’s been a roughly 95 percent increase in hate crimes against Jewish residents of New York City. We are seeing a surge of anti-Muslim hate crimes too. Our neighbors are being targeted on playgrounds, in synagogues, and on college campuses. I will not rest until every Jewish and Muslim child feels safe going to school or entering their house of worship,” Hochul said. “We propose to make more than two dozen additional offenses – from gang assaults to graffiti – eligible for prosecution as hate crimes. This means enhanced liability and sentences and ultimately standing up for what is right. We will carry on this fight until every New Yorker feels safe at home, at prayer, and at work.”
When it comes to retail theft, Hochul left a lot to be desired.
“She created a task force on the state level regarding retail theft. I have not seen any details about that. Small businesses are suffering from retail theft,” Lester Chang (R – Midwood, Brooklyn). “She’s also talking about giving a tax credit for private security, for business schools who hire private security. I want to see that in legislation. Small mom and pop store owners, can they afford to hire private security even with a tax credit? It’s very expensive to hire full-time security.”
The Senate GOP leader was not impressed by Hochul’s speech.
“Governor Hochul proposed a task force to stop the shoplifters emboldened by a pro-criminal legislature but failed to address the migrant crisis Democrats invited to New York. She only gave lip service to the rising cost of living created by Albany’s extreme energy agenda, high taxes, and bad housing policy,” said Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt (R – North Tonawanda, Niagara County).
“As more residents continue to flee the state for places that offer affordability, security and opportunity, we need real solutions and the political will to address the challenges we face, not band-aids to bad policies that have decreased the quality of life for all New Yorkers.”
“New York state rolled out the welcome mat saying we want to be a sanctuary state, sanctuary city. Unfortunately, it took for this crisis to really mushroom and develop to figure out that’s not a smart strategy. We can’t be everything to everyone. We have to take care of our own people first,” Senator Bill Weber (R – Montebello, Rockland County) told The Jewish Press.
Housing affordability is at crisis proportions but Hochul gave it short shrift.
“I don’t disagree that housing is an issue in New York. The problem the governor has had and unfortunately a lot of my [Democratic] colleagues agree, is they want government intrusion in the housing market. If we just took away regulations, made it easier for developers to create housing, we would do a lot better,” Barclay said. “They don’t seem to want to address that. Take a look at market-based housing in New York City. What do they do? They increase rent control. They are decreasing the ability for anybody to put private housing on the market. I’m just concerned that some of these solutions are not real solutions to solve this crisis.”
One lawmaker representing Crown Heights was reserving judgment as to his thoughts about antisemitism.
“On the antisemitism front I think we have to be incredibly careful with what we’re changing in the law to deal with that and I’m ready to have that conversation,” Democrat Senator Zellnor Myrie told The Jewish Press. “When I talk to my constituents, they are feeling fearful and that is unacceptable in this state. If we use every single tool we have to fight antisemitism, that is what I think will make me happy.”
Another lawmaker who represents a slice of the religious neighborhood of Boro Park, said Hochul left out an important ethnic group.
“I want to hear from Hochul that Hamas needs to be destroyed. Clearly, Hamas,” Chang said. “Reinforce what she is going to do about Asian hate.”
Focusing on mental health issues, Hochul wants to catch up in an area that has long been ignored by government policy makers.
“New Yorkers will not be able to let their guard down until we fix our mental health system. Mental illness does not discriminate. It touches the rich and the poor alike, and reaches into schools and senior centers with the same severity. Even our first responders are suffering. Their experiences on the job expose them to horrific circumstances, and suicide rates among law enforcement are about 60 percent higher than the general population,” Hochul said.
“Too often the people involved in violent incidents on our streets or in our subways are victims themselves. Victims of a system that has failed to provide them the treatment they need. High quality care must be widely available, accessible and affordable. Yet for decades, our mental health system was deprioritized and defunded. Over the ten years before I took office, funding for mental health grew only two percent. Not even keeping up with inflation.
Hochul wants to go further.
“Let’s significantly expand mental health courts, which are proven to reduce recidivism and empower court-based mental health specialists so our most vulnerable get help rather than cycle in and out of the justice system,” Hochul said. “As we all know, the most extreme cases involve people committing violent crimes often lacking the capacity to live safely on their own. We cannot wait for someone to lash out and hurt another before we take action. By then, it’s already too late.”
Hochul took aim at insurance companies to help solve the mental health crisis.
“For too long, insurance companies have refused to adequately pay for mental health support. That changes now. I want to increase reimbursement rates for all state-licensed mental health services,” Hochul said. “New regulations will require insurers to provide out-of-network coverage when timely appointments are not available in-network.”
Hochul said this year she will try to clamp down on opioid addiction.
“We’re harnessing over $200 million in opioid settlement funds secured by Attorney General [Letitia] James to bolster and support our workforce of addiction treatment professionals, grow our street outreach efforts, and distribute more naloxone and millions more life-saving Fentanyl test strips,” Hochul said.
