Jesse McKinley and Vivian Wang

Then came the blue wave of the 2018 midterms, putting Democrats in control of the entire Legislature, and giving the state’s top Democrat, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a chance to enjoy the power of unity. The change has been profound: In January alone, the Legislature, led by the Assembly speaker, Carl E. Heastie, and the Senate majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, passed sweeping bills on abortion, gun safety, voting rights and immigration rights.

But a strange thing has happened amid all this one-party harmony: Stewart-Cousins and Heastie have formed a fast kinship, creating a powerful allegiance that has already challenged Cuomo’s outsize influence here.

They have both declared their commitment to reasserting the authority of the Legislature, after eight years of Cuomo strong-arming Assembly and Senate leaders into compromises, and taking credit for those accomplishments.

Their united front speaks to a possibly momentous shift in Albany, not only in the faces of its leaders — they are the first pair of African-Americans to lead New York’s legislative chambers together — but also in its reputation for a capital mediated, manipulated and dominated by Cuomo.

All sides downplay any rivalry between the executive and the legislative branches. But there have nonetheless been signs of discord as recently as this week, after Stewart-Cousins on Monday appointed a prominent critic of Cuomo, state Sen. Mike Gianaris of Queens, to a board with the power to veto a deal to bring Amazon to Queens — one of the governor’s signature efforts.

By day’s end, Cuomo’s office had called Gianaris a “flip-flopping opponent” and Stewart-Cousins’ decision “shortsighted.” The governor spent much of Tuesday repeating his attacks in various radio interviews, chastising the Senate, in particular, not to “play politics.”

Stewart-Cousins and Heastie counter that they are just doing their jobs. The two have been collaborating for more than a month, syncing their legislative schedules, meeting privately in the Capitol, talking almost daily and coordinating press strategies. During the holidays, they were in touch so frequently that Heastie later jokingly apologized to Stewart-Cousins’ daughter for interrupting their mother-daughter time.

“We’re just so happy to be with somebody that we’re like,” Heastie said. “It’s like we’re the Wonder Twins.”

The two share photographs of themselves together on Twitter, and shower the other in praise. When an abortion-rights bill passed Jan. 22, Stewart-Cousins was effusive about Heastie, calling him “my friend, my partner and my ally.” Heastie returned the affection, noting the “absolute joy and pleasure” of working with Stewart-Cousins. They were flanked by gleaming placards announcing their unity — placards that seemed clearly aimed for an audience in the executive chamber.

“The New York state Senate and Assembly,” one such poster read. “Working together to move New York forward.”

Cuomo, in turn, has been left in the unfamiliar position of jockeying for attention, as his position has shifted from that of backroom deal-maker — successfully bringing the Republicans to the table on issues like same-sex marriage, the minimum wage and paid family leave — to that of public cheerleader for his and the Legislature’s shared agenda.

On Monday, he invited reporters to the Red Room, his ceremonial chambers, for his fourth news conference in two weeks — more than he did in all of 2018 — and used the opportunity to warn the Legislature about potential conflicts between his goals and theirs in budget negotiations.

“You have politics and then you have government. You have legislative proposals and then you have what’s the reality,” Cuomo said, predicting coming budget gaps. “Welcome to government.”

He had issued similar warnings privately before: One of the governor’s aides suggested earlier this month that Cuomo would not invite legislators to bill signings if Heastie and Stewart-Cousins did not coordinate more closely with him, according to three Democrats familiar with the conversation.

Administration officials have also expressed concerned about the legal language used in some bills, and have asked the Legislature to set those bills aside until the problems can be worked out.

Douglas Muzzio, a professor of political science at Baruch College, said the new “bicameral esprit de corps” was both impressive and a marked departure from Cuomo’s first eight years in office.

Before, Cuomo “was essential to any activity that the two houses ventured upon,” Muzzio said.

“Now the dynamic has changed,” he continued. The Legislature’s Democrats “seem to have gotten together and are on this legislative rampage.”

Nowhere has that rampage been more evident than in the myriad bills Stewart-Cousins and Heastie have advanced since the legislative session began — often pre-empting the governor’s efforts to take credit for the state’s new progressive push.

On Jan. 15, for example, Cuomo laid out his agenda for the year in his State of the State address, which included a call for the state to introduce a slate of voting changes. He did not mention that the Legislature had already passed bills enacting those same changes just the day before; all that was needed was his signature.

The same was true of a set of bills to protect transgender people and ban conversion therapy of gay minors, passed just that morning.

The governor has also appeared to be hunting for ways to one-up the Legislature’s actions.

At an event in early January, after Stewart-Cousins and other legislators promised to finally pass a bill to safeguard abortion rights, Cuomo vowed to go one step further and enshrine abortion rights in the state Constitution — a move that even the bill’s sponsors said they did not consider necessary.

