Category: Politics

Centrist Democrats are seeking to flex their messaging muscles ahead of the midterms, with a nonprofit affiliated with an influential group of House Democratic moderates set to host its inaugural policy conference later this month.

The Effective Governing Coalition is hosting the May 12 forum, billed as “Delivering an Effective Economy: A Solutions Conference,” at Washington’s Planet Word Museum. The group launched in 2024 as an offshoot of the centrist New Democratic Coalition and prioritizes economic growth, environmental sustainability, health care access and national defense.

The event, which will include new polling on cost-of-living concerns and focus on how Democratic leaders can boost affordability, comes as the center and left wings of the party have started laying out visions for an affordability agenda.

The New Democrats, the House’s largest Democratic Caucus, released a 16-page “Affordability Agenda” earlier this year, which details specific policy proposals targeting grocery, health care, housing, energy and family-related costs. The Congressional Progressive Caucus unveiled a 10-point legislative plan to lower costs earlier this week.

The forum is not the EGC’s first foray into messaging around lowering costs. The group, founded by longtime Democratic operatives Mike Goodman and Kyle Layman, boosted swing-district members of the New Democrat Coalition in a summer ad buy blasting Republicans’ Medicaid-cutting megabill.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who said last month she has not ruled out a run for president, will speak at a fireside chat. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the New Dems chair, as well as Reps. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.), Salud Carbajal (D-Cali.), Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.), Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.) and Greg Stanton (D-Ari.) will also attend.

Other speakers include Fox News commentator Jessica Tarlov, political reporters Leigh Ann Caldwell of Puck and Molly Ball, Impact Research’s Molly Murphy, SKDK’s Doug Thornell and Third Way’s Lanae Erickson.

Another sign that the group is buckling down ahead of November’s election: The EGC recently hired Andrew Wright, former Rep. Derek Kilmer’s (D-Wash.) chief of staff, as its first executive director.

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DAYS THE BUDGET IS LATE: 30

ICE WATCH: Gov. Kathy Hochul wants assurances from President Donald Trump’s administration that a very specific federal immigration officer isn’t operating in New York: The ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good.

The Democratic governor sent a letter this week to Trump border czar Tom Homan insisting he confirm whether the reportedly redeployed agent, Jonathan Ross, is now working in the Empire State.

“If Jonathan Ross has been reassigned to work in New York, I demand that he be immediately removed and not redeployed unless cleared after a full, independent investigation,” Hochul wrote in the previously unreported letter. “I have no confidence that Ross can be trusted to safely interact with the public. Nor should you.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The notice is the latest effort by Hochul to place guardrails around Trump’s sweeping deportation policies — a push that includes direct White House outreach and expected legislative action to limit the reach of federal immigration agencies like ICE.

The two-track approach underscores how New York officials, including the governor, have been desperate to avoid a potentially destabilizing surge of federal immigration officers in the five boroughs, home to an estimated 560,000 undocumented immigrants.

The push also highlights how Hochul stands to benefit politically from taking an assertive posture against Trump’s immigration policies as she runs for reelection. The president rode back to the White House pledging to remove millions of people living illegally in the United States, only for voter support to quickly erode following the deaths of Good and Alex Pretti during January’s Minnesota crackdown.

A Siena University poll in February found 67 percent of New York voters believe federal immigration tactics had gone too far. The same survey found 59 percent of voters did not want to see more ICE agents flow into New York City.

Trump has dialed back the publicly aggressive deportation effort, but that’s done little to assuage the Hochul administration. The February death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a blind refugee who was left in front of a Buffalo coffee shop by federal agents, further inflamed New York officials.

“I have repeatedly stated that any agents involved in these types of incidents must be properly investigated and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law — not simply reassigned to administrative or investigative duties or shuffled to other states,” Hochul wrote in the letter.

Homan, who has become the Trump administration’s blue state ambassador following the deadly unrest in Minneapolis, met privately with her in Albany last month, and the governor urged him to not conduct a similar operation in the Big Apple.

To that end, Hochul and Democratic state lawmakers are also on the verge of approving a package of sanctuary-like measures meant to erect legal barriers around federal immigration enforcement in New York.

The measures would prohibit federal authorities from carrying out civil deportation warrants in sensitive locations like education facilities and houses of worship. It would also ban formal agreements between agencies like ICE and local police departments from coordinating operations and sharing equipment. And New York is poised to make it easier to sue federal officers if a person believes their constitutional rights have been violated.

