Governor Kathy Hochul delivers remarks at NYS Bipartisan Pro-Choice Legislative Caucus press event in Albany (May 3, 2022)

Governor Kathy Hochul is working to develop potential legislation and executive actions to strengthen New York’s abortion laws codified into state law and improve protections for out-of-staters and abortion providers.

The governor reiterated in the state Capitol on Tuesday she is “horrified” by the U.S. Supreme Court‘s leaked draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, as reported by Politico on Monday night, “And as a woman, this is personal. This is something that we have fought against for my entire life. In fact, this is a battle my mother’s generation, it’s a battle from my generation, my daughter’s generation, and it seems like even my three-day old grandchild Sophia’s generation will have to be fighting this same fight. Something that we had thought we had put to bed a long time ago.”

Hochul has repeatedly said the state will be a safe haven for any person seeking reproductive health care, including an abortion, as several states move to impose sweeping abortion bans if the U.S. Supreme Court decides to overturn Roe v. Wade this summer.

She said under her direction, the “Department of Health is working closely with experts and advocates to issue regulations to ensure that telemedicine abortion is available here, to offer clear guidance to providers, and provide information to patients about their right to abortion.”

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said she would not rule out a constitutional amendment.

State Senator Liz Krueger sponsored three pieces of legislation to protect abortion providers in New York and women seeking treatment from other states. She added that, “Everything has to be on the table.”

New York passed reproductive rights laws in 1970 — three years before Roe v. Wade — under a Republican majority in the Senate, and with 12 Republicans joining the Democratic majority to vote for the legislation at the time.

State Republican leaders have remained publicly silent about the leaked draft decision.

U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin, a Republican, is pro-life and supported a bill in Congress to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks and joined his Republican colleagues in 2020 in calling to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Hochul presided over the state Senate in 2019 to pass the Reproductive Health Act, which codified protections to legal abortion by any licensed health care practitioner in state law, and permits abortions after 24 weeks if the woman’s life or health is at risk or the fetus is not viable.

Brian Benjamin

The Gothamist reports state lawmakers approved legislation Monday that will allow former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin to be removed from the ballot ahead of the upcoming June primary election.

Governor Kathy Hochul signed the legislation Monday night, marking a major change to state election law that enables the Democratic governor to untether herself from a running mate currently under federal indictment. Benjamin resigned from his post nearly three weeks ago after being arrested on multiple corruption charges stemming from campaign finance violations.

Previously, the options for removing a candidate from the ballot after receiving a designation were limited. The person could be nominated for a different party position, or alternatively would need to move out of state or die before the ballots are printed.

Under the new law, any candidate can file paperwork to decline their ballot position if the individual faces state or federal misdemeanor or felony charges, or is convicted of a crime. But that paperwork must be filed before the deadline to certify the ballots, which happens this year on Wednesday, May 4.

The legislation was introduced last Friday, at Hochul’s request, and moved swiftly through Assembly and Senate committees on Monday before a lengthy floor debate and vote.

While it passed both chambers, a handful of Democrats joined Republican lawmakers in opposing the legislation, citing how it was crafted to explicitly address the current legal problems confronting Benjamin and the political ones facing Hochul.

The bill’s Senate sponsor, Liz Krueger, defended the bill on its merits. She said the law should not require a candidate who has been indicted and resigned from the office to be legally required to remain on the ballot.

While the bill received enough support to pass the Senate by a vote of 33-29, some prominent Democrats were among those who voted no including Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris and Senator Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn, who chairs the Senate elections committee.

State Senator George Borrello issued a statement calling the bill “brazen,” adding, “State law allows candidates for lieutenant governor to run and win independently from candidates for governor in the primary. There are two additional candidates for lieutenant governor on the ballot who have adhered to the law, worked to secure the needed signatures and who offer voters viable alternatives. There is no justification for allowing party bosses to manipulate the process, just weeks from the primary election.”

In the Assembly, the vote was 82-57.

That approval came after Republicans attempted to introduce an amendment that would change the effective date of the legislation to January 2023, as opposed to now, as the legislation is written.

WXXI news reports both houses, led by Democrats, propose spending more than $6 billion above Governor Kathy Hochul’s spending plan.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said his house is adding an additional $3 billion to help fix a broken child care system and revive the economy. He said it includes money to pay workers higher wages and subsidize costs for lower-income parents.

The Senate is proposing over $4 billion in additional funds for child care, saying the goal is to provide “universal” access.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger said both houses also want to reduce chronic shortages of home health care workers by boosting what are often poverty-level wages.

Hochul’s $216 billion budget plan already increased state spending by more than 5% from the previous year. She was able to do so because of generous federal relief packages earlier in the pandemic, and higher-than-expected tax collections, including a new income tax surcharge on the wealthy.

Fiscal watchdog groups warned that the final budget should not spend more than the governor has proposed.

The Citizens Budget Commission said with the additional funds, Hochul and the Legislature have been given a rare opportunity to finally end New York’s chronic year-to-year budget deficits.

Both houses say their plans are balanced for the next two years, but could not say whether their spending plans would create deficits after that.

The Legislature’s budget plans leave out many items that the governor said were important to her, including authorizing alcohol-to-go for the state’s restaurants, a revamping of the troubled state ethics commission and term limits for statewide elected offices.

The budget is due by April 1.

WMHT Live Blog: The New York State Budget (2022)