Cuomo’s office said the governor has long supported the bills that the Legislature has passed and that the two branches have a good relationship. His aides said coordination was improving as the legislative session continued.

“The Legislature and the executive have different constitutional roles, but there is no doubt that we’ve been working hand in glove,” said Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser, pointing to “victories that the Democrats have been fighting for years.”

Stewart-Cousins also denied that the public displays of collegiality between herself and the speaker were intended to send any message other than of a unified, functional Legislature raring for action.

“I just thought, and I’m sure the speaker thought, that it would be good that we do our job, which is to pass legislation,” she said. “That just makes sense.”

“Obviously the governor is a very important partner in this, because it’s up to him to sign off on the legislation,” she continued. “Everybody’s got an important role to play here, but without passing laws, there aren’t any.”

Heastie, too, denied any attempts to overshadow Cuomo.

“It has nothing really to do with the governor,” Heastie said, adding, “The stronger or the closer that the relationship that Andrea and I have becomes, it’s not to anybody else’s detriment.”

Still, even as Stewart-Cousins and Heastie waved off any suggestion of friction, they acknowledged that their alliance was intended to send a message.

“We understand, both of us, how important it is that we get this right. That we are at a critical juncture. That we are both historic in our roles,” Stewart-Cousins said. “It’s always harder when you’re the first, and certainly it’s important that you not be the last, and that you lay a path.”

Unsurprisingly, Heastie concurred. While there may be bumps in the road — particularly as the details of the state budget are negotiated in March — he said he did not foresee any major differences in the now-united legislative agenda.

“On major policy things,” he said, “I can’t foresee any daylight between us at this point.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/nyregion/heastie-stewart-cousins-ny-democrats.html" id="25be0405-4b02-3edc-a9ff-514e657ecd93">The New York Times</a>.

Albany's 'Wonder Twins' Form a Power Duo, Challenging Cuomo's Influence

ALBANY, N.Y. — For the better part of the last decade, the state Capitol was a house divided: Democrats led the Assembly, Republicans ruled the Senate, and most everything got stuck in between.

The measure, which would treat possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana as a violation instead of a crime, is a significant change in a state in which tens of thousands of residents have been arrested for small-scale possession.

The agreement came after months of negotiations in Albany failed to establish the type of fully legalized industry embraced in nearly a dozen other states, including California, Washington and Alaska.

Still, the measure agreed to Thursday by the Democrat-led Legislature, and backed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also a Democrat, was considered a step forward for those pushing for lessening drug penalties, particularly the expungement of records.

“It was a critical part of the adult-use fight that we put forward,” said Kassandra Frederique, New York state director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which works to reform drug laws.

The state Senate passed the bill early Thursday evening, 39-23, and the Assembly was expected to follow suit later that night.

The decriminalization bill was the latest in a flurry of progressive-minded legislation pushed through the statehouse as the closing days of the legislative session dragged beyond its scheduled end Wednesday. In the past two weeks alone, the recently elected Democratic majority has passed major bills revamping rent regulation, confronting climate change and allowing driver’s licenses for immigrants in the country illegally.

Earlier Thursday, Cuomo — who as recently as 2017 had called marijuana “a gateway drug” — praised the decriminalization bill, saying it would make a difference for many who were ensnared in the criminal justice system as a result of marijuana.

“It does a lot, makes a major change,” Cuomo said, in a radio interview on WAMC. “It makes the situation much better especially for the black and brown community that has paid such a high price.”

New York decriminalized small amounts of the drug in 1977, up to 25 grams, or nearly 1 ounce. The new bill will treat possession of less than 1 ounce as a violation subject to a $50 fine; possession of between 1 to 2 ounces, a Class B misdemeanor, will become a violation punishable by up to a $200 fine. More than 2 ounces would still be considered a crime, not a violation. The bill did not change the legal status of smoking marijuana in public, which is a violation.

Still, it was perhaps symbolic of the nation’s rapidly changing sentiment about marijuana that the failure to fully legalize was considered a defeat of sorts in Albany. More than a dozen states have decriminalized the drug, with more than 30 having medical marijuana programs.

Illinois is poised to become the 11th state to fully legalize marijuana when Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a first-term Democrat, signs a bill recently passed in Springfield.

A study from John Jay College in February found that “blacks and Hispanics consistently had higher rates of arrest for misdemeanor marijuana possession compared to whites.”

In New York City, the Manhattan and Brooklyn district attorneys have stopped prosecuting most people arrested on marijuana offenses and have taken steps to vacate old marijuana-related warrants and low-level convictions.

State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery, D-Brooklyn, emphasized the importance of retroactive expungement, even as she called it “half of what we would like to see done.”