The expected package of protections amounts to a sweeping blue state rebuke of Trump’s immigration and deportation policies. It also marks a change for Hochul, a moderate who as a local official two decades ago opposed allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain state driver’s licenses.

Yet some left-leaning state lawmakers worry that Hochul’s opposition to a strict ban on local police communicating with federal immigration authorities will leave undocumented immigrants exposed even as existing sanctuary protections will remain in place.

One legislator, granted anonymity to speak frankly, said the likely agreement is “really inadequate, arguably harmful, because her proposal would create an illusion of legal protections while still proactively permitting law enforcement to share info.” — Nick Reisman

FROM CITY HALL

FARE-LY AUTOMATIC: A majority of City Council members are pushing Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration to automatically enroll low-income New Yorkers in the city’s transit discount program.

Currently, New Yorkers need to furnish proof of identity, age, residence and taxable income to enroll in Fair Fares, which offers a 50 percent discount on subway, bus and paratransit rides for those at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

In a Wednesday letter to Erin Dalton, Mamdani’s social services commissioner, 28 of the Council’s 51 members wrote that the application requirements needlessly keep people out of the program.

The letter, obtained by Playbook, says only about 370,000 of the city’s 1.4 million eligible residents benefit from Fair Faires, largely because many don’t know of its existence.

The city lawmakers, led by progressive Council Member Crystal Hudson, wrote to Dalton that the disparity can be fixed by automatically enrolling all eligible residents by using application information they’ve already provided while applying for SNAP, Cash Assistance, Medicaid and other city-administered public benefits.

“The City of New York has the information on hand and could easily enact automatic enrollment,” wrote the Council members, who included democratic socialist allies of the mayor like Tiffany Cabán and more moderate colleagues like Eric Dinowitz.

“Affordability is a top concern for New York City residents, and one in five New Yorkers struggles to pay the fare,” the lawmakers also wrote. “In short, we can help lower costs for New Yorkers by making it easier to enroll in the Fair Fares program.”

Asked about the letter, Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec said Thursday that the administration is “reviewing the automatic Fair Fares enrollment proposal.”

“The mayor remains deeply committed to collaborating with our city and state partners to make transit more affordable for all New Yorkers,” Pekec said.

Mamdani campaigned last year on a promise to eliminate fares on city buses so riding them would become completely free. But he acknowledged in an interview with POLITICO earlier this month that he won’t be able to make good on that pledge this year.

In the meantime, transportation advocates are ramping up pressure on him to find other ways to make transit more affordable. The letter from the Council members comes after a coalition of transit advocates earlier this month called on the mayor to usher in automatic Fair Fares enrollment.

Such a measure would likely come with a cost increase for the city-funded program. And that could prove tricky for Mamdani, who’s scrambling to address a multibillion-dollar city budget deficit.

Council Speaker Julie Menin, who’s in negotiations with Mamdani on the budget, did not sign Wednesday’s letter. “She doesn’t always sign on to colleague letters as speaker, but she is on record supporting automatic enrollment for Fair Fares,” her spokesperson Henry Robins said. — Chris Sommerfeldt

PIED-À-TERREABLE MATH: City Comptroller Mark Levine released a reality check for the mayor and governor, who are hoping to raise $500 million annually through a pied-à-terre tax to help the city’s ailing budget.

Levine found by using past proposals as a rubric that the tax would only reach those heights under the most ideal of scenarios. When factoring in otherwise eligible properties that are rentals — meaning they would be exempt — and pied-à-terre owners who would either sell or rent to avoid the tax, the yearly take-home for the city would be between $340 million to $380 million.

“As we continue to work toward budget agreements at the City and State levels, it’s imperative that government leaders, advocates and New Yorkers know how major new revenue proposals might reliably impact our budget,” Levine said in a statement.

The mayor’s office countered that the proposal is not yet fully baked, and that it will be designed in concert with the governor in a way that ensures it nets at least $500 million.

“The Comptroller’s report makes one thing very clear: thoughtfully crafting and implementing this legislation will do exactly that,” a spokesperson said. — Joe Anuta

VOUCHER FIGHT: Menin is playing to both sides of the debate over the costly rental subsidy known as CityFHEPS.

She joined advocates and Council members at a rally Thursday morning to urge Mamdani to drop a lawsuit fighting a voucher expansion — which the mayor pledged to do on the campaign trail. But Menin also agreed the costs “are not sustainable” and said a settlement the council has offered will contain them, while still expanding the program in some form.

