Plugged In @ Hinman Straub
May 12, 2023
What’s Inside
- Governor Signs Executive Order Declaring State of Emergency
- Governor Announces Plans for $650 million fairlife Production Facility in Monroe County
- Governor Announces Additional Awards Through Round XII of Regional Economic Development Council Initiative
- State Senate Passes Legislation to Protect Domestic and Sexual Violence Survivors
- Supreme Court Overturns Percoco and Kaloyeros Convictions
- Political Updates
- Coming Up
Governor Signs Executive Order Declaring State of Emergency
With the federal Title 42 immigration policy expiring on May 11, the Governor signed Executive Order 28 declaring a state of emergency. The Executive Order will provide the State with greater flexibility to procure the resources necessary for municipalities to support asylum seekers while also allowing the State to increase the number of National Guard service members providing logistical and operational support.
Additionally, the order allows the State and localities to respond to the anticipated arrivals of asylum seekers and to purchase necessary supplies and resources, including food and equipment.
Governor Hochul said:
Governor Announces Plans for $650 Million fairlife Production Facility in Monroe County
The Governor announced that The Coca-Cola Company has selected New York State as its preferred location for a new fairlife production facility. fairlife was founded in 2012 and has designed a line of products that are made through an ultra-filtered milk process that removes the lactose and much of the sugar and leaves behind more of the protein and calcium. The company offers a wide range of products including fairlife® ultra-filtered milk, Core Power® protein shakes, and fairlife® Nutrition Plan® meal replacement shakes. The Coca-Cola Company has been a strategic partner to fairlife since it was launched in 2012 through the company’s ultimate acquisition of it in 2020.
This facility, set to be operational by late 2025, is expected to span 745,000 square-feet as well as create up to 250 jobs in the Town of Webster, Monroe County. A groundbreaking is set to take place this fall, subject to final appropriate approvals.
Empire State Development (ESD) will provide up to $21 million in assistance through their Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit Program in exchange for job creation commitments from the company. A $20 million Capital Grant is expected to be applied for by the Monroe County Industry Development Agency (IDA) in an effort to provide adequate power and other related costs to service the site. The total invesrtment for the projected is estimated at $650 million.
Governor Hochul said:
Governor Announces Additional Awards Through Round XII of Regional Economic Development Council Initiative
The Governor announced that more than $24 million has been awarded to support 28 priority projects across New York State through the Regional Economic Development Council initiative. Round XII included core capital grant and tax-credit funding from Empire State Development, which was made available on a continuous and competitive basis to support the immediate needs of communities. The application for ESD grant funds has closed for the round and is anticipated to reopen in mid-May. Applicants with strong, shovel-ready projects that align with the state and region’s economic development priorities can prepare to apply through the Consolidated Funding Application.
A full list of Round XII awardees can be found here.
State Senate Passes Legislation to Protect Domestic and Sexual Violence Survivors
The State Senate passed a package of legislation designed to increase protections for domestic and sexual violence victims. Components of the package include the following:
S.214-A Myrie – Expanded Eligibility for Victim Compensation Funds
The bill would expand eligibility for victims and survivors of crime to access victim compensation funds by removing the mandatory law enforcement reporting requirement, providing alternative forms of evidence that would show that a qualifying crime was committed and the confidentiality of certain records.
S.303 Salazar – Expands Definition of “Welfare” for Reimbursement of a Victim’s Personal Property
The bill would expand the definition of “welfare” in order to enable victims of crime to receive reimbursement for personal property that has been lost, or damaged, or stolen as a result of a crime.
S.936 Bailey – Housing Prioritization for Domestic Violence Survivors
The bill would require statewide housing authorities to grant domestic violence survivors the same preference as granted to other prioritized populations like the disabled, the elderly, or the homeless.
S.1901 Stavisky – Enacting Emma’s Law
The bill would provide for victim statements to be read at the sentencing of a defendant for a misdemeanor.
S.1951 Hoylman-Sigal – Removal of Time Period for Persistent Sexual Abuse Definition
The bill would remove the ten-year lookback period in relation to being defined as a person who has committed persistent sexual abuse.