In the state Senate, almost every Democrat who spoke expressed disappointment that the bill did not fully legalize marijuana, but they praised decriminalization as an important first step.

“I think about individuals I’ve grown up with who have found themselves, I guess you could say, on the wrong side of the law,” said state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, D-Bronx, who sponsored the bill and is African-American. “Their lives have been destroyed by marijuana possession that has been effectively legal in certain parts of our city.”

New York legalized medical marijuana in 2014, a strict program that reflected Cuomo’s hesitancy toward the drug; smoking, for example, is not allowed under the medical program.

“For five years, we’ve had legal marijuana for a certain group of people in our state,” said state Sen. Diane Savino, D-Shore Acres, who sponsored the bill that helped create the state’s medical marijuana program, “because we recognized — and rightfully so — that marijuana has true value.”

Legislators were also weighing a proposal by Savino to further expand the medical program, which has been criticized for being overly restrictive.

Republicans, shunted into the minority in both chambers in Albany, voted overwhelmingly against the measure, warning that 2 ounces of the drug was enough to make dozens of joints.

“This is going to hurt people,” said state Sen. Andrew Lanza, R-Staten Island.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/nyregion/marijuana-laws-ny.html" id="54ea7b8d-19cb-314d-a1a4-e9b94555aa73">The New York Times</a>.

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York state lawmakers, having fallen short in a push to fully legalize marijuana, have agreed to further decriminalize possession of the drug and automatically expunge many low-level marijuana convictions across the state.

Marijuana decriminalization expanded in New York

That was in 2002. Since then, Democrats have won every statewide election, culminating last fall when Cuomo was handily re-elected to a third term over Marcus J. Molinaro, the Republican Dutchess County executive. The Republicans also lost eight seats in the state Senate, shattering their perennial hold on the majority in Albany’s upper chamber, resulting in an all-Democratic Legislature.

For many party faithful, something had to change. On Monday, that shake-up took place as the party’s longtime chairman, Edward F. Cox, agreed to step aside in the face of a growing rebellion by county chairs, particularly in the more conservative areas in upstate New York.

Many of those county chairs had recently endorsed a leadership challenge by Nick Langworthy, the chair of the Erie County Republican Committee, who will replace Cox at the end of his term in July.

Langworthy, 38, was one of Trump’s earliest supporters, endorsing his candidacy for president in March 2016. He was given a spot on Trump’s transition team that December.

He would be the youngest person to lead the state party, and he faces a daunting challenge: He must support the president’s re-election bid, even though Trump’s unpopularity in New York was a major factor in helping Democrats defeat incumbent Republicans in the midterms.

In the political equivalent of a golden parachute, Cox announced his departure in tandem with “an important new opportunity,” according to the state party: working with Trump’s re-election campaign. He will lead fundraising efforts in New York, according to the Trump campaign.

“Ensuring President Trump is re-elected is the most critical task at hand, and I'm honored to take on the important role of helping deliver the resources he needs for a huge victory next year,” Cox said in a statement.

A dapper dresser with a friendly, formal manner, Cox, the son-in-law of the late President Richard Nixon, was very much the personification of the state’s old-guard of New York Republicans, exemplified by moderate leaders like the former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and Sen. Jacob Javits. But the national party has banked to the right since Trump’s election, forcing Cox to try to adapt.

Cox, who had been party chair since 2009, had been fending off rumors about his position since last fall’s election debacle, though he had publicly committed to staying in his role, and was up for re-election in July. But as Langworthy continued to assemble, and publicize, a series of endorsements from fellow upstate Republicans, Cox’s hold on the job seemingly faltered.

Cox’s addition to Trump’s 2020 campaign is somewhat curious, considering his history with the president. In 2014, as Trump mulled a challenge to Cuomo for governor, Cox backed Rob Astorino. Trump responded by saying Cox “doesn’t know how to win.

”He’s never won anything,” Trump said in 2014.

But with Trump’s ascension, Cox has been a reliable cheerleader, praising the president’s positions on everything from energy policy to the Mueller Report, which he said “totally vindicated” Trump.

The job on the campaign seemed to have materialized somewhat recently, as Cox had been fiercely trying to retain leadership of the state party. The conversations with the White House intensified over the weekend, said a person with knowledge of negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding Cox’s departure.

Republicans in New York stand at something of a permanent disadvantage: Democratic Party registration is more than double that of the Republican Party.

Cox has also been a consistent and sometimes sharp-elbowed critic of Cuomo, whom he’s characterized as a tyrant, liar and threat to the Second Amendment. He even attacked the governor for a recent episode of “The Simpsons,” which depicted upstate New York as a cold, job-starved and physically unfit wasteland.