“We have come in, with the leadership of Council member [Pierina] Sanchez and the advocates, with a responsible, reasonable settlement,” Menin said at the rally, where Council members and advocates chanted, “Mayor Mamdani, keep your promise!”

Menin declined to elaborate on the specifics of the settlement proposal since talks are ongoing.

The vouchers are already growing in cost at a rate of 4 percent per month, and the laws to expand eligibility — which the Council approved in 2023 — are estimated to increase costs further by somewhere between $6 and $22 billion over five years, according to the city comptroller’s office.

“We do agree that there has to be a change to the cost structure,” Menin told reporters at a press conference later Thursday. “We have been working very closely with the advocates on that. We have put forward a reasonable settlement, which is why we believe that continuing to litigate delays our ability to reach the settlement.”

Hochul has reportedly asked the mayor to look at the rental subsidies as one place where the city can find savings. Asked whether she’s spoken to the governor about the program, Menin said “she and I both agree we need to have cost containment.”

“We recognize the cost has grown exponentially,” Menin said. “I think we’re in a very good place on cost containment that literally contains the cost but also protects vulnerable New Yorkers.”

Mamdani has argued that if the city were to drop its appeal, it would be on the hook for billions in additional costs over just the next few years.

“Mayor Mamdani has been clear that CityFHEPS is an invaluable tool to prevent homelessness and support homeless New Yorkers,” City Hall spokesperson Matt Rauschenbach said in a statement on Thursday’s rally. “That is why our team is working hard to ensure that it is fiscally sound and sustainable for the long-term.” — Janaki Chadha and Gelila Negesse

IN OTHER NEWS

— COMMUNITY SAFETY: Advocates are worried Mamdani’s police reform efforts in cases involving mentally ill people may sideline the anti-domestic violence office at City Hall. (The New York Times)

— BOARD OF REJECTIONS: A candidate for an Albany assembly district seat is contesting the state election board’s decision to reject his bid after he was disqualified for allegedly failing to meet residency and party enrollment requirements. (Times Union)

— BEHIND THE BARS: New York state prisons are seeing a sharp rise in violence with staff and incarcerated people both sounding the alarm of increased assault rates. (NY 1)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

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Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills suspended her campaign for Senate on Thursday, as her progressive challenger, oyster farmer Graham Platner, continued to lead in the polls and in fundraising.

It’s a shocking fall off for the incumbent governor, who was once the preferred candidate of national Democrats in the race and remains the only member of her party to win statewide in Maine in nearly two decades.

And it sets up a likely general election matchup between Platner and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a five-term incumbent with a formidable electoral track record who Democrats are nonetheless hopeful they can knock off amid backlash to Republicans and President Donald Trump.

“While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else — the fight — to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources,” Mills said in a statement Thursday morning.

Mills’ campaign had just over $1 million in the bank at the end of March, far less than Platner’s $2.7 million, and had stopped running TV ads earlier this month, a sign of financial troubles.

Her exit from the race is a major loss for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who recruited Mills and saw her as the most viable option to defeat Collins. On Thursday, Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) released a statement bashing Collins and promising to support Platner.

“After years of allowing Trump’s abuses of power, Senator Collins has never been more vulnerable and we will work with the presumptive Democratic nominee Graham Platner to defeat her,” the pair said in a statement.

It is a remarkable ascension for Platner, who was a complete unknown when he launched his campaign last August and has faced a myriad of scandals including offensive old Reddit posts and a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol that he later covered up. Platner has said the past comments don’t represent him, but they are likely to feature heavily in the general election matchup against Collins: A super PAC backing her, Pine Tree Results PAC, put millions this week behind ads highlighting the comment and the tattoo.

Republicans seized on Mills’ exit to question Platner’s blue-collar bona fides and highlight his past scandal.

“Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats just coronated a phony who is too extreme for Maine,” NRSC Chair Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said in a statement. “Susan Collins has always put in the work for her constituents and delivered. Washington Democrats always fall short in Maine and will again, because they just nominated a dishonest radical.”

Platner has already started running Collins-focused ads, and earlier this week his campaign told donors that they were pivoting to the general election, an early declaration of victory ahead of the June primary.

Mills’ statement announcing she was dropping out did not mention Platner.

