High-flying Hochul vetoes limits on NYC helicopters, letting casinos hire felons

Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed legislation allowing ex-cons to work at casinos, as well as a bipartisan bill to ban tourist helicopters from Hudson River Park where the incumbent Democrat occasionally flies at taxpayer expense.

“Regulation of aircraft and airspace is primarily a federal responsibility, and federal law
significantly constrains the State’s ability to legislate in this area,” Hochul claimed in her veto statement while rejecting prospective limits on non-essential flights in the park.

Ordinary New Yorkers could have sued companies whose aircraft create “unreasonable” clatter – a longstanding complaint of West Side residents buzzed by chartered choppers – according to the legislative language.

The bill proposed by state Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) passed the state Legislature by a big bipartisan margin last June.

Hochul also took out her veto pen for a bill that would have lifted a ban on hiring people with felony records to work at gaming facilities like casinos, with exceptions for people convicted of “public integrity, embezzlement, theft, fraud or perjury,” bill language states.

While the newly-elected governor has backed criminal justice reforms in the past, she said letting felons work at gambling establishments was too much for her.

“Employees of a gaming facility are engaged in sensitive jobs and handle large amounts
of money,” she said in a veto statement.

State lawmakers passed roughly a thousand bills in the past year, with about 200 bills awaiting action by Hochul in the coming weeks.