“‘The Simpsons’ may be a comedy, but the failures under Andrew Cuomo are no laughing matter,” Cox said.

But it was upstate also that seemingly turned against Cox, too, with many county leaders expressing that it was time for a change.

“New York Republicans need a leader that can inspire young people to get involved in our party,” said Dave Wilfong, the county chair in Chautauqua County, in western New York, predicting Langworthy “will get our party back on track.”

This article originally appeared in <a id="f92aa6bf-5843-343b-a377-7708b2bcdd12" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/20/nyregion/ed-cox-republicans-new-york.html">The New York Times</a>.

In Trump's New York, a Republican rebellion leads to a change in leadership

NEW YORK — The last time New York’s Republican Party won a race for statewide office, Andrew Cuomo’s political career was a mess, Donald Trump’s political career didn’t exist and George E. Pataki was cruising to a third term as governor.

In typical fashion for a state Capitol known for its peculiar and sometimes dysfunctional habits, the deal was announced after midnight via a five-page news release. But that rollout belied both the significance of some of the changes, as well as the size of the state’s spending, second only to California’s.

Lawmakers were set to vote on the budget later Sunday.

The budget included major victories for the resurgent left wing of the Democratic Party, which in November had helped Democrats win control of the state Senate for the first time in a decade. Newly elected lawmakers had pledged to get big money out of politics, raise taxes on the wealthy, rescue the city’s subway system and overhaul a criminal justice system that disproportionately targets minority communities.

Chief among the new policies was congestion pricing, the nation’s first such plan. Under the plan agreed to Sunday, vehicles traveling below 60th Street will be subject to a toll, revenue that will be funneled into the city’s beleaguered subways and other regional transportation needs.

The agreement also calls for an overhaul of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees New York City’s bus and subway system.

The budget, which is due Monday, typically contains many nonfiscal policies, and this year’s, which includes a raft of changes to the state’s criminal justice system, was no exception.

Under a deal struck late last week, the state will eliminate cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent crimes, though it will not be eliminated, as some of the Legislature’s more liberal members had hoped it would be.

Another is an annual recurring tax on second homes worth $5 million or more.

Although the tax had the backing of state leaders, it evaporated under pressure from real estate interests and legal concerns. In its place, lawmakers and Cuomo agreed to a “mansion tax” coupled with a real estate transfer tax, two one-time levies that would be charged at the point of sale on multimillion-dollar homes. The tax rate would top out at 4.15 percent on the sale of properties worth $25 million or more.

This article originally appeared in <a id="c1766ba0-40d6-4fb2-b471-d9d712bf7677" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/31/nyregion/budget-new-york-congestion-pricing.html">The New York Times</a>.

New York State Budget Deal Brings Congestion Pricing and Mansion Tax

ALBANY, N.Y. — After weeks of intraparty bickering, the New York state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to a $175 billion budget early Sunday, approving several progressive initiatives, including changes to the cash bail system, a new tax on high-end homes and a groundbreaking plan to charge motorists to drive into Manhattan’s busiest stretches.

New York state budget deal brings congestion pricing and mansion tax

In typical fashion for a state Capitol known for its peculiar and sometimes dysfunctional habits, the deal was announced after midnight via a five-page news release.

But that rollout belied both the significance of some of the changes, as well as the size of the state’s spending, second only to California’s.

But the deal also showed the limits of those campaign promises. Activists criticized a plan to empower small campaign donors as halfhearted. A measure to tax luxury homes was refashioned at the last minute. And, perhaps most significant, hopes for legalizing the recreational use of marijuana were dashed, though lawmakers could still approve that separately later in the legislative session.

Legislative leaders seemed to acknowledge as much. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, leader of the Senate Democrats, said in a statement that the state had taken “historic steps” toward its long-standing goals.

Chief among the new policies was congestion pricing, the first such plan in the nation, and one that is likely to affect the habits of millions of New Yorkers and tourists who work and play in Manhattan. Under the plan agreed to Sunday, vehicles traveling below 60th Street will be subject to a toll, revenue that will be funneled into the city’s beleaguered subways and other regional transportation needs.

The agreement also calls for an overhaul of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the agency that oversees New York City’s bus and subway system.

The authority has been scapegoated in recent months by Cuomo, a third-term Democrat who effectively controls the authority and who has been heavily criticized for the subway’s shoddy performance. As part of the budget deal, the authority’s policies will be changed to encourage speedier capital projects and increase oversight.

Under a deal struck late last week, the state will eliminate cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent crimes, though it will not be completely eliminated, as some of the legislature’s more liberal members had hoped it would be.

Lawmakers and Cuomo also agreed to a number of changes to discovery — allowing defendants more access to evidence that prosecutors intend to use against them — and processes to ensure speedy trials.

