13-05-2025
Assisted dying bill moves forward
Presented by Solving Hunger
AID IN DYING ALIVE: Dozens of advocates who've spent years in the Capitol's hallways pushing for terminally ill New Yorkers to legally end their own lives with a physician's aid are finally seeing hope.
With the Assembly having passed the Medical Aid in Dying Act last month, all eyes are on the Senate, where Democratic support for the measure has continued to grow over the last few years.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said today she will move the bill once her conference amasses enough support for a floor vote.
'I'm happy that the conversation is starting around death and dying,' she said. 'I don't think that our culture was one that really embraced that conversation. Certainly more people have signed on in the Senate than had been over the past few years, and if I get the support, I'll certainly bring it to the floor.'
She noted 25 senators are sponsoring the bill, which needs 32 votes to pass.
Senate Republicans have yet to conference the bill, and one GOP senator — Long Island's Jack Martins — told Playbook he hasn't made up his mind on the measure.
But it's highly unlikely the Democratic Senate leadership would allow their Republican colleagues to be able to cast the decisive votes to push the bill forward. Instead, the bill is only expected to move once it has enough support to pass within the Democratic conference.
That's just Albany, folks.
So for now, all eyes are on the Senate Dems — and their majority leader — as the bill hangs in the balance.
Aid-in-dying advocates — whose bright-yellow shirts and exhaustingly consistent presence in the Capitol has made them an Albany fixture — say they've had conversations with Democratic senators who say they would vote for the bill if it came to the floor but don't want to put their name up as a sponsor.
Corinne Carey, senior campaign director for Compassion & Choices, said that, after conversations with Stewart-Cousins, she can tell the Senate majority leader is 'engaged in a way this year that she's never been before.'
In the meantime, the New York State Catholic Conference, the Conservative Party and other groups are waging their own battle to stop the bill.
'We're certainly not conceding the Senate by any means,' said Dennis Poust, executive director of the catholic conference. 'We think that the Assembly vote, the closeness of that vote, really laid bare some deep divisions among Democrats on this bill. We intend to continue to highlight the reasons why 21 Democrats voted 'no' in our conversations with the Senate.'
Poust pointed out the influential assemblymembers of color who opposed the measure, like Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, Michaelle Solages, chair of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus; and Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn.
Bichotte Hermelyn and other Democratic opponents have long expressed concerns that health inequities in communities of color would disproportionately steer those vulnerable populations to their end.
'There are very very serious concerns, this is not a religious issue,' Poust said of the bill. — Jason Beeferman
From the Capitol
POWER FIGHT WITH GOVERNOR OFF THE TABLE: The Senate's unlikely to go nuclear in a power struggle with Gov. Kathy Hochul, Stewart-Cousins said today.
Several members grumbled about the unequal distribution of power in Albany as members were wrapping up the budget last week. Sen. James Skoufis notably called on the Legislature to start sending bills to the governor's desk immediately — stopping Hochul from waiting until the winter to veto them and opening the door to the first overrides in decades.
But that's not going to happen anytime soon, Stewart-Cousins said.
'We have historically worked with the executive to kind of time these things out as the executive would like, in order to hopefully have positive outcomes in regards to our legislation,' she said today. 'I don't see a wholesale change in that.'
She also downplayed the likelihood of a constitutional amendment to give the Legislature more power over the budget. While Stewart-Cousins said that members have been discussing the idea, she noted that approving an amendment would take 'years' and wouldn't be guaranteed to win a referendum.
'We're really trying to stay in the present and do what we can today on behalf of New Yorkers,' she said. – Bill Mahoney
THE TOLL STAYS: A Democratic-led Senate panel voted down a bill today that would repeal the congestion pricing toll program and audit the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The Senate bill, sponsored by Martins, garnered only two votes to advance through the Senate Transportation Committee: Republican Sen. Peter Oberacker and Democratic Sen. Monica Martinez.
She told Playbook after the vote she was realistic about the bill's chances given the support for the toll program on the committee.
President Donald Trump moved to rescind federal approval of the tolls, a maneuver that's being challenged in federal court. Hochul has emerged as a vocal congestion pricing supporter and personally urged the president to keep the program. — Nick Reisman
NOT IN OUR BACKYARD, EITHER: A Flushing-based community group that opposes Mets owner Steve Cohen's bid for a Citi Field casino is pressing lawmakers opposed to casinos in their own districts to block the Queens one as well.
'If you believe a casino is not in the best interest of your constituents, how can you justify placing one in ours?' the Korean-American group writes in a letter addressed to state Senators that's now circulating online.