Platner praised Mills’ service to the state at a press conference in Augusta, Maine, Thursday morning where he rolled out a slate of state legislative endorsements, saying he looked forward to working closely with her to defeat Collins.

“We both got into this race because we knew how critical it is to defeat Susan Collins, and her decision today reflects a commitment to that project,” he said.

​Politics

DAYS THE BUDGET IS LATE: 28

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE: Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Council Speaker Julie Menin have been at loggerheads over how to close New York City’s multibillion-dollar budget gap.

Mamdani has maintained the deep deficit can only be plugged if the state raises taxes on millionaires and large corporations. Menin has countered that the gap can be addressed by trimming municipal bloat — a proposal Mamdani panned as “unrealistic” just weeks ago.

Today brought a major deescalation: The two leaders joined forces to call on Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to scale back a tax credit largely benefitting millionaires. Doing so would generate $1 billion in new revenue for the city, a windfall that could go a long way in helping the city balance its books, Menin and Mamdani said at a joint press conference.

“We are standing together today, we will stand together again,” Mamdani said, appearing alongside Menin in the City Hall Rotunda. “If we were to reduce this tax credit by just a quarter, as the speaker said, we would be talking about raising nearly $1 billion in additional revenue that would be critical in our city’s ability to balance this budget.”

Hochul, who’s still grappling with a state budget that’s now nearly a month late, immediately threw cold water on the new push from Mamdani and Menin, putting a dent in their unusual alliance.

“It’s not happening. We’re not changing the PTET,” Hochul told reporters in Albany later in the day, using an acronym for the Pass-Through Entity Tax credit eyed for reform by Mamdani and Menin.

In slamming the door on the proposal, Hochul is leaving Menin and Mamdani without a clear path forward on how to fill the city’s budget hole. The governor’s opposition to the tax credit push also creates an unusual new front in the negotiations on this year’s overdue state budget, with Mamdani and Menin on one side and Hochul on the other.

The fraught dynamic comes at a politically delicate time for the Buffalo-born governor, who is gearing up for a reelection bid and will need deep blue New York City if she wants to cruise to a second full term. Being at odds with Mamdani, who draws support from a fervent left-leaning base, would complicate Hochul’s political standing with many Democratic voters.

Mamdani and Menin made the joint plea for the tax credit changes in tandem while announcing they had agreed to push back the release of the mayor’s executive budget proposal until May 12, a deal first reported by POLITICO on Monday night.

The executive spending plan, which forms the basis for the final stretch of negotiations before the mayor and the Council must finalize a city budget by July 1, is technically due this Friday.

But as the state budget is now nearly a month late with its own budget, Mamdani and Menin are agreeing to delay the executive plan’s release in hopes that Albany will have its fiscal outlay in order by May 12. Without knowing how much revenue will flow to the city from the state, Mamdani and Menin both said there will be holes in the city’s spending plan that would be hard to reconcile.

Read the full story from Chris and Nick in POLITICO. 

FROM CITY HALL

SHELTER MOVES: A man died by suicide after he was abruptly moved out of a shelter as part of Mayor Mamdani’s plan to close the long-decaying Bellevue intake center on East 30th Street in Manhattan.

Mamdani announced the closure plan on March 5, kicking off a weeks-long rush to clear out two East Village shelters and convert them into intake centers for homeless men and adult families requesting beds. Mamdani said the move was a proactive measure based on expert guidance, noting the Bellevue intake center’s state of “severe disrepair.”

Advocates who work with homeless New Yorkers warned that the relocations posed serious health risks if not done in a careful and coordinated way.

Then Steven Rosa — who was moved from an East Village shelter with on-site behavioral health services to a hotel-turned-shelter in Brownsville, Brooklyn — seemingly fell through the cracks.

Rosa’s family told POLITICO his depression worsened after the move, and he started spending much of his time alone in his hotel room. He was found dead in early April.

“We are saddened by this tragic loss, and our hearts are with this individual’s family and loved ones during this difficult time,” a spokesperson for Comptroller Mark Levine’s office said in response to POLITICO’s reporting. “The deployment of care and support for vulnerable New Yorkers is extremely delicate and our office had raised concerns with the City about the effect changes may have on New Yorkers. We are seeking to better understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy.”

A Department of Social Services spokesperson called Rosa’s death a “heartbreaking tragedy” but said the agency cannot comment specifically on his case due to client confidentiality.

