Source: Politics<\/p>\n
With help from Shawn Ness<\/p>\n
THEY DON\u2019T HAVE THE VOTES: Gov. Kathy Hochul is still MIA since her last-minute decision to suspend congestion pricing Wednesday morning via video message. And a legislative leader\u2019s transatlantic vacation threatens to ensure New Yorkers are left without a solution to the $1 billion hole for the country\u2019s largest transit system as legislators head home for the year.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers continue to scramble in Albany during the final hours of this year\u2019s legislative session after the governor\u2019s congestion pricing reversal forced them to find $1 billion worth of the revenue they have lost from the nixed toll plan.<\/p>\n
The problem is that they have just hours \u2014 not days \u2014 to resolve this funding emergency. And an even bigger problem is that many of them don\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe governor is pointing an unloaded gun at us and asking us to give her the ammunition to shoot us and our constituents,\u201d state Sen. Julia Salazar said in a statement.<\/p>\n
At least two solutions to fix the funding gap have already failed to meet the mark so far. An eleventh-hour plan to increase a tax on New York City businesses<\/a> died Thursday after lawmakers immediately nixed it. Another proposal was panned this morning after it became clear there wasn\u2019t enough support. Prominent Democrats, including Manhattan Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Queens Sen. Jessica Ramos, said they would not vote for the second idea of dipping into the state\u2019s general fund to provide $1 billion a year as a guarantee against a bond.<\/p>\n Now Democratic legislative leaders are trying to devise a third solution they can gin up support for before heading home. Legislators are firm on leaving Albany by sunup tomorrow \u2014 and they\u2019re not coming back up until January. (Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is said to have booked a ticket on a jet plane to Europe tomorrow.)<\/p>\n When asked repeatedly about his trip abroad \u2014 which makes it all but certain that the lower chamber won\u2019t have any time tomorrow to fix the issue \u2014 Heastie didn\u2019t deny his trip to reporters. He then turned to your Playbook reporter and snapped, \u201cWhere are you going tomorrow?\u201d<\/p>\n And in the midst of it all, the governor has sequestered herself behind closed doors \u2014 declining to answer questions or face the public after making one of the most consequential policy decisions of her tenure.<\/p>\n But she can\u2019t hide forever. She\u2019s scheduled to make a fundraising appearance<\/a> at a brunch sponsored by the Saratoga County Democrats on Saturday ahead of the Belmont Stakes.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s wrong to not take questions,\u201d Ramos said. \u201cIt’d be really disappointing if she’s avoiding the public unless people are donating.\u201d<\/p>\n Another lawmaker offered a similar take: \u201cIf [Hochul] actually believed her congestion pricing betrayal was popular, you\u2019d think she\u2019d be out there bragging about it. Instead she\u2019s hiding,\u201d Assemblymember Emily Gallagher posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hochul\u2019s political and government communications teams did not respond to Playbook\u2019s requests for comment. \u00a0\u2014 Jason Beeferman<\/p>\n A PURRFECT END TO SESSION? Both houses of the Legislature are advancing a bill to ban the surgical devocalization of cats and dogs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a horrific practice to literally rip the vocal cords out of an animal because you don\u2019t like the sound they make,\u201d Senate sponsor Mike Gianaris said. \u201cAnyone who\u2019s willing to do that to their pets doesn\u2019t deserve to have a pet.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill passed the Senate this afternoon. A version in the Assembly sponsored by Ken Zebrowski has been moving through committee in recent days; Zebrowski says he \u201chopes to get it done\u201d before the chamber wraps up in the coming hours.<\/p>\n \u201cDevocalization is a convenience surgery that can cause long-term harm to the animals affected by it, and it doesn\u2019t address the root cause of the barking,\u201d said the Humane Society of the United States\u2019 Brian Shapiro. \u201cIt\u2019s an animal in distress, and this type of convenience surgery is not in the best interest of the animal.\u201d \u2014 Bill Mahoney<\/p>\n \u2014 FOLLOW THE UNEXPECTED LEADER: State legislators want to import drugs from Canada in bulk, a move that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis implemented in his home state earlier this year. The state is looking to import drugs to treat diseases like HIV and AIDS, various mental illnesses and prostate cancer. (POLITICO Pro<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2014 NY HEAT ON ICE?: Lawmakers in the Assembly are still looking to pass the NY HEAT Act, which could wind up in a \u201cBig Ugly\u201d omnibus bill. Many lawmakers are cautiously optimistic that the bill will pass but have come to terms that it will be nowhere close to what it looked like when originally proposed. (State of Politics<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2014 TRACKING AMMO: Keeping up with Hochul\u2019s emphasis on public safety, lawmakers are looking to advance a bill that would allow credit card companies to track gun and ammunition purchases. But it is still unclear if Hochul will sign the bill if it passes the Assembly today. (Times Union<\/a>)<\/p>\n