Blog

A Joint Senate and Assembly public hearing on recycling will be held on October 21. The Senate Committees on Aging and Social Services will hold a public hearing to assess the impact of proposed changes to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and methodology used to determine Official Poverty Measure (OPM), respectively, on New York programs that assist […]

A lawsuit filed by a coalition of States including New York, which challenged the imposition of a cap on the deduction of state and local taxes (SALT), was dismissedthis week by a Federal Judge. The States argued the SALT cap unfairly targeted high taxed states in a congressional effort to coerce the adoption of preferred tax […]

Six members of the Long Island contingent of the Senate Majority sent a letter to the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEC), Basil Seggos, calling on his department to conditionally approve the pipeline project known as either the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project (NESE) or the Williams pipeline. The DEC originally denied the permit in May, […]

The ninth annual MWBE forum was held this week at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany. The forum is New York State’s largest annual business event for minority and women-owned business enterprises, bringing together business owners, community leaders, state officials and contractors’ representatives to discuss state contracting opportunities and learn about resources available to […]

Governor Cuomo announced the application period for the 2019 Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Flood Relief and Recovery Program is now open to homeowners directly impacted by Lake Ontario flooding from January 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019. Homeowners who reside in Cayuga, Jefferson, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans, Oswego, St. Lawrence and Wayne counties are eligible to […]

City & State NY’s Winners and Losers here. City & State NY’s 2019 Finance Power 50 here. Susan Arbetter to take over Capital Tonight. Cuomo on Chartock here. US Army announces large contract with Lockheed Martin. REBNY argues tax revenues could drop by $1 billion per because of new rent laws. Senate Republicans file claim to preserve fusion voting.

A Joint Senate and Assembly public hearing on The New York Health Act will be held in Rochester on October 10. The Senate Mental Health Committee will hold a public meeting on domestic violence and its effect on the community on October 11. The Senate Task Force on Opioid and Drug Abuse will hold a series of public meetings to […]

As the ranking member of the New York State Senate’s Health Committee, I recently returned from a two-day fact-finding mission to Toronto to learn more about Canada’s single-payer health care system. The bipartisan Senate delegation met with doctors and other health care leaders, toured a local hospital and received an overview of Canada’s health care […]

This week, at the direction of the Governor, the Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC) voted on emergency regulations banning the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes and nicotine e-liquids. New York is the first state in the nation to ban such products. The Department of Health will provide retailers with an approximate two-week grace […]

Sienna College Research Institute released its latest poll this week, focusing on a few New York issues, favorability ratings and the presidential primary candidates. Support for legalizing recreational marijuana dipped slightly from Sienna’s last poll though still holding a slight majority of support from New Yorker’s polled. An overwhelming majority of New Yorker’s oppose the state’s plan […]