Source: Politics<\/p>\n
With help from Shawn Ness<\/p>\n
Happening now:<\/span><\/p>\n Can New York shut down illegal weed shops? DAYS THE BUDGET IS LATE: <\/span>3<\/p>\n SMOKING OUT A SOLUTION: Pretty much every New York lawmaker is on the same page \u2014 illegal weed shops have got to go.<\/p>\n But smoking out a solution could make winners and losers in Albany. Currently, three proposals are on the table to shut down the illegal pot shops:<\/p>\n The governor, in her budget proposal<\/a>, wants to empower the Office of Cannabis Management to padlock illicit shops, with local governments backing the agency up.<\/p>\n State Sen. Jamaal Bailey and Assemblymember John Zaccaro, both Democrats, are pushing for a bill<\/a> that would revoke licenses to sell tobacco products, alcohol and lottery tickets from stores that violate cannabis law. <\/p>\n Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar and state Sen. Leroy Comrie, both Democrats, want to allow local governments to directly and independently shut down illicit shops. <\/p>\n Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, a Buffalo Democrat, who championed the legislation in 2021 to legalize cannabis statewide, is fed up: \u201cAt some point, someone has to step up and say no more of this.\u201d Perhaps nowhere has the call on state lawmakers to fix the illegal pot shops been louder than in New York City.<\/p>\n City Council Member Gale Brewer\u2019s persistence in shutting down illegal weed stores has become the stuff<\/a> of urban legend. And Mayor Eric Adam\u2019s identified shutting the shops as one of his top five state budget asks.<\/p>\n But while the mayor has invited Rajkumar to stand by his side at everything<\/a> from a Staten Island sanitation announcement<\/a> to a Dominican heritage celebration<\/a>, he seems reluctant to return the favor in this case.<\/p>\n Adams hasn\u2019t appeared at any of the Queens lawmaker\u2019s at-least-three press events promoting her illegal cannabis solution, despite the shuttering of the shops being a top concern for the mayor.<\/p>\n His office also didn\u2019t single out Rajkumar\u2019s bill<\/a> as the best solution, saying they\u2019re reviewing each of the proposed solutions. Part of the hangup with Rajkumar\u2019s may be issues related to due process.<\/p>\n \u201cI do have concerns that the second proposal could have due process implications and that we may run into a war on drugs 2.0,\u201d Fatima Afia, a cannabis lawyer at Rudick Law Group, said in an email. \u201cNew York is the home to Rockefeller drug laws and stop and frisk \u2014 we don’t have the best track record for giving law enforcement full carte blanche on these sorts of matters.\u201d<\/p>\n Rajkumar defended her proposal to Playbook, saying that \u201cmany lawyers\u201d support her plan and that she has Adams\u2019 support: \u201cHe’s 100 percent behind smokeout,\u201d Rajkumar insisted. \u201cI speak to him about it frequently. He’s publicly endorsed the bill.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Bailey and Zaccaro say their solution \u2014 to strip illegal shops of cigarette, beer and lotto licenses \u2014 is a unique fix to the issue and should ideally be part of the upcoming budget. Zaccaro is calling on Adams to back his proposal.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it would behoove the mayor to get behind something like this,\u201d he said.\u2014 Jason Beeferman<\/p>\n HOCHUL\u2019S POLICE PICK ADVANCES: A pair of state Senate committees approved Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s pick of Steven James<\/a> as superintendent of the State Police today. James was supported by each of the 18 senators in the room.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m extraordinarily impressed,\u201d Senate Finance Chair Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, said. \u201cYou have an amazing resume,\u201d added Republican state Sen. George Borrello from Western New York.<\/p>\n James, who spent 32 years on the force before retiring as deputy superintendent in 2020, is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate later this week.<\/p>\n He answered questions this morning on subjects such as how to deal with staffing shortages (he proposed \u201cheavier recruitment in the military\u201d and starting to recruit \u201ceven further down\u201d by launching an \u201cexplorer program\u201d in schools) and how to use artificial intelligence to police mass gatherings and develop smarter protective vests (\u201cEither we use it, or the enemy will use it against us,\u201d he said). \u2014 Bill Mahoney<\/p>\n NO BUDGET SOUP FOR YOU: Top legislative Democrats met behind closed doors for more than two hours with Hochul today at her second floor offices at the Capitol. But no white smoke signifying a budget deal was seen.<\/p>\n The biggest piece of news to emerge from the meeting came from Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who confirmed what most in Albany had assumed: An extension of mayoral control of New York City schools won\u2019t be in the budget.<\/p>\n But as a huffing and puffing pack of Capitol reporters tried to catch their breath after stopping Stewart-Cousins outside her office following the meeting with Hochul, she also insisted a housing plan still was under discussion as part of the budget talks.<\/p>\n So far, it\u2019s not being kicked to later in the year when lawmakers might have more leverage to shape the policy \u2014 and a (more bare bones) budget stands a better chance of getting agreed to.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re continually trying to get everyone to one accord,\u201d Stewart-Cousins said.<\/p>\n Heastie, meanwhile, pivoted from his recent space analogy on budget talks to trains to suggest momentum continued.<\/p>\n \u201cThe train is still moving down the tracks,\u201d he said. \u2014 Nick Reisman<\/p>\n PUBLIC SAFETY: In the wake of NYPD officer Jonathan Diller\u2019s death, Senate and Assembly Republicans are once again bashing the 2019 bail reform changes.<\/p>\n The man accused of killing Diller had 21 prior arrests<\/a>, which Republicans blasted as an inexcusable failure of the justice system.