The letter notes how Sen. Jessica Ramos, whose district includes the site of the proposed casino, opposes the idea.
Stewart-Cousins indicated two weeks ago she would allow a bill from Sen. John Liu that clears the way for the casino project in Ramos' district to move forward.
The targets of the campaign include the likes of Senate Finance Chair Liz Krueger and Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who both oppose Manhattan casino plans.
Meanwhile, nearly 50 supporters of the Citi Field casino proposal were in Albany today as the Assembly version of Liu's bill passed the Assembly's Ways and Means and Rules committees.
Supporters who made the trip up to Albany included Michael 'Sully' Sullivan, Cohen's chief of staff for his firm Point72 Asset Management, and the CEOs of the Queens Chamber of Commerce and Elmhurst Hospital. — Jason Beeferman
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
CUOMO COULD LOSE MORE: The super PAC boosting Andrew Cuomo for mayor reported spending another $675,000 on an ad that's drawn regulators' scrutiny — raising the possibility the Democratic primary front-runner could get that much more withheld in public funds.
The New York City Campaign Finance Board held back more than $622,000 from Cuomo's campaign Monday because it had 'reason to believe' that the Fix the City super PAC used messaging shared by the campaign in a TV ad. The campaign was still paid out $1.5 million in matching funds.
Fix the City had initially reported spending $622,000 on the ad in question. But a Tuesday morning filing raised that to $1.3 million.
The campaign finance board declined to comment. It isn't expected to take any action until the next meeting on May 30. At that time, Cuomo would be eligible for another payment of public funds, based on the filing due May 23.
A Fix the City spokesperson confirmed the spending but declined to say whether the super PAC planned to spend more on the ad. — Jeff Coltin
FROM CITY HALL
HATE CRIME OFFICE: Mayor Eric Adams announced the creation of the Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism today.
Last year, the NYPD reported 54 percent of hate crimes were against Jewish New Yorkers, who make up only 10 percent of the population.
'There's no way we can continue to allow this trajectory of hate that we are seeing across the globe,' Adams said during a press briefing.
The office, helmed by Executive Director Moshe Davis, will report to First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, who promised a flurry of action that will include potential litigation and a review of all taxpayer-funded organizations to ensure they are not promoting antisemitism.
Exactly what crosses the line was unclear, though Adams cited a recent newsletter from the Department of Education that accused Israel of committing genocide as an example.
The mayor's office already has a unit dedicated to hate crimes that was formed specifically to combat antisemitism.
In 2019, former Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the Mayor's Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes that, like the one Adams announced today, was created in response to high rates of hate crimes against Jewish New Yorkers. That office reports to Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry. In addition, the NYPD has its own Hate Crimes Task Force.
That led one opponent of Adams in this year's mayoral election to accuse the mayor of creating the new unit to improve his standing with Jewish voters. Adams is planning to run on the EndAntiSemitism ballot line in this year's general election.
'Creating a taxpayer-funded office in the waning days of his mayoralty to rhyme with his made-up personal ballot line is cynical and transparent, even for this mayor,' City Comptroller Brad Lander said in a statement. 'Jews are not pawns for Eric Adams, Donald Trump, or Andrew Cuomo.' — Joe Anuta
DEBT OF GRATITUDE: The mayor said he wasted no time in thanking President Donald Trump during their face-to-face meeting at the White House last week.
'Why wouldn't I say thank you? While I was going through the most devastating experience I had as a human being, this person that I didn't know said: It's wrong what they're doing to the mayor of the City of New York,' Adams said today at an unrelated press briefing. 'And the first thing I did when I walked into his office, I said thank you.'
Adams insisted the other presidential candidates should have also highlighted his legal plight during the campaign. He was hit with a five-count federal bribery charge in September after nearly a year of raids and phone seizures targeting him and his top aides. The following month, Trump expressed solidarity with Adams at an annual political dinner.
In January, Adams sat down with the president near Mar-a-Lago, though he did not mention thanking Trump at the time. Since that luncheon, Trump has been sworn in, and his Department of Justice has successfully moved to dismiss Adams' charges — a deal the former prosecutor in charge of the case described as a quid pro quo designed to gain the mayor's cooperation on immigration enforcement. Adams has denied any such deal. — Joe Anuta
IN OTHER NEWS
— RIKERS RECEIVERSHIP: A federal judge has stripped Adams of control of the city's jail system and Rikers Island. (The New York Times)
— SCHOOL CYBERATTACK: Over 20 school districts on Long Island suffered a cyberattack. (New York Post)
— EVEN ELECTION YEARS: The Court of Appeals will hear arguments over whether Hochul's law to move local elections to even years is constitutional. (Newsday)
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