Governor Kathy Hochul pledges support for hurricane battered Puerto Rico (September 19, 2022)

Hurricane Fiona strengthened to a category 3 overnight after leaving widespread devastation in Puerto Rico.

The storm dumped more than 2 feet of rain on the island and knocked out the U.S. territory’s electricity supply. More than one million people are without power. This is the worst storm to hit the island since Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Following a call with Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi, New York Governor Kathy Hochul directed the New York State Police to send 50 Troopers to assist with keeping residents safe, and 50 additional Troopers will be deployed in the coming weeks.

Hochul said Delta and JetBlue will both donate cargo space and transport emergency personnel; the Greater New York Hospital Association will provide medical supplies; and Coca-Cola has committed water and additional supplies. Habitat for Humanity of New York City and Westchester County and the State’s Building Trades also have committed their support as needs are identified. Additionally, teams from the New York Power Authority are ready to deploy and assist in restoring power to the island.

Hochul said she also will support relief efforts in the Dominican Republic, which also was heavily impacted by Fiona.

On Sunday, President Joe Biden declared Hurricane Fiona an emergency, authorizing FEMA to coordinate disaster relief efforts. Hochul said New York will work to support any requests coordinated by FEMA in the coming days to assist the residents of Puerto Rico.

Fiona is on a path to pass close to the Turks and Caicos islands today and was not expected to threaten the U.S. mainland.

This makes New York the first state to approve legislation following shootings in Buffalo and Texas that left a total of 31 dead.

Lawmakers approved bills to broaden abortion protections and bolster voting rights, using the final hours of the 2022 legislative session to deliver the most robust response yet by a state in the face of federal gridlock.

Faced with a looming Supreme Court decision that could strike down Roe v. Wade, Democratic legislative leaders were fully behind a bill package aimed at protecting abortion service providers from legal or professional backlash, among other things.

Legislators also approved new measures to combat voter suppression under the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York, invoking the former congressman and civil rights leader in a nod to the voting rights bill that failed to pass in Congress.

Governor Kathy Hochul, who has already expressed support for many of the bills, is widely expected to sign them into law.

New York will now become the second state, following California, to pass legislation paving the way for the “microstamping” of shell cases with a unique alphanumeric code in order to trace the bullet back to the gun it was fired from. The bill, spearheaded by State Senator Brad Hoylman of Manhattan, is meant to help officials solve crimes, but some Republicans questioned the viability of the technology and argued it amounted to an unnecessary barrier for gun manufacturers.

The legislation that now makes the sale of body vests unlawful — except to police officers and other designated people — came after it was revealed that the 18-year-old gunman who killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket had worn body armor, an increasingly common feature in mass shootings that is typically loosely regulated.

New York — which already bans military-style assault rifles — will also join a handful of states that have raised the minimum age requirement to 21 from 18 for the purchase of some long guns, the same age as for handguns in New York. New buyers of such weapons will now be required to obtain a permit — which includes undergoing a background check and safety course — before the purchase of a semiautomatic rifle.

Hochul vocally lobbied for the legislation, but it could face legal challenges from the gun industry just as the Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling this month that could strike down a New York law that sharply limits a person’s ability to carry a weapon outside the home, a potential win for gun-rights groups.

The bills, which cemented New York’s standing as one of the most Democratic statehouses in the country, came as President Biden delivered remarks on Thursday night urging Congress to pass a federal ban on assault weapons and new “red flag” laws.

But some lawmakers privately griped that the focus on national headline-grabbing issues had overshadowed conversation around more New York-centric concerns in the waning days of the legislative session.

Many in the party’s left wing were disappointed that some left-leaning legislation was not prioritized, from beefed-up protections against evictions to elder parole. Environmentally conscious legislation like the one that would allow the New York Power Authority to build publicly-owned renewable energy projects, passed in the Senate but remained unsettled in the Assembly.

Even so, lawmakers appeared poised to pass a two-year moratorium on cryptocurrency mining at fossil fuel plants. The proposal was passed by the Assembly, but stalled in the Senate, until late-night discussions on Thursday revived the measure. The bill, which is heavily opposed by the cryptocurrency industry, is the first of its kind in the country, aimed at addressing environmental concerns over the most energy intensive forms of crypto mining.

