Dan Clark

New York's even-year election law may be heard by U.S. Supreme Court And Hochul welcomes border czar Tom Homan to the state Capitol.

New York's even-year election law may be heard by SCOTUS, which will decide if it'll take the case in the coming weeks capitolconfidential.substack.com/p/new-yorks-...

- Hochul and Homan meet at the Capitol
- Lawmaker wants to limit state constitution amendment lawsuits to 4 counties
- & more

Hochul meets with Trump border czar Tom Homan at New York Capitol Hochul has become increasingly critical of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions in recent months.

Hochul meets with Trump border czar Tom Homan at NY Capitol
www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

Blakeman echoes conspiracy theory that motivated Buffalo mass shooter It’s not a new claim in the context of immigration but it’s an idea that’s entered mainstream political rhetoric over the last decade.

Blakeman echoes conspiracy theory that motivated Buffalo mass shooter
www.timesunion.com/state/articl...

Plus: Democrats are now pressuring Hochul to focus on immediate utility bill relief instead of reopening the CLCPA

And New York is updating its regulations around sperm donations, frozen eggs and embryos for the first time since 2000

Blakeman echoes conspiracy theory that motivated Buffalo mass shooter And Democrats push for short-term utility bill relief in response to Hochul's Climate Act efforts.

Republican candidate for governor Bruce Blakeman echoed the conspiracy theory that motivated the Buffalo mass shooter earlier this week capitolconfidential.substack.com/p/blakeman-e...

Sen. April N.M. Baskin, who reps Buffalo, called his comments "ignorant, reckless, and dangerous."

When one-house budgets are expected to pass next week And an update on the immigrant protections package being negotiated at the state Capitol.

One-house budgets are on deck next week with the Mothership to land soon after in Albany capitolconfidential.substack.com/p/when-one-h...

- Senate and Assembly are now negotiating immigrant protections package
- Climate debate continues
- DiNapoli rallies at the Capitol
- & more

New York lawmaker seeks salary hike, longer terms in new pair of bills And the Trump administration is eyeing an appeal of Tuesday's court decision on congestion pricing.

New York lawmakers would be paid $180K and state Senate members would have 4-year terms under a new pair of bills intro'd capitolconfidential.substack.com/p/new-york-l...

- DOJ is eyeing an appeal of Tuesday's congestion pricing decision
- Purcell prevails in NY-11
- & more

Hochul: New York on 'high state of alert' after Iran strikes And we have a consensus on revenue between lawmakers and the Hochul administration.

The Hochul administration and lawmakers have reached a consensus on revenue projections capitolconfidential.substack.com/p/hochul-new...

- NY on 'high state of alert' after Iran strikes
- A second CDPAP bill has been intro'd
- One option likely off the table for Climate Act talks
- & more

Complaints against New York's prosecutors more than doubled last year And more than $1 billion separates Hochul and lawmakers in terms of revenue projections.

Gov. Hochul and lawmakers are more than $1 billion apart on revenue projections with a consensus due by tomorrow www.capitolconfidential.com/p/complaints...

Hochul's 'ZYN tax' opponents make their case at the state Capitol And the battle over Climate Act changes heats up between Hochul and lawmakers.

Hochul's push to change New York's climate mandates is "a public policy mistake," a key lawmakers says as NYSERDA releases a memo purporting increased cost concerns www.capitolconfidential.com/p/hochuls-zy...

- ZYN tax opponents make their case
- We're getting a state revenue update tomorrow

New York gained thousands of new millionaires, new state data shows And Heastie says Mamdani's property tax ultimatum is "a non-starter."

New York quietly posted data in the last few days showing the state has gained thousands of millionaire tax filers in the two most recent tax years www.capitolconfidential.com/p/new-york-g...

- It was "Tax the Rich" day in Albany
- Property tax hikes in NYC are a "non-starter," Heastie said

Stewart-Cousins: 'Not a winning strategy' to fix NYC's budget gap by raising costs And the state Senate's package of immigrant protection bills is close to being finalized.

Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said she's confident Tuesday that lawmakers could prevent a property tax hike in NYC www.capitolconfidential.com/p/stewart-co...

- A preview of the Senate's forthcoming immigrant protections package
- CDPAP bills trickle in
- Hochul's SEQRA proposal explained

Immigrant protection bill to move at the Capitol this week And New York is putting Buy Now, Pay Later lenders on notice in newly drafted regulations for the industry.

