The Constitution of New York State requires the Governor, Andrew Cuomo, to deliver an Annual Message to the Legislature regarding the State of the State. Since taking Office, Governor Cuomo has used this Opportunity to Update New Yorkers on the Progress of the State, while laying out a Series of Priorities for the year. The State of the State Proposals are the first Step in defining the Governor's Agenda in 2019. Additional Policies and Funding Details are included in the Governor's Executive Budget.
Some of his Proposals:
Pass the Equal Rights Amendment
Since the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, New York has been a beacon for gender equality. When the U.S. Congress passed the federal Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, New York was one of the first states to vote for its ratification. However, the federal ERA still has not been ratified, and New York State has yet to pass our own amendment to protect against discrimination on the basis of sex in our State constitution nearly a century after it was first proposed. With Washington’s recent attacks on gender equality, the failure to remedy this decades-old wrong and to ensure that New York’s constitution represents New York’s values is more troubling than ever. Therefore, this year Governor Cuomo will again push to pass the Equal Rights Amendment to add sex as a protected class to Section 11 of Article 1 of the New York State Constitution. With this change, Section 11 of Article 1 of the New York State Constitution will read: No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws of this State or any subdivision thereof. No person shall, because of race, color, sex, creed or religion, be subjected to any discrimination in his or her civil rights by any other person or by any firm, corporation or institution, or by the State or any agency or subdivision of the state.
Extend the Background Check Waiting Period
Governor Cuomo continues to support legislation to establish a 10-day waiting period for individuals who are not immediately approved to purchase a firearm through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Current federal law requires gun dealers to conduct the NICS background check on a potential purchaser prior to selling a firearm, which immediately provides the dealer with one of three possible notifications. These notifications include “proceed,” “denied,” or "delayed.” In the case of a “delayed” response, the dealer must wait three days before completing the sale. The FBI may continue to investigate the individual past the three-day timeframe but oftentimes by the time law enforcement has determined that the potential purchaser is, in fact, ineligible, the sale has already gone through. Extending the waiting period to 10 days would allow law enforcement sufficient time to complete the background check and prevent the sale and help ensure that only those eligible to purchase and own a firearm are able to do so.
Eliminate Restrictions on Voting Before Noon in Upstate Primaries
State Election Law currently prohibits poll places from opening before noon in primary elections only in upstate New York. This creates unequal access to the ballot across the state. New Yorkers everywhere are entitled to the same opportunity to vote, and we will fix this issue by ensuring that voting hours are extended for primary elections upstate to match those voting hours across the rest of the state.
Ban Corporate Contributions and Fully Close the LLC Loophole
Ever since the Citizens United decision in 2010, corporate money has overtaken our elections system. It is time for New York State to finally say enough is enough. Governor Cuomo will fix this problem once and for all by banning all corporate and LLC contributions. It is time to restore the power to the people, and take it out of the hands of dark money and special interest donors.
Strengthen Disclosure Laws that Expose Dark Money in Politics
The Governor proposes strengthening this law in a variety of ways to assure all New Yorkers have critical information about who is actually speaking to them. Further, the Governor is seeking to streamline the reporting process for 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations, including by providing a mechanism for organizations to apply for a statutory exemption before the start of a reporting period.
Require Candidates for Statewide Office to Disclose Their Tax Returns
There is currently no requirement that elected officials disclose their past tax returns. This lack of transparency deprives voters of a critical ability to trust that their leaders are following the same tax laws that the rest of New Yorkers are required to follow. Tax transparency also helps to ensure that our leaders are working for the people and not for themselves, and that politicians are free of financial conflicts of interest when enacting public policy. Under this proposal, candidates for the State Assembly and the State Senate will be required to provide the past five years of federal and state tax returns to the state board of elections as a condition of getting on the ballot for a general election. Candidates for statewide office will be required to provide ten years of federal and state tax returns. This measure is an important step toward restoring faith in our democratic system.
Require Financial Disclosures by Local Elected Officials
Over 30,000 state elected officials, and their employees, are obligated by law to file financial disclosure statements with the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) annually. Yet, county and municipal elected officials who run our local governments have no such disclosure obligation to the state. This proposal would require these local elected officials to submit basic financial disclosure information to JCOPE, just like their state counterparts, so that the people of New York State can have the information they need about the people they choose to represent them at all levels of government.