The compromise on bail, which came after law enforcement officials expressed concerns about the total elimination of such a system, is one of many that appear in the budget.

Another is the pied-à-terre tax, an annual recurring tax on second homes worth $5 million or more.

A plan to ban plastic bags in the state was also included in the budget, but it makes a fee on paper bags optional, which some environmentalists worry will lessen the popularity of reusable bags.

Cuomo trumpeted several other accomplishments, including a permanent property tax cap of 2 percent, something he had said was nonnegotiable. At the same time, the state was to establish a “consistent framework for the collection of required sales taxes by internet marketplace providers.”

Cuomo, who has been criticized for sponsoring big-money fundraisers, also announced a commission to develop a plan to provide up to $100 million annually in public financing for campaigns for legislative and statewide offices, including his own.

A small-donor matching program was a central demand of many of the new legislators who won seats in 2018 by defeating better financed incumbents. That demand erupted into confrontation last week, when several legislators accused Cuomo of hypocrisy for calling for public financing while hosting high-dollar fundraisers.

Under such programs, candidates can collect government assistance for their campaigns as long as they meet certain criteria. Such programs are usually intended to encourage small contributions, and don’t offer a match for large ones.

And while the inclusion of public financing in Sunday’s budget seemed like a victory for proponents, many remained unsatisfied. The budget plan included language that guaranteed a matching program, but the details, such as the ratio of match and contribution limits, remain undetermined — leading some activists to worry that the commission’s recommendations would be weak.

Past commissions in Albany have been derided for allowing lawmakers to claim action on topics while bogging them down in bureaucracy. A commission in 2013, for example, had recommended introducing public financing — the same topic now being delegated to a commission for further study.

Another commission recommended in 2018 to legalize marijuana.

The public financing commission’s recommendations would be legally binding unless the Legislature convened specifically to overrule them.

If New York adopts a 6-to-1 matching system modeled after New York City’s, it would become the first state in the nation to match small donors’ contributions by a ratio of more than 1-to-1, according to Lawrence Norden, deputy director of the democracy program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. (Hawaii matches donations 1-to-1.)

It would also be the first state to pass a public financing program since Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that allows virtually unfettered spending in political campaigns.

What exactly that program would look like will be up to the commission, whose report is due Dec. 1.

Notably absent from the deal was recreational marijuana, which Cuomo vowed in December to legalize. While the idea had won support from a broad array of stakeholders, from well-financed medical marijuana companies to progressive activists, lawmakers ultimately could not agree on a framework for legalization, which many had demanded include social justice provisions.

A parallel effort in New Jersey collapsed last week. Lawmakers promised to try for legalization separate from the budget, in the remaining three months of the session, but many seemed skeptical of its prospects.

The negotiations over the budget were the first of Cuomo’s more than eight years in office in which he dealt with an entirely Democrat-controlled Legislature, and came at a time of increased financial stress for the state, which had its income tax revenue dip sharply in recent months. That stress, and the new power dynamic, created significant intraparty tension as Cuomo and other members of his administration repeatedly accused lawmakers of having unrealistic expectations and a lack of experience.

New York State Budget Deal Brings Congestion Pricing, Plastic Bag Ban and Mansion Tax

ALBANY — After weeks of intraparty bickering, the New York state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to a $175 billion budget early Sunday, approving several progressive initiatives, including changes to the cash bail system, a new tax on high-end homes and a groundbreaking plan to charge motorists to drive into Manhattan’s busiest stretches.

New York State budget deal brings congestion pricing, plastic bag ban and mansion tax

<h1>NEW YORK — On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, presented his vision for the coming year, a spectacle accompanied by predictable standing ovations and a 353-page briefing book. It was the ninth such address for Cuomo, and as in every year before, it was chockablock with dozens of ideas, goals and proposals, ranging from making marijuana legal to banning revenge pornography to allowing people to place bets on sporting events in four casinos upstate.</h1>

Unlike in past years, however, when the divided Statehouse made big chunks of the State of the State address a pipe dream, the newly elected Democratic-controlled state Legislature puts the governor’s agenda much closer to becoming reality.

“It’s just us,” as the governor put it. “We are in control.”

What, exactly, will that control bring? That depends on whom you ask. Here’s a look at what 2019 in New York may look like, as told by the governor’s speech, his colleagues in the Legislature and history.

When and where will marijuana be legal? (Asking for a friend.)

Less than two years ago, Cuomo was warning that marijuana was “a gateway drug,” a “Reefer Madness"-style condemnation that put him out of step with a national trend toward the acceptance of cannabis as both medicine and recreational hobby.

