Blair Horner

A week after the state Assembly Higher Education Committee held a hearing on the state’s student financial assistance programs, the impact of New York’s higher education fiscal policies came under renewed scrutiny.

As lawmakers begin to gear up for the 2024 legislative session, one of the budget and policy issues that will be addressed is the state’s preeminent college financial aid program – the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). While action on the issue is guaranteed, it is unclear whether the program will be strengthened and modernized.

Last week, New York’ highest court heard arguments over whether it should intervene to allow changes to the state’s Congressional district boundaries.

New Yorkers had the opportunity to cast their ballots in last week’s off-year election. Not surprising that few showed up and, by and large, incumbents won in these local office races. The outcomes of the elections, however, could be an indication of the strength of New York’s major political parties, and could fuel a big change in how elections are conducted.

New York’s ethics watchdog is developing its legislative agenda for 2024. The Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (COELIG) is New York’s latest regulator of ethics and lobbying. Governors Spitzer, Cuomo, and now Hochul, all overhauled the state’s ethics watchdog agencies soon after entering office. The latest version grew out of Governor Hochul’s insistence that a new regulator be established that, in her plan, would be sufficiently independent of political influence. COELIG’s predecessor entity, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics advanced by Cuomo, had been roundly criticized as anything but independent.

New York’s early voting option started up last weekend and will go through this coming Sunday. The General Election will follow on Tuesday, November 7th. The 2023 election is not a “high-visibility election”; most of the races are for offices at the local government level. Of course, those elections matter. Local races include seats on town and city councils, county legislatures, candidates for mayor, town supervisor, town clerk, town justice, and highway superintendent. Often the decisions made by these individuals have a more direct impact on voters’ lives than those made in Albany or even Washington. These elections can often be decided by a small number of voters, so every ballot cast is important.

New York State – like the rest of the nation – is grappling with a growing solid waste crisis. Americans have never really tackled the incredible amount of trash that the nation generates. And until China reversed its decades-old policy of taking our trash, we got away with it.

Running for political office is not easy. A candidate has to put together a campaign, one that attracts a significant constituency, one that carries a compelling message, and one with adequate resources. To be successful, a campaign needs money.

The 2023 summer months set new records for heat. There have been deadly reminders of how global warming is destroying the environment: unprecedented heat waves, rising sea levels, huge wildfires, once-in-a-millennium droughts, staggering rainstorms and floods.

Last week, biblical rains devastated the tri-state area. Flooding in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York were fresh evidence that the costs of adapting infrastructure to the world climate’s "new abnormal" will be staggering.