Email Update: "Albany: Asleep at the Wheel"

Dear Friend,

Legislative session has seemingly wrapped up, and was marked largely by Albany failing to act on key responsibilities: 

• Mayoral control of our public school system is set to expire at the end of the month -- Albany's inaction on renewing mayoral control could throw our school system into chaos. I spoke on how appalling it is that Albany would try to horse-trade with the education of our children.
• Though we came to bipartisan agreement on a first step in fixing our state's speedy trial law, the Senate Majority ultimately blocked progress on fixing a law that too often fosters injustice instead of justice.
• As New York's infrastructure challenges grow, Albany was MIA. I spoke out about the need for the Senate to come to the table and keep our subways and buses on track. I also urged Albany to act on design-build for the BQE rehab, which could shave years and millions off the project.
• Albany continued passing bills late into the night, without transparency on what's in them or who's sponsoring them. And, yet again, the Senate Majority blocked action on ethics reforms like my bill to close the LLC Loophole (which allows nearly unlimited, often anonymous corporate dollars to flood our political process).
• Tick tock, Albany ran out the clock on reforming our state's ticket resale law -- marking another year without progress on fair access for fans to concerts, games, and shows. I brought the Grammys to the Senate floor to highlight this broken law.
• There was also a number of other critical priorities blocked by the Senate Majority, like reforming our voting laws, protecting our environment, ensuring healthcare access, bringing our reproductive health laws into this century, and preserving service corps in the state.

There has been progress on some issues too -- both out of Albany and in the district:

• After I voted to reject two non-resident appointments to the Battery Park City Authority Board, I was able to drive home the point to colleagues that local decisions deserve local representation, and passed my bill to mandate at least two BPC residents on the BPCA Board, with Assemblymembers Glick and Niou.
• I passed a tenant protection bill to help address erroneous eviction cases and keep New Yorkers in their homes, along with Assemblymember Niou.
• We're getting focus on improving our streets across the district, from a comprehensive traffic and pedestrian study of the Financial District, to a study and traffic safety agents at Clinton and Grand on the Lower East Side.
• More transit options from the South Village to Lower Manhattan are on the way, with the approval of a 1.5 mile extension of the M1 bus route, after years of pushing, along with Manhattan Community Board 2.
• When community members reached out about tourist bus congestion on Brooklyn streets, I worked with the community and operator to create a solution that will keep the buses off residential blocks.
• I'm continuing the push for evidence-based early childhood investments, including maternal home visiting like Nurse-Family Partnership (which links first-time moms with nurse home visitors), along with Borough President Adams.

As always, please don't hesitate to contact my office at 212-298-5565, 718-875-1517, or squadron@nysenate.gov.

Best,

Daniel

Daniel Squadron
NY State Senator
26th District