A long-sought immigrant protection bill is expected to move in Albany this week. Packed Monday CapCon: www.capitolconfidential.com/p/immigrant-...

- New regs on Buy Now, Pay Later loans explained
- 2 new reports on revenue/taxes from DOB
- Revived bill to regulate broadband as a utility
- & more

Hochul says Trump won’t send an ICE surge into New York unless she asks And the HALT lawsuit is now a class action against the state after a new ruling this week.

Hochul says Trump won't send ICE into NYC unless she asks, saying it was a "reassuring" outcome in DC today www.capitolconfidential.com/p/hochul-tru...

- The HALT Act lawsuit is now a class action
- The Trump admin appealed the decision upholding Green Light today
- What's up next week at the Cap

What's in Hochul's budget amendments released Thursday Including more revenue, new aid for municipalities and the removal of her self-driving car proposal.

What's in Hochul's budget amendments released Thursday www.capitolconfidential.com/p/hochul-bud...

Hochul's budget removes $4 billion from comptroller oversight, DiNapoli says And Blakeman says he would form a team to find Medicaid spending cuts if elected.

Hochul's budget would carve at least $4 billion in state contracts out of comptroller oversight, DiNapoli says www.capitolconfidential.com/p/hochuls-bu...

- Constitution Pipeline concerns from GOP-led Schoharie County legislature
- Blakeman eyes Medicaid cuts
- Mifepristone access
- & more

New York's highest court reverses child abuse finding over 'deepfake' concerns The decision will reunite a mother with her son after four years apart.

A decision that a dissenting judge says will set a dangerous precedent.

New York's highest court reverses child sex abuse finding over 'deepfake' concerns www.timesunion.com/state/articl...

Hochul seeks to end Medicaid 'loophole' used by specialists seeking higher pay “We do not believe that the Medicaid program should be price gouged by specialists," said state Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri.

Hochul seeks to end Medicaid 'loophole' used by specialists seeking higher pay
www.timesunion.com/state/articl...

Packaging bill proponents plot new path toward passage in 2026 And health care groups have concerns over parts of Hochul's budget.

The packaging reduction/EPR bill is back and it's proponents are shifting their strategy in the Assembly this year www.capitolconfidential.com/p/packaging-...

- Nursing homes want clarity on Hochul's $1.5b
- Community health centers shocked by Hochul's budget
- NY wants help with regs
- & more

ICE agents entered New York's courts 59 times last year And the state took a first step to throttle data center energy demand.

New York is tracking ICE officer activity at courthouses but officials say they’re using another part of the justice system to make arrests instead.

ICE agents entered NY courts 59 times last year. But they're using a different part of the justice system to make arrests, court officials said Thursday
www.capitolconfidential.com/p/ice-agents...

- PSC takes first step on data centers
- NY's high court rejects Malliotakis appeal
- & much more

Mamdani seeks to 'end the drain' on New York City by the state He wants a 'reorienting' of the city's fiscal relationship with the state.

Mamdani is seeking a reset of the fiscal relationship between NYC and the state, saying he wants to "end the drain" www.capitolconfidential.com/p/zohran-mam...

- What to expect from tomorrow's courts, crime and corrections hearing
- Lawmakers push a bill to ban surveillance pricing
- & more today

'Good idea': Delgado drops run for governor, ending primary against Hochul And what New York's mayors will seek from the state Legislature in Wednesday's budget hearing.

Delgado is out of the race for governor, adding to the list of hurdles cleared by Hochul's reelection campaign www.capitolconfidential.com/p/good-idea-...

- Hochul's health commissioner on rolling back the Essential Plan
- Mamdani's in Albany tomorrow. Here's what the state's mayors want
- & more

Gianaris, deputy Senate leader, won't seek reelection: 'A new role' And state cannabis regulators sent a bill to lawmakers to fix the school distance debacle.

Gianaris is leaving the state Legislature and Ra is stepping up. Here's your Monday CapCon: www.capitolconfidential.com/p/gianaris-d...

- Blakeman has a running mate (for real this time)
- What's up at the Cap tomorrow
- The cannabis school distance debacle now has a fix
- & more

Nassau County's own Ed Ra was chosen as the new Republican leader in the state Assembly Monday, succeeding Will Barclay. Here's what Ra said: www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

Hochul to issue second pocket veto since becoming governor And here's what's up at the Capitol next week, including a Mamdani visit.