<\/p>\n \u201cThat evil man killed officer Diller had 21 prior arrests. But it’s not just about the arrests. He had two prior felony convictions,\u201d Michael Reilly, a Staten Island assemblymember and former cop, said at a GOP news conference at the Capitol. \u201cWhat you see here is just another way of how our colleagues in the majority are really empowering criminals. They’re giving them a get out of jail free card.\u201d<\/p>\n Assemblymember John McGowan, a former prosecutor, drew parallels to another news conference Republicans held after dismembered body parts were found on Long Island where they discussed the same bail reform laws and how they did not allow for judges to set bail on some crimes.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the New York State Legislature has legislated away that opportunity for judges, that offense is not bail eligible. And I’ve heard from my colleagues kind of one central theme: How many more? When is enough enough in New York state?\u201d McGowan, a Rockland County Republican, said.<\/p>\n Hochul talked last weekend<\/a> about the officer\u2019s death and said she has toughened the bail laws<\/a> repeatedly since they were passed before she took office in 2021. \u2014 Shawn Ness<\/p>\n CRIME IS DOWN: Crime is down in New York City and its subways for the first three months of the year compared to last year, Mayor Eric Adams announced today.<\/p>\n Crime in the subways was down 15 percent in February and 24 percent in March, after it was up in January. So Adams took the opportunity to push back on the perception that the subways are unsafe, due to a few high-profile incidents, including shootings and murders.<\/p>\n \u201cCan we please stop saying we\u2019re up in crime for the subway system?\u201d Adams said. \u201cWe\u2019re not.”<\/p>\n Adams himself had talked a lot about crime and disorder in the trains \u2014 but insisted he was turning it around: \u201cIt became a pandemic of disorder, that we are now correcting the sins of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n The announcement came after the New York Post reported<\/a> that, after crime stats were adjusted, there were actually more of the seven major crimes in 2023 than 2022, despite Adams\u2019 insistence that \u201ccrime is down.\u201d<\/p>\n Adams didn\u2019t respond to a question about his words not holding true, but NYPD Chief of Crime Patrol Michael LiPetri insisted \u201cit is absolutely not decietful\u201d to say crime was down, and \u201clet\u2019s not forget the fourth-safest year in the crime stat era was last year.\u201d \u2014 Jeff Coltin<\/p>\n HOME CARE: Home care workers and consumers are pressing Hochul on her plans to slash the pay for home caregivers under the Consumer Protected Personal Disability Program. The program allows people with disabilities on Medicaid to receive care in their own homes from a caregiver of their choice.<\/p>\n Home caregivers currently make $20 an hour downstate, and make even less upstate. Hochul\u2019s cuts would pay them just over $17.50 an hour, the advocates said at a rally today at the Capitol.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s greed here. There’s always greed when the people who deserve the pay don’t get it, that\u2019s greed. And we don’t stand on the side of greed. We sit on the side of workers and patients,\u201d Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat, said.<\/p>\n Advocates believe the better way to address the issue is trying to crack down on wasteful spending by companies that provide care, as well as lower insurer\u2019s profits and put them in the hands of the home care workers. \u2014 Shawn Ness<\/p>\n NO TO WATER CUTS: Local elected officials in a few communities across New York are objecting to Hochul\u2019s proposed reduction to the annual water infrastructure funding from $500 million to $250 million.<\/p>\n \u201cOur need to upgrade water infrastructure is growing, not shrinking,\u201d wrote some New York City Council members, Kingston\u2019s mayor and officials from Bethlehem, Rochester, Cortland County and Tompkins County.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Biden administration is currently finalizing new regulations to lower drinking water standards on toxic PFAS chemicals and require the replacement of 100% of our lead pipes. We cannot meet these critical clean water goals without state aid.\u201d<\/p>\n The officials wrote in a letter organized by Local Progress New York<\/a> that they have shovel ready projects in their communities that could be left unfunded if the state reduces the amount available.<\/p>\n Top Democratic lawmakers have also identified preserving water funding as a top priority. Assemblymember Michaelle Solages, the deputy majority leader, said it\u2019s a major priority of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Caucus, which she chairs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to send a message that we need to allocate as many resources as possible to tackle our clean water crisis and get these firmer chemicals out of our water,\u201d she said. \u201cThere’s some federal money coming, but at the end of the day, we should also as a state make an investment and show New Yorkers that this is a very important issue.\u201d \u2014 Marie J. French<\/p>\n \u2014 RFK Jr. getting on the ballot in New York has its challenges. (State of Politics<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2014 An ex-NYPD deputy inspector was sentenced in the case around Adams\u2019 campaign\u2019s straw donor scheme. (Daily News<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2014 Long Island is ranked near last in housing growth rate in the nation. (Newsday<\/a>)<\/p>\n
\n Republicans, again, press for bail reform.
\n The next State Police superintendent cruised through committee.
\n Local leaders are objecting to potential water cuts. <\/p>\n
But Rajkumar\u2019s idea seems yet to win her colleagues\u2019 support: \u201cIt\u2019s not something that\u2019s crossed my desk at all,\u201d Peoples-Stokes said.<\/p>\n