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Gov. Kathy Hochul is slated to present her first State of the State handle on Wednesday amid ongoing uncertainty as New York continues its slog by the coronavirus pandemic.
Hochul will lay out her prime priorities heading in the beginning of an election 12 months in a speech that shall be given at 1 p.m. within the state Meeting Chambers with a restricted capability because of COVID-19.
All lawmakers, workers and reporters who will attend should take a look at damaging for the virus previous to entry.
The governor has been tightlipped about what she has deliberate for the speech, though she mentioned Monday she would current a proposal to set a two consecutive time period restrict for statewide elected officers – the governor, lieutenant governor, state lawyer basic and state comptroller.
She additionally needs enact a ban on exterior earnings for these 4 statewide positions – amid ongoing controversy over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $5.1 million payout for a e-book final 12 months, “American Disaster,” a pandemic-era memoir.
It’s unclear whether or not Hochul will embrace tweaks to the Empire State’s controversial bail reform law first signed in 2019, which prevents judges from setting bail for many misdemeanors and non-violent felonies.
Hochul has mentioned she would work with new New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams and the state Legislature to barter amendments to the present regulation if wanted.
Bail was additionally an element within the current November elections, which toppled Democratic Nassau County Govt Laura Curran on Lengthy Island in addition to each Democratic district attorneys in Nassau and Suffolk in favor of GOP candidates.
Extra coronavirus plans are anticipated to be introduced, as circumstances proceed to climb and hospitalizations develop – topping 10,000 admitted for the primary time Tuesday since Might 2020.
“There are solely three points within the state proper now COVID, crime and financial restoration and if she fails in any of these areas she’s going to fail within the fall,” Democratic political marketing consultant Hank Sheinkopf mentioned.
“She’s obtained to make individuals in New York Metropolis consider that they need to prove within the major for her and turning into a reformer by calling for time period limits for elected statewide officers is a step in the suitable route.”
Peter Warren, of the conservative Empire Heart for Public Coverage, mentioned Hochul must deal with the state’s stunning outmigration of greater than 350,000 residents in a single 12 months, from the center of 2020 by 2021.
“These numbers ought to be a wake-up name to the state’s elected leaders, particularly Goveror Hochul.,” he advised The Submit. “Until she needs to fiddle whereas Rome burns, Hochul should handle the outmigration concern within the state of the state; she must make the case for residents to remain and companies to speculate right here.”
Different points Hochul has hinted at supporting embrace:
- Common mail-in voting option for each New Yorker
- Reforming the Joint Fee on Public Ethics, the state’s controversial ethics panel
- An “overhaul” of the sprawling 64-campus state college system, a promise made following the resignation of outgoing SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras – a Cuomo ally who stepped down for smearing one of many ex-governor’s sexual harassment accusers.
- She gained’t help new taxes on the rich as a result of she’s “not interested by driving individuals out of this state,” she mentioned in the course of the swanky SOMOS retreat in Puerto Rico
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