“We continue to build on our efforts to assess potential risk factors — which might not be evident based on self-reported information and case history available to the agency — while strengthening connections to healthcare for all clients,” DSS spokesperson Neha Sharma said in a statement.

The new intake sites were supposed to open on May 1, but the timeline is in flux due to pending litigation. — Maya Kaufman

HIGH STAKES: There was a woman in candy stripes on a stilt. There was Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato wearing her lucky shoes. There was Nas doing shoutouts to Resorts World during a rendition of his 1996 hit, “If I Ruled the World.”

All of this at 9:30 this morning for a ribbon cutting at New York City’s first full-fledged casino.

Resorts World is the first of three newly licensed casinos to have live table games as it begins a massive expansion of its existing gambling facility at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens.

Boosters hail the economic opportunity from the coming overhaul, which would add a new resort and make the casino among the largest in the world. The company has also promised $2 billion in community benefits that local leaders have high hopes for.

“I have to allude to the fact that we lost a 15-year-old, Jaden Pierre, in this community,” Borough President Donovan Richards said during his remarks at the ribbon cutting. “So these benefits are largely not just about benefits for this site, it’s about the lives that this site will save.”

Resorts World was a surprise winner of a casino license following a years-long process. Proposals from Bally’s in the Bronx and billionaire Mets owner Steve Cohen also were awarded licenses in December.

Amato, who chaired a community advisory board that tested local support for the casino, began wearing a pair of shoes studded with baubles and fake diamonds during the process. She wore the same pair to the opening of the casino, which she already visits regularly.

Other speakers, like Richards and City Council Member Ty Hankerson, made a point of saying they don’t gamble, but that they want the casino to do well.

Former Council Speaker Adrienne Adams — who is running for lieutenant governor on Hochul’s ticket — said Resorts World first approached her about building a gaming facility at Aqueduct 15 years ago, when she was working for the NAACP. She said it took a while for the civil rights group to trust Resorts World but she now views the company as an “amazing” partner who has been held accountable to its community and its promises.

The head of Genting — Resorts World’s Malaysian parent company — came to do the ribbon cutting.

“Our planned expansion will bring a world-class integrated resort to this site, and when it is complete, New York will have something no other city in America can match,” Genting chair KT Kim said.

From closer to home, Nasir Jones, the New York rapper known as Nas, wore a tuxedo to help roll the ceremonial first dice.

Resorts World’s parent company has a history of late or overbudget projects, which even the body that recommended it received a license warned about, but it has some advantages: It’s open now, years before the two others will be. It also has pledged an enormous share of its revenue to the state.

It also outlasted other bidders, most notably a trio of developers who wanted to put casinos in Manhattan, including Caesars’ plan to have a gaming emporium in Times Square. Ironically, one of the older slot machine rooms at Resorts World is called Time Square Casino – and it’s the only one in New York for the foreseeable future. – Ry Rivard

From the Capitol

CLIMATE TANGO CONTINUES: The debate over changes to weaken New York’s 2019 climate law appears to be moving toward an end. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s latest proposal is for emissions reduction regulations by 2028 with an interim flexible target in 2040 and keeping the firm 2050 mandate.

“It is certainly better than it was,” said Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on Tuesday. “We’re trying to work on an entire package. … It is a huge push to make sure that we do not lose ground that we should not cede while we are waiting for the promulgation” of the regulations.

Stewart-Cousins said that rebates to help New Yorkers with high energy bills and proposals to accelerate solar investments were on the table as part of the discussions.

Hochul’s proposal includes the controversial accounting change long sought by the governor that would essentially require less aggressive action to reduce fossil fuel use, particularly natural gas, according to four people familiar with the agreement.

Some Democratic lawmakers remain dissatisfied with the proposal, and environmental groups like Food and Water Watch and New York Communities for Change are calling for them to vote no on any budget that includes changes to the climate law.

“I don’t really understand why we have to compromise so much when the entire environmental advocacy community is saying that’s a bad idea,” said Democratic Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal. “We passed the climate law. We don’t want to roll it back so dramatically.”

Hochul on Tuesday declined to commit to providing estimates of how much her proposal would cost businesses and households. She’s raised concerns about the cost of abruptly implementing a cap-and-trade program to meet the near term 2030 deadline in the climate law.

Her push to update the law would moot that target and the lawsuit over regulations to achieve it brought by environmental advocates. Hochul originally championed “cap and invest” in 2023 but has soured on the program.