Enact a First-in-the-Nation Lobbying Code of Conduct
Adopt Stronger Disclosure and Conflict of Interest Requirements: The Governor’s proposal creates new duties for lobbyists in law: the duty of honesty, disclosure to the government and clients, and a duty to provide accurate information. This includes a requirement that lobbyists disclose conflicts of interest to their clients and to government officials they are lobbying.
Lower Lobbyist Disclosure Thresholds to $500: Lobbyists and clients of lobbyists only need to register with the Joint Commission on Public Ethics and disclose their lobbying activities when their compensation and expenses total over a certain threshold amount. The Governor proposes lowering that threshold for reportable lobbying to $500. Additionally, the Governor proposes lowering the threshold for a “reportable business relationship.” Together these proposals will mean lobbyists duty to register and disclose detailed information about their practice and their business relationships with elected officials would be trigged at $500. These new lower thresholds and increased filing requirements for lobbyists and clients of lobbyists, would mean that many more people engaged in lobbying activities would be required to file disclosure documents with Joint Commission on Public Ethics.
Require Campaign Contribution Disclosures: Presently lobbyists have no duty to disclose their campaign contributions and solicitations to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. This means that right now lobbyists can bundle significant contributions, or donate significant amount themselves, to the campaign of an elected official, without any sunlight on whether those donations are getting that lobbyist preferential access to the elected official for their clients. This proposal would fix that major disclosure loophole and require lobbyists to disclose all campaign contributions and campaign bundling so that people may know and understand the extent to which campaign contributions may be affecting the impartiality of their elected officials.
Eliminate the Revolving Door Between Lobbyists and Political Consultants: The Governor proposes creating a fire wall between political consultants who are hired to help elect state government officials and registered lobbyists, who lobby those same state government officials. This proposal would prohibit someone who worked as a political consultant on the campaign of an elected official from lobbying that person. The proposal would also prohibit the reverse: i.e. it would no longer be permissible for someone engaged in lobbying an elected official to turn around and act as their campaign political consultant. By eliminating this revolving door between lobbyists and political consultants, we can cut off ways that special interests try to buy access to an elected official.
Prohibit Lobbyists from Making Loans to Candidates: Loans being made by lobbyists to candidates create a particularly dangerous risk of quid pro quo corruption in our government. We must ensure that our elected officials are beholden to nobody except the people. For that reason, the Governor will prohibit lobbyists from making loans to candidates.
Expand the Length and Scope of Post State Employment Restrictions: This proposal would increase the existing “two-year bar” that prevents state employees from interacting with their former agency from two years to five years. This proposal would also expand the scope of these restrictions by explicitly prohibiting those covered by the five-year bar from lobbying or registering as a lobbyist during that time frame. All policy making state employees would be subject to these restrictions including executive agency staff, legislators, and legislative staff. Robust post-state-employment restrictions are critical to ensuring that those in decision making roles in our government are not unduly influenced by former colleagues who are being paid by private parties and are no longer bound by a duty to the public interest.
Ban Employees from Volunteering on their Employer’s Campaign: Expand the Little Hatch Act to prevent employees of an elected official from volunteering for that official’s campaign. Employees will still be permitted to take leave and be paid.
Strengthen Punishments for Lobbying Violations: Lobbyists who fail to file required disclosures, make intentionally false statements, or violate their duties to honesty will face significant penalties and debarment.
Ensuring Immigrant Rights
New York State is home to over 4.4 million immigrants, representing one out of every five New Yorkers, who each contribute significantly to our state’s economy, culture and social fabric. Since taking office, the Governor has taken aggressive steps to provide assistance to immigrant communities. In 2011, he signed a wide-reaching Executive Order to ensure language access across State agencies, suspended the State’s participation in a federal program that required local law enforcement to help identify deportable individuals, signed legislation holding entities that defraud immigrants accountable, and established the Office for New Americans. Governor Cuomo also launched NaturalizeNY, the first public-private partnership of its kind to encourage and assist eligible immigrants in New York State with becoming U.S. citizens. In 2017 the Governor launched the Liberty Defense Project—the nation’s first public-private immigrant legal defense initiative—in response to the surge in demand for help that was overwhelming nonprofit organizations serving immigrants, and he will continue these efforts going forward. Yet New York’s immigrants remain under relentless assault from President Trump and the federal government. Governor Cuomo will continue to stand up for immigrants and uphold the values of the Lady in our Harbor.
There is 356 pages to the Agenda.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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