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Presented by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East: Your afternoon must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable New Yorkers | | | | |  | | By Michelle Bocanegra and Shannon Young | Presented by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East | Senate Democrats are expected to pass a series of bills related to sexual harassment today, re-upping legislation that failed to get additional traction in Albany last year. The votes come as part of a yearslong push to advance anti-sexual-harassment measures, an issue that gained new attention last summer when Andrew Cuomo was forced to resign as governor after being accused of sexual harassment. The package includes a slate of proposals that will prohibit the retaliatory release of employees’ personnel files, ban settlement agreements from prohibiting future employment with the employer, lengthen the time individuals can file unlawful discrimination claims and ensure that state employees are included in the state human rights law, among other measures. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Sens. Alessandra Biaggi (D-Westchester), Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn) and Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan), whose bills are part of the broader package, touted the measures during a press conference on legislation shortly before the vote. “This has been a full-court press by our conference … to make sure that people get the message that New York state will not tolerate harassment in the workplace in any way, shape or form,” Stewart-Cousins said today. When asked whether the anti-harassment legislation had bipartisan support, Stewart Cousins said, “I hope so. I certainly hope so.” It’s unclear what support the bills will have in the Assembly. Chamber leaders last session did not take up the measures that the Senate advanced, arguing that lawmakers needed more time to get it right. Assembly spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Senate’s legislative package. On a related front, Hoylman said that there was “broad bipartisan support” for the Adult Survivors Act, which passed the Senate last year but did not come up for a vote in the Assembly. Hoylman said he expected it would pass “on similar grounds in the Senate very shortly.” The bill passed the Senate Finance Committee today. “I think that we have built momentum — not just in the Senate, though, but Assemblymember [Linda] Rosenthal has really done her job in the other house and it has a record number of co-sponsors,” he said. “So the impetus is there.” A chamber spokesperson said that there was “no exact timeline” for moving the Adult Survivors Act, but that it would likely be “soon.” HAPPY TUESDAY: We’re back with your afternoon check-in to spill the day’s tea — as we know it thus far — during one of the busiest seasons in New York politics.
| | A message from 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East: Home care workers are essential workers – and they have earned a livable wage. The care they provide allows seniors and people with disabilities to live independently and with dignity in their own homes. But because of low wages, New York has a massive shortage of home care workers, a crisis that could impact tens of thousands of families. Tell Albany: the budget must include a permanent wage increase for home care workers. | | | |  | From the 3rd Floor | | SESSION SCHEDULE: The Senate and Assembly scheduled sessions for 3 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively this afternoon. A PUSH FOR EXCLUDED WORKERS: The proposed state budget doesn’t include additional aid for so-called excluded workers, mainly undocumented immigrants, who do not qualify for unemployment assistance. Today, the Immigration Research Initiative estimated $3 billion is needed to replenish the fund, saying it has helped 128,000 people who lost work during the pandemic but were not covered by unemployment benefits. The group’s report found that 177,000 people still qualify, but have not received a payment. Replenishing the fund will be part of the negotiations for the fiscal year that starts April 1. HEADS UP, EDUCATION WONKS: NY B1957 (21R) / NY C584, a resolution for the election of three Regents, is moving through committees today. Regents are expected to be elected by concurrent resolution of the state Legislature this afternoon.
| | FROM CITY HALL | | COUNCIL MEMBER ASSAILS ADAMS AGAIN: Council Member Kristin Richardson Jordan doubled down today on her recent comments accusing the mayor of advancing a white supremacist agenda, and took a step back from her position that the United States and Europe are responsible for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Mayor Eric Adams recently hired three people with a history of anti-LGBTQ views, which prompted Jordan’s initial statement. (Neither the mayor nor the three hires are white.) “The logic of white supremacy is all about exclusion; it’s all about oppression; it’s all about upholding status quo; it’s all about limited power for a limited number of people and supreme power for a supposedly superior group of people,” she said on WNYC today. “The link between white supremacy and homophobia is well-established and well-documented, so if you’re putting homophobic individuals in these appointments … you bet that is white supremacist thinking, absolutely.” Jordan also characterized the NYPD as a white-supremacist organization that has committed human rights abuses in her Harlem district. And while the newly elected lawmaker criticized Adams’ policing strategy, she said she supports many of the preventive measures outlined in the mayor’s Blueprint to End Gun Violence. Jordan also took a step back from her comments last week blaming the U.S., Europe and the expansion of NATO for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “I definitely think that some of the nuance was lost,” she said of her recent tweets, which earned a rebuke from her Manhattan colleague Keith Powers. “But what I was working on commenting on was the fact that the context of the history is decades old… That is not at all to justify the aggressive actions of Russia.” The Manhattan lawmaker also reiterated her stance that the United States supported a coup in 2014 to install a puppet government in Ukraine and that Western countries and NATO hold some responsibility for the war. — Joe Anuta NEW STIMULUS TRACKER: City Comptroller Brad Lander launched a new tracking system today to monitor how the city is spending billions in federal pandemic aid. The city is set to get $26 billion in federal cash from a host of stimulus and aid programs, and has spent half of that so far, Lander said. “Tracking federal stimulus spending is critical to making sure we are making the most of this one-time resource,” Lander told reporters at a virtual press conference. “We’ve got to pay more attention to where it’s going and what we’re getting from it.” The online spending tracker covers $11 billion in funding from two programs — the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, a broad pot of cash localities can spend as they see fit, and a separate pot of money specifically awarded for education. Other money is not included yet because not enough data is available. — Erin Durkin
| | | | A message from 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East:   | | | | | The Campaign Trail | | CLERGY SHOW UP FOR SCHUMER: More than 100 ministers and pastors from Buffalo to Brooklyn are scheduled to endorse U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer’s reelection campaign today. Those include names like Christian Cultural Center’s Rev. A. R. Bernard, Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church’s Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts III., Mount Vernon’s Grace Baptist Church’s Rev. Dr. Franklyn Richardson and Bishop Darius G. Pridgen of Buffalo’s True Bethel Baptist Church, many of whom cited his support for local services, education, nonprofits and vulnerable communities. ZELDIN WINS GOP NOMINATION: Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin easily won the GOP gubernatorial nomination at the party's state convention today on his home turf. He won 85 percent of the vote, compared with 7 percent for businessman Harry Wilson; 7 percent for Rob Astorino, the former Westchester County executive; and 0.75 percent for Andrew Giuliani. The other candidates vowed to get the 15,000 signatures necessary to get on the June primary ballot.