Hochul intends to issue her second pocket veto since becoming governor www.capitolconfidential.com/p/hochul-to-...

- What's up at the Cap next week, including a Mamdani visit
- a SUNY connection to the Winter Olympics
- & more

Child care, Raise the Age and SNAP fraud eyed by New York lawmakers And Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay is stepping down.

Child care, Raise the Age and SNAP fraud eyed by New York lawmakers
www.capitolconfidential.com/p/child-care...

- Barclay stepping down and leaving after 23 years
- New cyber regs for utilities proposed
- & more today

CLARK: You had said I think last year, November, December, that you wanted to engage with the legislature on those climate mandates, the 2030, 2040, 2050, from the Climate Act. Have you talked to them about that? Is that something that’s still on the table? And is that something that you want as part of the budget this year possibly? HOCHUL: What I want and what I have to deal with are two different things. I wanted to meet those goals, okay? They’re great, it’s always fun to be nation-leading. But two dynamics here. One is that the legislature, before my time, put in place a measurement standard that is only used by one other state. And if we were not held to a stricter standard for engaging emissions, we have, more than you need to know, but 20 years versus 100 years, we’d be one of the top in the nation for reducing greenhouse emissions. We’d be almost number one. But we’re held to a very different standard. It’s like, why is that? ‘Cause we’re always gonna look like we’re coming up short despite our best efforts. So that’s the dynamic over there. In terms of hitting the goals, if we miss it by three years, yeah, judge says we’re not in compliance. What would you like me to do about the fact that we had a pandemic that cut

In terms of hitting the goals, if we miss it by three years, yeah, judge says we’re not in compliance. What would you like me to do about the fact that we had a pandemic that cut off supply chain networks that were supposed to be building more of our wind and offshore wind and onshore wind, as well as transmission, that all stopped during the pandemic. You come out of the pandemic, you’re now dealing with inflation. You come out of inflation, although it’s not quite out of it, now you’re dealing with Trump tariffs, which affect the cost of all the supplies to build out the infrastructure to deliver the energy that was hoped for back in 2019 when this was passed. I just say to the legislature and others, where am I gonna go? I’m trying my best to meet these goals. They’re great, fine. But change the calculation will look a lot better. We met our goals a year early for community solar, but that’s because Donald Trump didn’t eliminate it. And he didn’t take away the incentives. If you take away the financial incentives for wind and solar from the federal government, they’re not gonna build wind and solar. CLARK: And electric cars too. HOCHUL: That’s right. All of our electrification efforts, they’re great goals. I want to meet them desperately. We just have to look at what options are on the table. I have to deal in reality.

… CLARK: So on the climate goals, would you rather, I don’t know, what’s your dream scenario? Do you want to renegotiate the dates of them, or would you rather renegotiate the formula for accounting? Or both? HOCHUL: For my all-of-the-above approach. CLARK: Yeah, this is your all-above approach. HOCHUL: These are the conversations I want to have with the legislature. I don’t want to get ahead of it because this is something that they’re very proud of, and I have to recognize that this is something that is hard for people to change when they really believe in something they did. I get that. I’m just gonna be having conversations with them on, okay, let’s look at the reality. What do you think we should be doing differently? How are we gonna get power? how I’m gonna power this state and make sure, because I have to focus on affordability. I have to focus on resiliency. I cannot have this state go dark.

Hochul, speaking to @danclarkreports.bsky.social just now, makes clear that she wants to change NY’s emissions accounting standards and maybe revisit other CLCPA deadlines.

“We’re held to a very different standard… we’re always gonna look like we’re coming up short despite our best efforts”

Heastie, Stewart-Cousins react to Hochul's new ICE proposal And a judge in Brooklyn has resigned over alleged 'financial impropriety.'

Heastie, Stewart-Cousins react to Hochul's new ICE proposal www.capitolconfidential.com/p/heastie-st...

New York's pandemic price gouging rules are finally here And NYSED will soon publish a report on Hochul's universal pre-K plan.

At the start of the pandemic, price-gouging became a major concern in New York. Lawmakers passed a law allowing the AG's office to write new regs to strengthen enforcement against price-gouging in response.

Those regs were finally adopted this week: www.capitolconfidential.com/p/new-yorks-...