George Borrello

State Senator George Borrello was disappointed in the lack of emphasis on public safety in Governor Hochul‘s State of the State address.

Borrello said he thought it was good and important that Hochul addressed crime in her speech, “I have my doubts that she’s going to be able to convince the progressives, who really run the State Legislature, that there need to be more changes to bail reform but I’m glad to hear her acknowledge that.”

He also was glad to hear of mention of the out-migration problem the state has as well as the proposed investment in mental health, “New York State has really done a lot of damage in the last couple of decades, closing down institutions that help people who have severe mental illness, closing so many, hundreds and hundreds of mental health observation beds, tying the hands of our mental health professionals, all in the name of, ‘We don’t want to stigmatize mental health.’ It’s turned the streets of our communities into mental institutions.”

Borrello said he took issue with Hochul’s proposed Housing Compact, saying that housing affordability is an issue across New York and that a lot of it is due to bad state policy, “So, if you want to encourage new development, you need to do so by removing so many of the restrictions we have on developers, addressing the high taxes and over-regulation that we have; and trying to force communities to increase their housing stock, particularly by saying, ‘We’re going to override your local zoning,’ which is a lot of what this Housing Compact will do, it will say, ‘You must accept multi-family dwellings. You must accept low-income housing.’ That’s not the way to approach this.”

Borrello added he is planning to reintroduce a bill which is a stronger version of Kendra’s Law. The legislation would strengthen Kendra’s Law by allowing longer hospital stays for people who fail to follow their court-mandated, assisted outpatient treatment. Current law allows for an involuntary 72-hour hospitalization. Borrello and now-retired Democratic State Senator Diane Savino co-sponsored the bill last year, but it did not pass. Borrello said he’s hoping to find new, bipartisan support for it this session.

Governor Kathy Hochul announces 2022-23 State Budget deal

New York State legislators and Governor Kathy Hochul have come to an agreement on a $220 billion state budget.

Hochul announced the agreement nearly a week after the budget was due. Lawmakers were expected to begin voting on bills Thursday night and finish those on Friday.

The agreement includes some changes to the state’s bail reform laws, the renewal of a popular pandemic-era rule that allows restaurants to serve alcoholic drinks to go, and a temporary halt to the state’s gasoline taxes.

The changes in bail reform include making several gun-related crimes once again eligible for bail, and to ease some of the timelines on discovery laws, which require that prosecutors provide defendants with evidence against them.

Hochul said there’s also agreement to amend Kendra’s Law, to make it easier for judges to refer mentally ill defendants to mandatory hospitalization or outpatient treatment. The agreement will also include funding for 1,000 additional psychiatric beds and mental health treatment.

The governor agreed with legislators to spend an additional $4 billion in the budget on programs, including expanded access to child care, although it stops short of the universal child care plan backed by some in the Legislature.

Hochul said home health care workers will receive a $3-an-hour wage increase as part of a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar package to raise the pay of health care workers. A plan known as Coverage for All, which would provide government-subsidized health care to undocumented workers, will be limited to those workers who are over the age of 65.

Hochul said the budget will devote 15% of total spending to the state’s rainy-day fund to be used if there’s a future economic downturn.

The budget will also include the suspension of two of the state’s taxes on gasoline, worth 16 cents a gallon, from June 1 until the end of the year. Hochul said the spending plan also includes the continuation of a middle-class tax cut and a property tax rebate.

New Yorkers ordering takeout food will once again be allowed to also order alcoholic drinks to go. The measure, which sunsets in three years, requires that all alcohol be secured in a container with a lid or cap. Full bottles of wine or liquor will not be permitted to be sold.

Liquor store owners, who opposed the measure, will get some concessions, including being allowed to open on Christmas Day.

The spending plan also creates a new state entity to oversee ethics. It will replace the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, or JCOPE, with a new commission that will continue to be appointed by the governor, Legislature and other statewide elected officials. The state’s law school deans will vet the choices.

Lawmakers were also poised to approve a deal that Hochul struck with the NFL and owners of the Buffalo Bills football team to fund at least $850 million in expenses for building a new stadium, in exchange for the team continuing to play in Buffalo for another three decades. Critics say the agreement, which could reach $1 billion when other expenses are counted, is too big a taxpayer giveaway to a well-funded league and the billionaire team owners.

Hochul defended the deal, saying some of the money will come from a gaming-related settlement with the Seneca Nation of Indians.

And voters will have a say in November on whether to approve a $4.2 billion environmental bond act that would help combat climate change.

Lawmakers are looking to add another $4 billion in additional spending to Hochul’s record $216 billion plan, but details on the final proposal remained elusive as sources speculated that negotiations could extend beyond Friday.

After blowing past last Friday’s budget deadline, Hochul and the Democratic-controlled state Legislature on Monday passed a last-minute budget “extender” to fund payroll obligations through midnight Thursday.

The delay is due to legislators hashing out details of the controversial criminal justice policy as well as “a host of non-budget issues that were thrown into the mix.”

Lawmakers in the state Senate and Assembly were on track to meet privately to discuss outstanding issues Wednesday evening.

