‘Profile in courage’ – Gov. Hochul vetoes dozens of bills now that election is over

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has unleashed a spigot of gubernatorial rejection over the past week after going 11 months without vetoing a single standalone bill passed by the state Legislature this year.

Records show her issuing at least 51 vetoes since the Nov. 8 election after refusing to take a stance on many touchy issues while courting support from voters and Albany Democrats as Republican challenger Lee Zeldin was breathing down her neck.

Hochul critics say her decision to keep her veto pen in the drawer until after the election highlights a lack of political backbone, especially on hot topics like criminal justice reforms.

“It’s a real profile in courage, and unfortunately New Yorkers elected to stick with this finger in the wind approach to government,” City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island), a close ally of Zeldin, said sarcastically Monday.

But Hochul – who oversaw passage of a record-high $220 billion state budget in April – argued in her veto message that such legislation cost taxpayers money while drawing resources away from her own administration’s priorities.

This includes 39 bills aimed at empowering task forces, commissions and state agencies to study such issues as affordable housing construction, juvenile incarceration rates and group homes for the developmentally disabled hit hard by COVID-19 in ways similar to nursing homes — which were devastated by a pandemic order from Hochul’s ex-boss, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Hochul standing before a microphone
Hochul has vetoed 51 bills since winning a full term in the Nov. 8 election.
Lev Radin/Sipa USA

Political experts say her newfound reliance on the veto pen comes with more political room to assert her gubernatorial powers moving forward considering her election win.

“Kathy Hochul is acting governor no more,” political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said,

“She’s the boss. And vetoes are a good way to tell anyone who might think differently that ‘make no mistake, she’s in charge,’” he added.

Her spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays said Monday, “Gov. Hochul took action to save New York taxpayers from $40 million in unbudgeted costs and additional bureaucracy, and she will continue her collaborative and productive relationship with the legislature in the upcoming session.”

Hochul’s stated reasons vary for rejecting the other dozen bills, because they concerned fiscal matters best addressed, she said, in the budget process, belie her efforts to keep the Legislature from interfering with administration priorities.

A balcony in the Assembly chamber
Hochul did not veto any standalone bills for the first 11 months of 2022.
Hans Pennink/AP

“These unbudgeted costs would create significant staffing and other programmatic burdens on state agencies. Additionally, because of the ongoing work of state agencies and authorities, a number of proposals would result in duplication and unnecessary bureaucracy,” reads a veto message.

One vetoed bill would have kept the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency from using “viable agricultural land” for a program streamlining the placement of renewable energy projects, a controversial topic in areas like the Hudson Valley, as part of Hochul’s wider push on green energy.

Another bill that would exempt public college instructors from certain ethics rules would run counter to “steps I have taken as governor to increase transparency,” Hochul wrote in her veto message.

Hochul also asserted her newly-secured political power by signing into law legislation enacting a two-year moratorium on new cryptocurrency mining operations at mothballed fossil fuel plants – an idea opposed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Representatives of Democratic state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie did not respond to requests for comment about the vetoes, which cannot be overridden once a new Legislature takes office in January.

Her only previous use of the veto pen this year came in the state budget process when she struck out numerous line items approved by the state Legislature while she courted support from fellow Democrats ahead of the June primary election.

While Hochul ultimately rejected dozens of bills last year, she notably struck deals at a historically high pace with state lawmakers to make changes without using her veto power as she settled into office following Cuomo’s Aug. 2021 resignation amid the threat of impeachment and multiple scandals.

Hochul signing a bill at a desk
The incumbent Democrat declined to say her position on many bills before the election.
Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/S

Past governors have also resisted legislation that pushed task forces, commissions and other panels while deflecting legislative efforts to intrude on the policy-making turf of his own administration.

State lawmakers do the bulk of their legislative work in the first six months of the year, with governors traditionally waiting until the final weeks of the year to decide the fate of hundreds of remaining bills.

“The vetoes are pretty routine exercises and reflect the governor protecting her institutional prerogatives,” political consultant Evan Stavisky told The Post.

But the pace of gubernatorial vetoes was noticeably delayed this year compared to one year ago while Hochul was winning friends in the Legislature by contrasting her relatively diplomatic approach to governing with the hardball tactics of Cuomo.

Yet, records show, Hochul still vetoed 20 bills in the six weeks preceding Nov. 8 last year while not rejecting any outside the budget this year until voters had elected her to a full term in office.

Content Source

Dallas Press News – Latest News:
Dallas Local News || Fort Worth Local News | Texas State News || Crime and Safety News || National news || Business News || Health News

texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

Related Articles

Back to top button