On Tuesday, however, it seemed his evolution was complete, as he touted the potential economic benefits of legalization (some $300 million per year in tax revenue by 2024) as well as its ability to support programs in poor communities.

Still, legal sales would not be sanctioned until next year at the earliest, and would come festooned with a variety of rules and regulations, including no sales to anyone under 21 and an ability for any county or city to opt out of the program. (That the governor still wants strict controls is not surprising; when he signed a law legalizing medical marijuana in 2014, it was roundly criticized as being too restrictive, including a ban on smoking the drug.)

That makes it seem as if he’s not quite as progressive as he sounds. What’s the truth?

Well, Cuomo was largely a centrist for much of his political career but has undeniably banked left in recent years. And Tuesday’s presentation was a veritable all-you-can-pass progressive buffet, with plans to strengthen rent regulation, extend a tax on high earners, ban single-use plastic shopping bags, reform cash bail, protect the coast from offshore drilling, combat the Trump administration at every last possible ...

There are a few theories about that liberal tilt: He has always been a secret progressive, thwarted by a Republican Senate (which he was all too willing to work with for eight years); he has been secretly scared to the left by last year’s primary challenge by Cynthia Nixon (whom he handily dispatched in September); he is secretly running for president and knows the Democratic Party may be in the market for a pure-at-heart firebrand who can back up rhetoric with accomplishments (Cuomo has repeatedly denied wanting the top job in Washington).

Regardless, it would be tough to say that Cuomo isn’t embracing his inner liberal, at least for the moment, particularly with plans to eliminate all fossil fuels and make the state 100 percent carbon free by 2040, as part of an idea known as the “Green New Deal.” It is an idea also trumpeted by none other than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another New York Democrat.

Haven’t some of these ideas been around before?

If many of Cuomo’s proposals sounded familiar, that’s because they are.

The governor’s vows to introduce early voting and close a campaign finance loophole were already passed by the state Senate and Assembly on Monday, the first legislative accomplishments of the new year; all that is left is for Cuomo to sign them. But you wouldn’t have known that from Cuomo’s speech, as he didn’t mention those milestones at all.

Many of these proposals are also old hat for the Assembly, a fact that was not lost on its leader, Carl E. Heastie, who diplomatically noted that “a lot of these ideas have long been introduced by members.” Indeed, even before the governor spoke, legislative leaders had said they would pass a bill to codify Roe v. Wade early next week, a concept that the governor made a central part of his “women’s agenda” on Tuesday.

Note: Cuomo also pushed for a “women’s agenda” last year.

I heard something about paying to drive in Manhattan so that the subways don’t collapse. Is that true? (And if so, will it work?)

One of Cuomo’s biggest pushes this year will be to put into effect a congestion pricing plan, which would use a fee on drivers who enter the busiest parts of Manhattan to fund the city’s flailing subway system. That plan could generate $15 billion for the subway system over 10 years.

The same idea died last year, when legislators outside of Manhattan rejected it as unfair to their constituents. This time, those legislators have said they need to see details before they make up their minds. For now, they will have to keep waiting. A bill from the governor’s office Tuesday provided only the plan’s organizational mechanism: The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, an arm of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, would set the tolls, which would apply to certain roads, bridges or tunnels in or entering Manhattan south of 60th Street.

Those very rough parameters sound similar to the proposal put forward last year; at the time, a task force convened by Cuomo recommended that cars pay $11.52, trucks pay $25.34, and taxis and for-hire vehicles pay a surcharge of $2 to $5 per ride for entering the congestion zone.

Even if the proposal does go through, it will not be enough to meet all of the MTA’s capital needs, which could be as high as $60 billion. Cuomo has promised to make up the rest by splitting the tab with the city — a proposal Mayor Bill de Blasio has panned.

In other words, the subway system’s problems aren’t going away any time soon.

So is New York on the express lane to a liberal paradise?

If there was one phrase that was heard again and again in Albany on Tuesday, it was “the devil’s in the details.” Speeches and promises are nice enough, but real bills that make real laws are usually the result of days, months and sometimes years of negotiations by lawmakers and vetting by lawyers. (Oh yes, and lobbying by lobbyists, who may also face new oversight under a proposal by Cuomo.)

There are also some troubling economic signs — tax receipts slumped in recent weeks — and the potential for intraparty conflicts among all those Democrats.

Still, for one day at least, Cuomo seemed sanguine and dismissive of any suggestions that there could be friction between himself and his legislative counterparts.

“The tension is how much can we get done to make the state better,” Cuomo said before making his speech. “And it’s a positive tension.”

This article originally appeared in <a id="8e62e1dc-cb5b-495f-ab85-9090fd1851e2" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/nyregion/takeaways-cuomo-speech.html">The New York Times</a>.

