We’re hoping the rumors out of Albany will prove untrue, and Gov. Kathy Hochul isn’t caving to progressives in state budget talks.
Peril No. 1: An expansion of rent control.
The misnamed “Good Cause Eviction” bill called for effectively capping rent hikes at 3% max for all units statewide, including those not yet regulated. It forced landlords to grant automatic lease renewals and made it nearly impossible to evict tenants, no matter the reason.
It seems Hochul is considering a “compromise” that would prevent hikes above as much as 10%, or five percentage points over the Consumer Price Index, The Post’s Vaughn Golden reported; other concessions are also on the table, such as excluding some buildings from the law.
Sorry, but as we recently warned, no tweaks or compromises can save “Good Cause”: In any form, it’ll scare away builders, reduce housing production and make it harder for tenants to find a decent place to live.
And count on progressives to tweak it in future years to make it even worse.
Does Hochul want to be remembered as the governor who extended city rent laws to every apartment in the state (or at least began the process) — and paved the way for the decimation of the state’s housing market?
Finally restoring the city’s affordable-housing construction tax break, and fixing the botched 2019 rent law “reforms,” would be wins for the Gov, but “Good Cause” is too high a price.
Meanwhile, she’s already agreed to “delay” cuts in state aid to school districts whose enrollments have fallen. Meaning the state will hand out the same, or more, cash to schools with fewer kids.
The Legislature also put major criminal justice reform, like fixing the no-bail law, off the table: Maybe the gov can get her way on boosting retail-theft penalties.
Also up in the air: Her drive for sensible cuts to Medicaid spending, and some way to rapidly, permanently shutter illegal pot shops.
Yes, Hochul faces slim supermajorities of tax-and-spend Democrats, many hard leftists, in both the Assembly and Senate.
So the Legislature can override her vetoes if, say, it passes “Good Cause” on its own — but she needs to pick off just a vote or two to prevent that, which seems eminently doable for any competent gov.
She can also threaten to do as Gov. David Paterson did and refuse to send them “budget extenders” (except for vital parts of the government) — in effect, daring lawmakers to shut down most agencies if they won’t bend to her will on budget issues.
There’s no excuse for caving on a bad budget.
Lawmakers have been rolling over Hochul, notably winning a fat pay hike for themselves without making any concessions and then nixing her pick for state chief judge.
It’s past time for her to start telling the progs: No way.