With 11 working days left in the legislative session, the atmosphere is intensifying at the New York State Capitol. Democrats who lead the legislature are facing pressure from all sides to deliver on legislation that they campaigned on.
Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo began the week with a news conference about measures focusing on four women’s issues that he says need to be done before the session ends. The governor is seeking passage of an Equal Rights Amendment for women in the state’s constitution, strengthening the state’s anti-sexual harassment protections, and extending the state’s statute of limitations for reporting rape crimes, which is among the shortest time limit in the nation. The governor also wants to mandate that women in New York receive equal pay for equal work. The measures are even more important, he says, now that the federal government, led by President Trump, is moving to take away women’s rights.
“New York should set the national standard for women's rights," Cuomo said. "It’s vitally important that we make progress."
Spokespersons for the Democratic-led Senate and Assembly say they do not oppose any of the bills. But Cuomo says he won’t be assured of the legislators’ support until they actually vote on the measures. And the governor, who has had an antagonistic relationship at times with the left of his party, says lawmakers who say they are progressive cannot claim that title unless they act on the measures.
“Progressive is not a lapel pin,” said Cuomo. “Progressive is not a word that you can use to define yourself in a political campaign. Progressive is what you did and what you do and what you accomplish. You want to be a progressive? Achieve progressive results.”
At the Monday news conference, Cuomo confirmed that one item pushed by progressive groups, the legalization of marijuana for adult recreational use, is not likely to happen this session.
Both the governor and the Senate sponsor of the bill say the Senate does not currently have the votes to pass it. Cuomo, who has intervened with lawmakers in the past to get key items like gay marriage and gun control approved, says he does not think his influence would help much this time.
“I don’t think it is feasible at this point,” Cuomo said. “I don’t think it matters how much I push in 11 days. I think when the Senate says "we don't have the votes" I take them at their word."
Despite that, Cuomo says cannabis legalization remains one of his ten top priorities for the end of the session.
Those remarks angered pro-legalization groups, who say they are looking for leadership in state government.
Stanley Fritz, with Citizen Action, says he’s “disappointed.”
“The governor said at the beginning of session that he had a 100-day plan for marijuana legalization, well, we’re past 100 days, “ Fritz said. “You can’t just say you’re going to do that and then decide to fall off because the wind blew left today.”
Kassandra Frederique, with the Drug Policy Alliance, says it’s not just the governor who is at fault. She says Democratic leaders in the Senate and Assembly haven’t done enough either.
“The issues that we are putting to the forefront right now are not a suggestion, they are a demand from our communities,” said Frederique. “We have waited a very long time for this progressive blue wave and we expect results.”
The groups say they plan several days of intense lobbying at the Capitol between now and the end of session. They also want New York City’s rent laws renewed, strengthened and expanded to other parts of the state, an end to solitary confinement in the state’s prisons, and action to combat climate change.
Another measure on Cuomo’s top ten list is permitting undocumented immigrants to be granted driver’s licenses, which also faces an uncertain future.
On Monday, the state’s association of county clerks voted to formally oppose the legislation. The county clerks would be the officials who would issue the licenses through the local department of motor vehicle offices. In a statement the association’s president, Judith Hunter, says the offices don’t have the staff to handle the estimated 200,000 new driver’s license applications. She says the employees are also not equipped to verify any foreign passports or other documents that are required to obtain the licenses.
Erie County Republican Chair Nick Langworthy, who is scheduled to be elected the state GOP chair in July, in a visit to the Capitol, called the driver’s license measure “reckless.”
“You are incentivizing law breaking," said Langworthy, who predicts it will make New York “a haven for people who are coming here illegally.”
A spokesman for Cuomo, Jason Conwall, in a statement called Langworthy’s comments “fearmongering” and said the proposal would put New York “in line” with 12 other states and make our roads safer.
Meanwhile, the measure earned some new support from the healthcare works union SEIU 1199. The group says as frontline care givers, they see firsthand “the consequences of delayed medical care after an accident, due to a lack of documentation.”
The session is due to end June 19.