'We Are in Control': 5 Takeaways From Governor Cuomo's State of the State Speech

Unlike in past years, however, when the divided Statehouse made big chunks of the State of the State address a pipe dream, the newly elected Democratic-controlled state Legislature puts the governor’s agenda much closer to becoming reality.

'We are in control': 5 takeaways from Governor Cuomo's state of the state speech

<h1>ALBANY, N.Y. — After years of lagging behind other states, New York was set to radically overhaul its system of voting and elections Monday, taking up several bills that would allow early voting, preregistration of minors, voting by mail and sharp limits on the influence of money.</h1>

The bills, which were expected to be passed by the state Legislature by Monday evening, would bring New York in line with policies in other liberal bastions like California and Washington, and they would quiet, at least for a day, complaints about the state’s antiquated approach to suffrage.

Their expected swift passage marked a new era in the state Capitol. Democrats, who assumed full control this month after decades in which the Legislature was divided between the two parties, say they will soon push through more of their priorities, from strengthening abortion rights to approving the Child Victims Act, which would make it easier for victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue their assailants.

“Today we are saying to New York that we are about tearing barriers down,” Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, leader of the Senate Democrats, said earlier Monday.

“We should not fear making it easier for those who are eligible to vote, to vote,” she said, adding, “We should not fear restricting the flow of money into our electoral system.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat elected to a third term in November, is expected to sign the package of voting bills, which would also merge state and primary elections into the same day; New York was the only state that held separate state and federal primary elections last year, potentially depressing voter turnout.

Legislators also were close to passing a major change to the way candidates can run and fund their campaigns by closing the LLC loophole, which has long allowed corporations to pour almost unlimited amounts of money into election races through multiple limited liability companies. Often set up by powerful real estate interests, the beneficiaries of such LLCs — whose backers often are difficult to identify — have included Cuomo himself, who has received millions from such entities but has nonetheless repeatedly called for the loophole to be closed.

“We are finally beginning to see New York’s elections begin — just begin — to catch up with the rest of the country,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, a good-government group.

For years, the state Capitol has learned to function in a perpetual equilibrium: Democrats led the Assembly, Republicans ruled the Senate, and Cuomo usually fell somewhere in between, strengthening his reputation as a centrist. Several of the voting measures that were likely to be passed Monday had previously won the Assembly’s approval, only to fail in the Senate.

Indeed, virtually nothing emerged from Albany without the benefit of a backroom handshake, with concessions on one deal facilitating an agreement on another, and neither party getting anything close to its full agenda.

But the political tenor shifted last year, when a blue wave of disenchanted Democratic voters pushed for more immediate change. As Cuomo ran for re-election in November, he became a more forceful advocate for the party; he supported Democratic candidates challenging Republican Senate incumbents and repeatedly spoke out against the policies of President Donald Trump. And he did so again before the votes in the Legislature on Monday, setting the stage for his annual State of the State address Tuesday.

“I think you’re going to see the most aggressive agenda that I have put forward,” Cuomo said in a radio interview on WAMC on Monday morning. “Why? Because I now have the ability to get it passed with a Democratic Senate where I had a Republican Senate.”

Even before the Legislature appeared set to approve the changes, Cuomo had promised to expand voting hours at upstate locations, make Election Day a state holiday and ban corporate contributions, a talking point of many progressive candidates in last fall’s campaigns.

He is also expected to unveil elements of his plans to embrace a “Green New Deal,” a promise to prioritize a collection of environmentally minded policies, including renewable energy and avoiding the use of fossil fuels.

The sudden Democratic enthusiasm has naturally been met with skepticism from their Republican counterparts, who are now in the unfamiliar position of responding from behind.

“Democrats are racing each other to the left to get credit for being the most progressive without stopping to think about the negative ramifications,” said Scott Reif, a spokesman for the minority conference. “In the meantime, hardworking New Yorkers are overtaxed and overregulated, and upstate is facing an economic emergency. It’s time to find real solutions to the economic challenges facing real people.”

Throughout the Capitol on Monday, there were clear signs that the old way of doing the people’s business was being redefined by a crush of new members and a Democratic monopoly on power: committee meetings packed with members, hallways jammed with optimistic good-government groups and legislators touting the power of democracy in action.

The morning began with dozens of advocates crowded into a conference room on the first floor of the Capitol, with more spilling into the hallway, for what is typically a desolate meeting of the Senate elections committee. They brought posters, buttons and T-shirts, then filled the hallway outside later for a news conference to declare victory.

A subsequent gathering of the Senate Democrats was no less jubilant, with activists hoisting signs and cheering loudly, and Stewart-Cousins beginning a news conference by issuing a false plea for Republicans to take up the Democrats’ bills — much as she often did when her party was in the minority.