“We’re leading the nation in our disbursement of these funds and spending them quicker than any other state. I envision a future where no parent ever finds their child lifeless and glassy-eyed again. Where every New Yorker can feel safe walking our streets or taking the subway, and where our children have every resource, they need to become the best versions of themselves. Our vision for New Yorkers does not stop with making them safer and supporting their mental health needs. Protecting their financial health has to be a top priority as well. We’ve all seen lives sapped by opioid dependence. My own family has been touched by this epidemic of pain.”
The opioid crisis hits home for Hochul and Assemblyman Keith Brown (R – Northport, Suffolk County)
“I still mourn the loss of my nephew and the millions of other lives needlessly cut short,” Hochul said. “I lost my nephew, Jessie, to a Fentanyl overdose five years ago. He was four weeks shy of his 20th birthday,” Brown told The Jewish Press. “The Death by Dealer bill is his scenario exactly. He was in treatment for substance abuse issues. He had just gotten out, copped some drugs while he was alone in a weak moment. We got a phone call 24 hours later that he was found dead in his kitchen by himself.”
There is a package of four bills sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney (R – Brookhaven) outlined the four-bill package for The Jewish Press.
- Making the sale of Fentanyl a bailable offense. You can ask for bail and hold people on bail;
- Having Death by Dealer statute, meaning that if you sell Fentanyl and it causes the death of another person, under certain circumstances you can be held criminally responsible for that;
- The third one was we wanted to have families who lose a loved one have access to the Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund; and
- The fourth proposal was Xylazine, known as Trank, currently not illegal in New York state but needs to be made illegal.
“These proposals are not an overhaul of the criminal justice system. This is not revisiting the Rockefeller drug laws in any way,” Assemblyman Steve Stern (D – Dix Hills, Suffolk County) told The Jewish Press. Stern is a former county legislator and is carrying all four measures. “These are very targeted, very specific initiatives that will make an impact by going directly to the source of the problem.”
“We know we have a huge problem with the supply of Fentanyl coming into this country from China,” said Brown, the principal co-sponsor on all four of the bills. “This is a step in the right direction to stop the local supply of heroin, Fentanyl and Xylazine to kids in our community and hopefully stem this tide of overdose deaths that we have in Suffolk County and in New York state.”
The District Attorney laid out the facts in stark terms.
“We lost 400 residents in 2022 to Fentanyl alone. Our murder [rate] for that year was 30 people. The chemical component parts are being put together in labs in Mexico and then they are coming through the border and flooding our communities. I think it’s the cartels,” Tierney said. “In the past we used to have cocaine and heroin, but they are much less deadly. Fentanyl is unforgiving and it’s only a matter of time before you overdose from Fentanyl. This is an epidemic that knows no socioeconomic, racial, ethnic [boundaries], it’s affected everyone. As a citizen, people who I’ve cared about, people I care about and are friends with, they’ve dealt with this issue and it’s a particularly difficult one and a tremendously prevalent one.”
One Jewish lawmaker said he has an additional measure he would like included if only politics could stay out of it.
“There is no question that law enforcement needs to devote resources especially towards addressing Fentanyl. I can’t recall a single substance where law enforcement has been successful in stamping it out,” Assemblyman Phil Steck (D – Colonie, Albany County), chairman of the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, told The Jewish Press. “We need some aggressive policies. One of the policies that is very popular and which I support is the so-called Overdose Prevention Centers. One of the problems we get into with the Overdose Prevention Centers, which the governor opposes, is purely political when it doesn’t have to be. The point is two-fold. You have to get this stuff out of the shadows. If someone is having a problem and they’re going to a medical facility to make sure the stuff they have is not contaminated with Fentanyl, which could cause death, then in that medical facility they can also be steered in the direction of treatment.”
When it comes to retail theft Chang was disappointed in what he heard.
“She created a task force on the state level regarding retail theft. I have not seen any details about that. Small businesses are suffering because of that retail theft,” Chang said.
New York has been losing congressional seats for more than 40 years going from 43 seats to the present-day 27 seats.
“Putting more pools in New York. No one is against pools. I like to swim too,” Barclay said. “Is that going to change the way New York is going to solve our outmigration crisis? I don’t think so.”
“I’ll discuss how we’ll tackle fiscal issues like caring for migrants and a substantial structural deficit in the budget speech,” Hochul said. “As we uphold these commitments, understand this: we cannot spend money we do not have.”
Barclay said he is in line with Hochul’s last remark, we cannot spend money we do not have.
“Hopefully we’re not going to continue on with the spending spree we’ve been on the last five years. We’ve increased the budget by $60 billion over the last five years. That’s almost three-quarters of the state’s total budget. The federal money is not there. We’re going to have to have some fiscal constraints going forward. We might be alright this year but in the out years we’re looking at significant shortfalls,” Barclay said.