One measure still on the table is the controversial expansion of Kendra’s Law, which permits court-ordered Assisted Outpatient Treatment, or AOT, and community supervision in cases of serious mental illness. The amended provision could include the involuntary commitment of people with mental illness following a judge’s decision.

Lawmakers are also close to a deal on rolling back the state’s controversial bail reform laws, mulling changes such as making more hate and gun crimes bail eligible.

They’re deliberating a measure that would allow judges to consider an individual’s criminal history to determine whether they could cause harm to a person or group of people.

For the Buffalo Bills new stadium, Hochul’s $1.4 billion project will be funded with taxpayers covering $600 million and residents of Erie County chipping in another $250 million. The teams’ billionaire owners, Terry and Kim Pegula, will foot $550 million of the price tag.

Measures still under consideration include:

• An extension of the pandemic-era “alcohol to-go” law
• Relief for high prices at the gas pump
• A plan to revamp the state’s ethics agency, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics
• More spending for home care workers, distressed hospitals, and SUNY and CUNY students.
• Increased funding aimed at combating discrimination against Asian-Americans

George Borrello

Proposed legislation in the State Senate would expand the scope of Kendra’s Law and broaden the standard for involuntary hospitalization of the most severely mentally ill.

State Senator George Borrello is co-sponsoring the legislation with Democratic Senator Diane Savino.
The legislation would strengthen Kendra’s Law by allowing longer hospital stays for people who fail to follow their court-mandated, assisted outpatient treatment. Current law allows for an involuntary 72-hour hospitalization. Borrello said in a release that this time frame is often inadequate to stabilize a patient. In these instances, the bill would allow mental health professionals to request longer hospital stays.

Kendra’s Law is named in honor of Kendra Webdale of Fredonia who was tragically killed by a man with a long history of schizophrenia in a subway-shoving incident in New York City in 1999. She was a friend and schoolmate of Senator Borrello’s during their years at Fredonia High School.

Another major component of the legislation would broaden the standard for involuntary hospitalization if an individual’s mental illness renders them unable to meet their own basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing or health care. This is the standard recognized by most other states.

Kendra’s Law was scheduled to sunset this summer, but Governor Kathy Hochul has proposed extending the law for another five years. She also is on board with making it easier to recommit someone who had fallen under the law’s jurisdiction in the past.

Borrello said, “The broader standard for inpatient hospitalization would bring New York into alignment with other states and recognize the common-sense truth that if your illness leaves you unable to meet the basic needs for survival, that constitutes as much of a ‘danger to yourself’ as being suicidal. Expanding this definition would allow us to help the seriously ill among our homeless population, giving these people a chance at a safer, more stable life.”

State Senator Catherine Young had several of her sponsored bills pass on Monday in Albany.

ALBANY – Lawmakers in Albany will try to address several issues before wrapping up their regular session and entering summer recess.

Among the issues on the agenda are medical marijuana, a higher minimum wage and efforts to combat heroin addiction. Legislators are also expected to consider hundreds of other bills before Thursday’s planned adjournment.

Among the measures that were passed in the Senate on Monday was a bill sponsored by Senator Cathy Young intended to strengthen “Kendra’s Law.” The measure requires all inmates with mental illness be given a psychiatric evaluation to see if Kendra’s Law is appropriate, before they are released.

According to Senator young, the bill would apply to cases like the recent one in Brooklyn, where a paranoid schizophrenic with a history of violence who refused treatment in prison, was released without counseling or medication, and days later allegedly stabbed two young children, killing one and injuring the other.

Currently, Kendra’s Law directs prison officials to evaluate mentally ill inmates before they’re discharged, and, if necessary, recommend that inmates be ordered into the Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) program once they’re released.  However, that current requirement does not apply if the inmate refuses mental health services, as in the case in Brooklyn.

The legislation passed Monday by the Senate would close that loophole by requiring all inmates diagnosed with mental illness to be evaluated prior to release and placed in AOT.  Kendra’s Law is named in honor of Kendra Webdale, who grew up in Fredonia. In 1999, a man with a long history of schizophrenia stepped onto a busy subway platform in New York City and pushed Kendra in front of a train. The bill was sent to the Assembly.

The New York State Senate also passed legislation sponsored by Senator Young that would expand work release programs to allow eligible inmates, deemed not to be dangerous, to help with not-for-profit organizations and public service projects. The bill utilizes this work force productively to help communities while giving inmates job-training opportunities.

The bill has been sent to the Assembly.

Senator Young said that “based on reports from the media and witnesses, it appears that the attacker had been yelling and cursing at passersby on the subway platform. She added that the state need to expand and strengthen the laws and procedures that determine how and when people receive treatment for mental illness.

In an eerily similar incident in 1999, Kendra Webdale, a 32-year-old woman, was pushed in front of a subway train by a man with untreated schizophrenia who was roaming New York City streets.  “Kendra’s Law” was enacted in response to this tragedy. It put in place “Assisted Outpatient Treatment” (AOT) in New York, which allows courts to order severely mentally ill outpatients to comply with treatment, while directing counties to provide such treatment and monitor compliance.

However, deficiencies in the current law have been identified. Senator Young has been strongly advocating for eliminating those loopholes.