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While the legislative session may be over, for those behind any of the more than 700 bills that passed both houses of the state Legislature this year, the second phase of their work is just beginning. Generally, Gov. Kathy Hochul has until the end of the year to decide whether to sign legislation.
Experts say the slate of bills passed in the waning days of the legislative session dealing with tech regulation, including a one-year moratorium on data centers and limits on surveillance pricing, are the most likely to see significant changes and potentially testy negotiations.
Whether you’re a reporter, a bill sponsor or an advocate, anyone familiar with the turning wheels of Albany knows that if you’re curious how Hochul plans to act on a bill that has passed in the Legislature, that’s too bad.
“I’m not going to comment on pending legislation,” she said last week.
“Is that a bill that’s not on my desk yet?” she recently asked a reporter who tried anyway.
Bryan Lesswing, a former senior adviser to Hochul, provided some insight to Capital Tonight Wednesday on how the governor’s decision-making process will move forward from here.
“The governor has three options, to sign it, to veto it or the third option, which we see time and time again, is to negotiate over what that final legislation looks like and that takes place over the next few months,” he said.
That process of negotiating with bill sponsors, stakeholders and legislative leaders results in what are known as chapter amendments, changes made to a bill that the Legislature must then pass again early in the year for the governor to sign.
Good-government groups including Reinvent Albany have publicly criticized the process, and Hochul’s extensive use of it, remarking that it takes the public process of passing bills through the state Legislature and turning it into something that more closely resembles the ‘three person in a room’ style which dominates state budget negotiations.
Lesswing argued that it’s an effective way for lawmakers and advocates to avoid a veto on a bill the governor sees fundamental flaws in.
“This process has been working for both sides,” he said. “It’s a lot more hopeful than the governor vetoing it and then it goes back to the Legislature and then you have to pass it again next session. The process is better for both sides.”
Lesswing said that when Hochul gets her pen out this year, the toughest calls — and the most likely to see chapter amendments if approved — are the first-in-the-nation one-year moratorium on new data center construction and the portion of a state attorney general-backed package of bills limiting surveillance pricing that passed in both houses.
Surveillance pricing uses personal data to set personalized prices. A second bill in the package dealing with digital shelf labels did not ultimately pass in the Assembly.
“How much legislation is going to cover the industry, any exceptions to the rule,” he said, adding of Hochul’s decision-making process: “Does this work for New Yorkers and is it going to achieve what we’re trying to accomplish here and sometimes legislation when it’s passed as it’s written it doesn’t accomplish those things. It can be too sweeping, it can create legal headaches down the road. She is very thoughtful and intentional in making sure these things are addressed.”
Advocates are already staking out their positions months before Hochul is likely to even begin considering the most controversial of the bills passed. She typically issues those decisions in the very final days of the year.
Lindsey Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative, hopes that Hochul will sign the surveillance pricing bill as-is. The overall goal is to limit any loopholes that could stem from negotiations and input from those opposed to the bill.
“They try to fill it with loopholes so that by the end it’s a piece of Swiss cheese so they can drive trucks through this piece of Swiss cheese,” she said. “Governors across this country face a choice, stand up for consumers who want to keep prices low and want to keep these invasive technologies out of their shopping experience, or side with consumers.”
Mike Durant, president and CEO of the Food Industry Alliance of New York, says while the organization will take part in negotiations if it comes to that, he hopes it won’t even reach the point of the negotiating table and Hochul will veto the bill.
He explained that members of the alliance have significant concerns, from lingering questions over how it will impact discounts and rewards programs to the fact that he says the bill punts key regulatory decisions too far into the future.
“We don’t know what direction guidance or regulations will go and no business wants to operate under interpretive statute, which is what this bill does,” he said.
When reached for comment, Hochul’s office foreshadowed the hundreds of decisions she’ll have to make.
"When deciding whether or not to sign a bill into law, the Governor only has one concern: what’s best for New Yorkers. The Governor looks forward to reviewing the bills that passed both houses of the Legislature this year,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
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