Less certain was the fate of a criminal justice reform bill that would seal most criminal records after formerly incarcerated individuals have completed their sentences. The bill — known as the Clean Slate Act — passed the Senate, but has been held up in the Assembly. The measure received an unexpected boost Thursday night, however, with the news that the New York State Education Department had come on board, stoking rumors of a last minute push.

There was a far broader consensus on abortion rights, as New York State leaders vowed to make the state a national leader on the issue following news reports that indicated the Supreme Court was poised to overturn the landmark decision from 1973 that made abortion legal across the country.

Lawmakers followed through on that pledge this week with bills aimed at strengthening New York’s existing laws and preparing the state for a surge of people seeking abortions from elsewhere.

One bill passed by both houses will sharply limit the ability of law enforcement from cooperating with criminal or civil cases in states where abortion is restricted. Others ensure doctors have access to malpractice insurance, and aren’t hit with professional misconduct charges for serving patients from states where abortion is a crime.

Still others aim to use the conversation around abortion rights to solidify other liberties under attack. One measure which has been passed by both houses protects the rights of individuals traveling to New York seeking reproductive care as well as transgender or nonbinary people seeking gender-affirming care.

An amendment to the State Constitution that would forbid discrimination based on pregnancy outcomes — or race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender expression — was being hashed out well into the final week of the session, with lawmakers struggling to balance civil liberties with religious ones. As of Thursday, a compromise failed to emerge.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which passed both the Senate and the Assembly, invokes a similarly named bill in Congress that would restore parts of the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 recently gutted by the Supreme Court. That bill passed the House of Representatives in 2021, but has twice failed in the Senate, where Democrats hold a slim majority.

The bill requires localities with demonstrated histories of discrimination to prove that any proposed changes to their election process will not result in voter suppression.It would also require more election materials to be translated for non-English speakers and offer voters legal protections in instances of obstruction or intimidation.

Legislative reporters said the State Senate finished voting around 2:30 this morning with the State Assembly expected to reconvene at 9:30 this morning to finish voting on measures.

Sam Teresi

JAMESTOWN – Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi says the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities is doing what it can to prepare for an ambitious statewide initiative that calls for a transition from fossil fuel-based energy to clean, renewable energy during the next two decades.

In January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his “Green New Deal” as part of the state budget that included a mandate that all power generated in the state be 100 percent Clean Power by 2040.

At the end of last month and also earlier this month, city resident and former BPU employee Doug Champ approached the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities and the Jamestown City Council and shared his concerns over what the policy would mean for the BPU and its electric customers.  The BPU generates electricity  at the behest of the New York Power Authority (NYPA), using the General Electric LM6000 – a natural gas turbine generator. .

During the April 8 Jamestown City Council work session, Champ said the state is already imposing a renewable energy charge on the city for operating the LM6000 and that cost is passed onto customers through the fuel adjustment charge found on their monthly electric bills. He said with the Green New Deal initiative now in play, chances are the state will make it even more costly for the city to utilize its gas turbine, driving up the cost of local electricity even further.

City resident Doug Champ during the Nov. 19 public hearing on the 2019 Jamestown City Budget.

“What’s going to happen in Jamestown – and it’s happening this year – is that [BPU Customers’] fuel adjustment charge is going to be augmented by about $1.5 million of renewable energy costs associated with bringing online more renewable energy,” Champ said. “We’re going to soon be in a position where the cost factor needed to keep the power plant online is going to reach a crisis point.”

• RELATED: WRFA’s April 4 Interview with Doug Champ

Teresi was a recent guest on our April 11 Community Matters program and we asked him to respond to Champ’s concerns. While the mayor acknowledged the concerns and challenges facing the BPU, he also said officials are already looking into and working on several initiatives to ensure the long-term sustainability of the city’s electric division.

“This will definitely have an impact  as the cost could be mean up to – right now – about $1.5 million and, moving forward, more,” Teresi said. “Business decisions will have to be made as to what forms of power production we stay in and for how long. And we are currently looking at other things to supplement our power generating process. We are looking at different solar options and wind options to diversify our energy base here in the city.”

Teresi added that the BPU already has contracts in place through NYPA as it pertains to hydroelectricity, which is the main source of renewable energy in the state thanks to Niagara Falls. It also provides approximately 80 to 90 percent of Jamestown’s electricity.  As a result, the vast majority of BPU customers’ electricity already comes from a renewable energy source.