S.3071 Fernandez – Improved Access to Orders of Protection Records
The bill would allow prosecutors to access orders of protection issued in association with sealed prior domestic violence cases if the offender commits a new domestic violence offense.
S.3236 Sepulveda – Defining Victims of Unlawful Image Dissemination
The bill would add to the definition of a victim of a sexual offense by including a victim of unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate image.
S.3340 Mayer – Requirements for ERPO Reports
The bill would require extreme risk protection orders to be reported to the statewide computerized registry of orders of protection and certain warrants of arrest.
S.4686 Parker – Enacting the New York State Phoenix Act
The bill would extend the statute of limitations for felony family offenses to ten years and misdemeanor family offenses to five years.
S.5502 Scarcella-Spanton – Victims’ Rights Disclosures
The bill would provide additional rights to crime victims and require the court or district attorney, either at sentencing or at the earliest time possible, to provide the victims of said crime with an informational sheet explaining their rights.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said:
Supreme Court Overturns Percoco and Kaloyeros Convictions
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned the convictions of Joe Percoco, longtime staffer to Governor Cuomo, as well as Alain Kaloyeros, the former top official of SUNY Polytechnic who was convicted in a separate bribery and fraud case. In Percoco’s case, the court determined that he could not be convicted of honest services fraud because he was not working for the state when he took $315,000 in fees to help steer state business to two companies. Federal prosecutors contended he could be convicted because he maintained a “special relationship” with the Cuomo administration.
“We conclude that this is not the proper test for determining whether a private person may be convicted of honest-services fraud, and we therefore reverse and remand for further proceedings,” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the court.
Separately, Buffalo developer Louis P. Ciminelli and Alain Kaloyeros saw their convictions overturned when the justices ended the use of the controversial “right to control” legal theory under which a jury found those men guilty in 2018 of illegally steering a $750 million state contract to Ciminelli’s company.
“The right-to-control theory cannot be squared with the text of the federal fraud statutes,” which are limited to only protecting property rights, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote. The Department of Justice announced during arguments in November that the government no longer supports using the right to control theory in fraud prosecutions.
All three men, along with Syracuse developers Steven Aiello and Joe Gerardi, were released from prison last year when the Supreme Court agreed to hear their appeals.
Political Updates
City & State NY’s Weekly Winners and Losers here.
After a month standoff, what did Gov. Kathy Hochul win in the state budget?
Hochul declares state of emergency amid migrant surge.
Lawmakers want out-of-state health staff to practice in New York.
Gun seizures in New York are soaring a year after ‘extreme risk’ law broadened.
State Police union says investigators ‘overwhelmed’ by gun seizure cases.
After a four-year campaign, New York says yes to publicly owned renewables.
One month to go: criminal justice, housing enter back into fold.
City & State provides a (not so) brief guide to New York’s bail reform evolution.
Business operators say they watch regulations, taxes, not state budget.
New York just took a landmark step toward publicly owned renewable energy.
New York considers more disclosure for campaign donors.
5 issues to watch as New York lawmakers close out session.
Democrats join in bid to end workplace NDAs.
U.S. Supreme Court tosses convictions of Percoco, Kaloyeros, developers.
After fight that delayed state budget, Hochul says, ‘We are done with bail’.
Legislative limits on ‘cap and invest’ look unlikely this session.
Legislators revisit a constitutional amendment to change the budget process.
Clean Slate Act looms as end-of-session issue.
Why lawmakers want to review how New York’s cannabis business banks.
‘We’re gonna win this fight’: Biden slams GOP debt limit plan in N.Y.
Coming Up
The Board of Regents will hold their next meeting on May 15 and 16.
The Public Service Commission will hold its next meeting on May 18.
The Senate will hold a public hearing on the impacts of non-compete agreements on the labor market and economic development (S.3100 Ryan) on May 23.
The Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government will hold their next meeting on May 23.
The Senate will hold a public hearing to collect feedback on S.1977 and understand the scale of the issue of wage theft in New York on May 25.
The Assembly will hold a public hearing examining the transparency and security of the cryptocurrency industry on May 25.
The Senate will hold a public hearing on the failure of Signature Bank and what can be done to prevent future bank failures on May 30.