“I don’t know if there will be cap and invest,” the governor said. “If there’s cap and invest, is it capped cap and invest? Is it set at a certain number? All that is unknown right now. All I know is that to give some breathing room for New York families and business I have to have a longer runway.”

The governor’s proposal currently under discussion would specify cap and invest would be part of the regulations due in 2028, according to the people familiar with the discussions. — Marie J. French

HOOD IN THE HOOD: Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood pledged to be an active lieutenant governor if elected on Republican Bruce Blakeman’s ticket this fall.

“I’m definitely not a sit-in-the-office kind of guy,” Hood said.

There’s been a split in visions for the office in recent decades — with some candidates characterizing the role as a cheerleader for the governor, and others saying it should be an independent office. Hood falls in the former category, saying his job would be to help Blakeman succeed at lower taxes and heating costs.

The Republican was at the Capitol as part of the NY Sheriffs’ Association lobby day, where he railed against Hochul’s plan to ban 287(g) cooperation agreements with ICE, saying that “cutting off communication between agencies makes everyone less safe and reverses post-9/11 progress.”

Like his ticket-mate, the sheriff took a tough-on-crime approach.

“There are tons of false allegations against police,” he said when asked about a Hochul-backed plan to let New Yorkers sue ICE agents who infringe on their rights. “That’s what I’ve seen the most of in my career, are lies.”

Hood also downplayed the uproar over the recent killings of Renee Good — saying she was using her vehicle as “a deadly instrument” — and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.

“Yeah, you’re fighting with a police officer with a loaded firearm on you and that weapon is discovered – that’s bad things,” he said of Pretti. — Bill Mahoney

RFK JR. BEWARE: The state Assembly is pushing back against federal policy changes to vaccine recommendations with a package of six bills that would strengthen the state’s laws surrounding immunization.

Lawmaker says the package of bills is aimed at countering efforts by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to roll back immunization recommendations issued by the federal government.

The package includes legislation that would allow the state Department of Health to recommend vaccine schedules for New Yorkers using longstanding medical standards and taking into consideration recommendations from the American Academy of Family Physicians, a private professional association not beholden to recommendations made at the federal level. The state previously relied on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a federal panel responsible for making vaccine recommendations that Kennedy attempted to overhaul in an effort to install his allies before a judge blocked the appointees.

“Vaccines are foundational to public health and have long been a trusted and effective bulwark against harmful and deadly diseases, especially for our most vulnerable populations,” Speaker Carl Heastie said in a statement. “New York will stand on the side of proven science as attacks on lifesaving immunizations continue from the federal administration place our residents at risk. This legislation puts the health and well-being of New Yorkers first and ensures that these vital resources remain accessible for our communities.”

The package also includes legislation that would require college students to be immunized for Hepatitis B, a bill that would set immunization mandates for children attending summer camps and a bill that would require health insurance coverage for vaccines without cost-sharing.

An additional measure was passed that would create liability protections for health care providers administering vaccines that follow state and local guidance, a protection that could become key if providers’ actions are alleged to contradict federal guidance. — Katelyn Cordero

CAR WARS: Hochul wants to address how car insurance companies set rates for premiums — potentially a key provision that would help resolve a major sticking point in the ongoing state budget talks.

“Yes, we are looking closely at how insurance companies set their rates and what criteria they use,” Hochul told reporters Tuesday. “So there’s two sides of the equation. One is I want to make sure that some of the drivers of why we have such high insurance premiums in the state are addressed, but also the insurance companies, we’re taking a close look at their practices as well. “

POLITICO reported Monday that Hochul and state lawmakers have discussed addressing so-called flex increases that car insurance companies use to raise premiums.

Read more from POLITICO Pro’s Nick Reisman here. 

IN OTHER NEWS

— NEVER THE SAME: Timothy Brown, the man police beat in a Brooklyn liquor store, which went viral on social media, is suing New York City for $100 million in damages, saying he will never recover from the incident. (Gothamist)

— NEW PROTOCOLS: The New York Police Department has stalled or rejected policy changes recommended by the Department of Investigations regarding its controversial gang-database, which critics argue is used to target Black and Hispanic youth. (THE CITY)

— GETTING PERSONAL: Citadel CEO Ken Griffin will meet with Hochul to discuss New York City’s direction following a quarrel with Mamdani after the mayor announced a proposed new tax on pricey second-homes in front of the billionaire’s Manhattan penthouse. (Bloomberg)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

​Politics