| | ON THE BEATS | | HEALTH CARE: State Medicaid Director Brett Friedman briefed Public Health and Health Planning Council panels today on the state’s pending 1115 waiver submission , including proposed planning through “Health Equity Regional Organizations” — which seek to build local public health activities “into the fabric of the Medicaid program.” Friedman told PHHPC’s Committees on Public Health and Health Planning that the Department of Health is converting its August 2021 “concept paper” into a formal application to submit to the federal government in order to make a new investment of up to $17 billion in Medicaid over five years. He noted that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has provided “extremely positive” but also targeted feedback on the August proposal — namely, “that they think $17 billion is too much money to ask them for.” Despite that, Friedman said, New York is “going to make sure the request is quite substantial given the need.” Friedman said state Medicaid officials have spent the last three to four months transforming that paper into a “formal and expanded application.” Before the waiver can be formally submitted to CMS — likely in August — it must first go through an extensive transparency process, which includes publication in the State Register, two public hearings and a 120-day public comment period, he said. He added that “under a best-case scenario” the new waiver program will be in place by January of next year, and can serve as “an appropriate successor to [the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Program] and [will] fund aspects of the delivery system that have been revealed as underfunded over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he told council members. — Shannon Young TRANSIT: After much doom and gloom, there are signs that New York City’s subway system is seeing a rebound. Roughly 50 percent of riders have returned to the subway on weekdays, according to the most recent data from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The MTA has yet to crack its record of 3 million riders from early February, but it came pretty close for most of last week. The data also shows that for the last two weeks, ridership has been stronger on weekdays than weekends — indicating that work-related trips may be making a comeback. It coincides with a renewed push by Adams to get workers back in the office, at least part of the time. Elected leaders like Queens Borough President Donovan Richards have since rolled out new hybrid work policies, and the private sector is making moves to soon follow suit. Those just returning to the subway are in for a treat — after you take 12 trips in a week, the rest are now free as part of a new fare-capping initiative. — Danielle Muoio Dunn REAL ESTATE: Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine is calling on the federal government to seize the real estate holdings of Russian oligarchs who own luxury Manhattan properties. “This has been one of the favorites safe harbors — Manhattan has been — of Russian oligarchs, who have, in particular, used high-end, ultra-luxury real estate as a way to park their money,” Levine said on WNYC’s "The Brian Lehrer Show" today. “We need to stand up now and do our part to fight back against this immoral and inexcusable war against the people of Ukraine. And that means seizing those assets to put pressure on the Putin regime, and to send a message to the world that this behavior will not be tolerated.” Levine called on the Treasury Department, which has an Office of Foreign Assets Control, to identify a wider swath of individuals who are close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and add them to a sanctions list. — Janaki Chadha
| | A message from 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East: New York faces a home care crisis. Researchers estimate that we’ll need to fill more than 980,000 home care positions by 2028. But due to low wages, many home care workers are forced to leave the profession in order to support themselves and their families. Despite being essential workers, Medicaid does not pay them a living wage. It’s common for workers to travel daily between two, three, and sometimes four clients. The cost of traveling between jobs eats into already limited paychecks. A permanent raise would mean a steady income to support their own families and a way to attract new people to join the home care workforce to keep up with the turnover.
New York leaders can avert the home care crisis and help our families by ensuring that a permanent wage increase for home care workers is included in the 2022-2023 state budget. Learn more. | | | | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — Former President Donald Trump has appealed a judge’s decision requiring he answer questions under oath from the New York Attorney General’s Office into his business practices and whether he inflated his property values to get tax breaks and loans. — A New York City grandmother has died of injuries sustained three months ago during a vicious attack with a rock in Queens. — The Greater New York Hospital Association is working with the Afya Foundation to send financial contributions, medical/surgical items and other humanitarian supplies to Ukraine. — Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin submitted vouchers in recent years as a state senator claiming the full, taxpayer-funded per diem for trips to Albany, but also used a campaign-issued debit card to pay for gasoline, the Times Union found. — The Empire Center for Public Policy released a new report that looks at the potential tax consequences of the New York Health Act.
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