When New York lawmakers return to the State Capitol next month, one theme will be prominent: President-elect Donald J. Trump’s victory in November.
Their focus will not solely be guarding against what a Trump administration and Republican-led Congress may do that conflicts with New York’s well-being. They will also need to confront the issues that led Mr. Trump to make giant inroads among New Yorkers, even though he failed to win the state in the election.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has focused on voter concerns in recent weeks as she begins to lay out a re-election argument ahead of the 2026 governor’s race. Legislative leaders say that they have long prioritized these issues, pointing to measures they passed to reduce the cost of housing and child care.
They say that work will continue at pace again next month.
“Over the last couple of years, we have pumped so much more money into child care,” Carl E. Heastie, the Assembly’s Democratic speaker, said in an interview.
“It is one of the ways we have really kept money in the taxpayers’ pockets,” he continued. “But I would say, unfortunately, that is not what we were out telling the voters of the state of New York. Most of the campaign was ‘Trump is terrible.’ And abortion — he wants to take away a woman’s right to choose.”
Mr. Heastie said those are very “important issues,” but “when people are struggling to pay their bills, that stuff kind of becomes secondary.” He said that Democrats needed to continue to do more to bring down costs and emphasize it in their messaging.
Both Ms. Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams of New York City have announced tax cuts or refunds they want the Legislature to adopt next year.
Mr. Adams’s proposal would eliminate New York City income taxes for more than 400,000 of the lowest-wage earners. Ms. Hochul’s idea is more ambitious and more expensive: She wants to spend about $3 billion to send checks between $300 and $500 to roughly 8.6 million New Yorkers.
More proposals like this appear to be coming. Mr. Heastie did not offer specifics but said in an interview that he wanted to “look at structural ways of lowering the cost burden and the tax burden to working-class families.”
Funding much-needed improvements and repairs to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s system will be a major flashpoint this budget season after Mr. Heastie and Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the majority leader, rejected the authority’s capital proposal earlier this month. The legislative leaders cited a major budget gap in the transit agency’s plan and a desire to see what sort of funding Mr. Trump’s administration might offer or take away.
Mr. Heastie and Ms. Stewart-Cousins said in a letter to the authority that the plan’s $33 billion deficit “can be solved during the upcoming legislative session in the context of State Budget negotiations.”
Ms. Hochul is also expected to focus on the homelessness and mental health crisis in New York City, in particular. In December, Ms. Hochul suggested she would push to change state laws relating to involuntary commitment, a move that Mr. Adams has championed as well. Ms. Hochul said they had spoken about these changes recently.
This will most likely be a divisive topic as politicians reckon with frustrations over crime in New York City and also wrestle with the civil liberties’ questions surrounding vulnerable homeless New Yorkers.
“I’m willing to go back to the Legislature,” Ms. Hochul said, “and talk about the fear that people have of someone in the throes of a severe mental health crisis, someone who has severe substance abuse issues, who is not able to take care of themselves.”
She added, “We will be talking about how to change the law to get that person into a place where they are getting compassionate care.”
Ms. Hochul’s priorities suggest she is aware of New Yorkers’ deep frustration concerning crime, the economy and the affordability crisis — issues that Republicans have zeroed in on.
While her direct response to Mr. Trump’s re-election has been somewhat muted, Ms. Hochul has said she will be ready if he attacks New York in areas such as immigration or reproductive rights. Legislators are similarly gearing up.
“The two things that hang over every discussion probably in every state capitol right now are, what the hell is going to come out of Washington and how will we deal with it,” said State Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat who chairs the body’s Finance Committee.
The week of Mr. Trump’s inauguration, the Senate plans to introduce a fleet of bills related to protecting reproductive rights, including one from Ms. Krueger to protect women’s health information and another to increase funding for training medical providers how to perform abortions.
“The privacy issue becomes more relevant as we sink into the la-la land of an administration and Congress who want to encourage women to die in states where they cannot get an abortion or proper health care,” Ms. Krueger said, pointing to the Texas attorney general’s recent lawsuit against a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a woman in Dallas.
Ms. Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat, said in a statement that voters can expect elected officials to forcefully stand up to Mr. Trump again and “to continue to make child care and college tuition more affordable, and help families afford groceries, pay their utility bills and lower costs of prescription drugs.”
Senator Michael Gianaris, the deputy majority leader, said this affordability push would also most likely see state lawmakers take on big tech companies and regulate artificial intelligence products. He also has a bill that would update the state’s enforcement of antitrust laws, which is likely to be hotly debated.
“The general effort to tackle big scary tech is going to receive a lot of attention — whether it is through antitrust rules, artificial intelligence or junk fees,” he said. “That will be an area to watch.”
Before the State Senate gets to addressing the high cost of living in New York State or reproductive rights, members will continue a tradition of kicking off the new session by introducing voting rights legislation. And one bill to “prohibit contributions by foreign-influenced business entities,” which failed last session, is likely to get some renewed attention. That’s because of the focus on Chinese influence in domestic politics and Mr. Adams’s indictment on federal charges that his campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign donations.
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