“I’m just kidding,” she said, a moment later, breaking into a wide smile.

Stewart-Cousins also issued a warning of sorts to Cuomo, noting that he had included $7 million in his executive budget the year before to finance early voting and other reforms, when the Senate Republicans had blocked those changes.

“The reality is that we expect that money to be there again,” she said, “because now he has willing partners here in the Senate.”

New York is also poised to pass a barrage of other bills in coming weeks that will place the state among the nation’s most liberal, including plans Tuesday to pass a pair of bills aimed at preventing “conversion therapy” from being practiced on gay minors, and passing the Gender Expression Nondiscrimination Act, which prohibits discrimination based on “gender identity or expression.”

Next week, the Legislature is expected to take up bills to protect and expand abortion rights, pegged to the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, which could be threatened by a more right-leaning Supreme Court.

The action in the Senate was applauded by many in the state Assembly, which had passed such protections before only to see them stall in the Republican-led Senate.

“It’s really nice that a lot of the things that we’ve been working on, sometimes for decades, are finally going to happen,” said Richard Gottfried, an assemblyman from Manhattan who is the chamber’s longest serving member. “I’m happy to be cheering the Senate on.”

Cuomo’s timetable for his agenda — which he also outlined in a speech in mid-December and in his inaugural address on New Year’s Day — is the first 100 days of the session.

If anything, however, legislators seemed to be agitating to move even faster than the governor, nearing passing all seven election-related bills on just their second day in session and before his State of the State address.

Part of that urgency came seemingly from past frustration; similar efforts to pass early voting, which is already legal in some form in 38 states, died amid opposition from Republicans, who already face uphill battles in elections in New York, where there are 3.5 million more registered Democrats than Republicans. And the three new bills that were close to passing Monday that would ease voter registration may only exacerbate that gap.

Carl E. Heastie, the Bronx Democrat who leads the Assembly, made clear again Monday that his colleagues viewed the change in election laws as an immediate priority.

“I promised to hit the ground running,” Heastie said. “And I am keeping that promise.”

His counterpart in the Senate agreed. “There’s an amazing amount of things that had not been done,” Stewart-Cousins said. “We’re just going to keep it moving so that we can catch up. And move ahead, frankly.”

This article originally appeared in <a id="3c1ee6b5-e8af-4fd0-babe-ee81541dec3f" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/nyregion/democrat-ny-albany-control.html">The New York Times</a>.

With New Voting Laws, Democrats Flex Newfound Power in New York

The bills, which were expected to be passed by the state Legislature by Monday evening, would bring New York in line with policies in other liberal bastions like California and Washington.

With new voting laws, Democrats flex newfound power in New York

<h1>ALBANY, N.Y. — After years of lagging behind other states, New York radically overhauled its system of voting and elections Monday, passing several bills that would allow early voting, preregistration of minors, voting by mail and sharp limits on the influence of money.</h1>

The bills, which were passed by the state Legislature on Monday evening, bring New York in line with policies in other liberal bastions like California and Washington, and they would quiet, at least for a day, complaints about the state’s antiquated approach to suffrage.

Their swift passage marked a new era in the state Capitol. Democrats, who assumed full control this month after decades in which the Legislature was split, say they will soon push through more of their priorities, from strengthening abortion rights to approving the Child Victims Act, which would make it easier for victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue their assailants.

Legislators also passed a major change to the way candidates can run and fund their campaigns by closing the LLC loophole, which has long allowed corporations to pour almost unlimited amounts of money into election races through multiple limited liability companies. Often set up by powerful real estate interests, the beneficiaries of such LLCs — whose backers often are difficult to identify — have included Cuomo himself, who has received millions from such entities but has nonetheless repeatedly called for the loophole to be closed.

For years, the state Capitol has learned to function in a perpetual equilibrium: Democrats led the Assembly, Republicans ruled the Senate, and Cuomo usually fell somewhere in between, strengthening his reputation as a centrist. Several of the voting measures that were passed Monday had previously won the Assembly’s approval, only to fail in the Senate.

Even before the Legislature approved the changes, Cuomo had promised to expand voting hours at upstate locations, make Election Day a state holiday and ban corporate contributions, a talking point of many progressive candidates in last fall’s campaigns.

Part of that urgency came seemingly from past frustration; similar efforts to pass early voting, which is legal in some form in 38 states, died amid opposition from Republicans, who face uphill battles in elections in New York, where there are 3.5 million more registered Democrats than Republicans. And the three new bills that were passed Monday, which will ease voter registration, may only exacerbate that gap.

This article originally appeared in <a id="f39551ad-4fea-4d74-83e9-97bd8688c790" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/nyregion/democrat-ny-albany-control.html">The New York Times</a>.