Plugged In @ Hinman Straub

February 14, 2025

What’s Inside

Legislative Session Recap
Governor Issues Pocket Veto
Department of Justice Sues New York Over Green Light Law
Governor Vows to Shield New York Doctor from Louisiana Warrant
Governor Hochul Issues Ban on DeepSeek AI
In the News
Coming Up

Legislative Session Recap

The Legislature convened Monday-Wednesday of this week. The Legislature will not meet next week and will reconvene on Monday, February 24.

This week the Senate highlighted a package of legislation they passed to make higher education more affordable and accessible for all New Yorkers.

Legislation in the package will seek to establish and implement the following:

Increases the maximum time limits for TAP awards: This legislation, S.3779, sponsored by Senator Andrew Gounardes, increases the maximum time limit for Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) awards from four to six years.
Expands TAP awards to students experiencing homelessness: This legislation, S.27, sponsored by Senator Robert Jackson, expands Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) eligibility to make it available for students experiencing homelessness.
Informing students about their tuition liability: This legislation, S.78, sponsored by Senator John Liu, would require colleges, universities, professional, proprietary and graduate schools to provide written notice to all students of the institution’s tuition liability policies.
Establishes graduate degree level TAP awards: This legislation, S.3810, sponsored by Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, extends Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) benefits to graduate students who need financial aid during their time at SUNY or CUNY.
Establishes a time frame for the HESC to determine financial aid eligibility: This legislation, S.3738, sponsored by Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, would require The Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) to make financial aid determinations within 60 days of receiving a student’s completed financial aid application.

More information can be found here.

Joint Budget Hearings

Joint budget hearings continue to take place until February 27. This week, the Legislature held three budget hearings: Health/Medicaid, Human Services, and Public Protection. The schedule moving forward is as follows:

Higher Education: Tuesday, February 25 at 9:30 a.m.
Labor/Workforce Development: Wednesday, February 26 at 9:30 a.m.
Economic Development/Arts: Wednesday, February 26 at 2:00 p.m.
Housing: Thursday, February 27 at 9:30 a.m.
Taxes: Thursday, February 27 at 2:00 p.m.

Please note, that requests to testify must be made by submitting a Hearing Request Form.

Governor Issues Pocket Veto

This week, the Governor exercised a relatively uncommon “pocket veto,” effectively rejecting a bill without taking formal action. Through inaction, the Governor rejected a bill that would increase the reimbursement rates for after 4:00 p.m. bus services for New York City private school students (largely, though not exclusively, yeshivas and other Jewish private schools). The legislation was the last bill left over from the 2024 legislative session and was sponsored by Assemblymember Simcha Eichenstein and Senator Julia Salazar.

Under normal circumstances, because the legislature remains “gaveled in” throughout the year, the Governor must act on any bill delivered within 10 days (excluding the day of delivery and Sundays). If no action is taken within that period, the bill automatically becomes law.

Pocket vetoes are a rare occurrence because the legislature remains “gaveled in” year-around, in part to prevent the Governor’s ability to utilize them. Remaining gaveled in also allows the legislature to prevent recess appointments by the Governor and provides the legislature with the ability to return to session at their discretion and without needing the Governor to call a special session, where the legislature is constrained to act only on the Governor’s agenda items.

However, at the end of each calendar year, a window exists in which a pocket veto becomes possible. If a bill is delivered within 10 days of the start of the new legislative session, the Governor is granted 30 days to act. If no action is taken within that timeframe, the bill is automatically vetoed. Because the legislature controls the timing and delivery of all legislation, delivering a bill in this window is typically done at the request of the Governor and by consent of the controlling house (whichever house of the legislature passed the legislation first).

Department of Justice Sues New York Over Green Light Law

The U.S. Attorney General announced the U.S. Department of Justice is filing a lawsuit against the state of New York over immigration enforcement, specifically citing New York’s “Green Light” Law. The “Green Light” legislation was signed into law by Governor Cuomo in 2019 and authorized the provision of driver licenses to non-citizens and restricted the release of certain records to agencies primarily enforcing immigration law.

Some of the allegations in the federal complaint include that state officials in New York are directed by law to inform undocumented immigrants when federal agents seek information related to their immigration status. The attorney general also alleged that New York’s statutes unlawfully prevent state and federal law enforcement from enforcing immigration law.

The Governor issued a response to the lawsuit in a prepared statement, saying:

Earlier today, Attorney General Pam Bondi marched in front of the television cameras for a dramatic media briefing to announce she was filing charges against New York State related to our immigration laws. Hours later, when legal papers were shared with reporters, we learned this was smoke and mirrors: the Department of Justice was filing a routine civil action about a law passed in 2019 that has been upheld by the courts time and again.

Here are the facts: our current laws allow federal immigration officials to access any DMV database with a judicial warrant. That’s a common-sense approach that most New Yorkers support. But there’s no way I’m letting federal agents, or Elon Musk’s shadowy DOGE operation, get unfettered access to the personal data of any New Yorker in the DMV system like 16-year-old kids learning to drive and other vulnerable people.

New York is proud that immigrants from across the globe come here searching for a better life — people like my grandparents who left Ireland looking for the American dream. We welcome law-abiding individuals who want to work, pay taxes and contribute to our communities, while at the same time protecting the public safety of all New Yorkers by cracking down on violent criminals.

We expect Pam Bondi’s worthless, publicity-driven lawsuit to be a total failure, just like all the others. Let me be clear: New York is not backing down.

Governor Vows to Shield New York Doctor from Louisiana Warrant

The Governor held a press conference in response the state of Louisiana’s submission of an order of extradition for a New York doctor charged in Louisiana with the crime of a criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs. The Governor announced that she will be refusing the order of extradition and has taken steps to ensure law enforcement will not cooperate or enforce this extradition request.

The Governor said:

Louisiana has changed their laws, but that has no bearing on the laws here in the State of New York. Doctors take an oath to protect their patients. I took an oath of office to protect all New Yorkers, and I will uphold not only our constitution, but also the laws of our land. And I will not be signing an extradition order that came from the Governor of Louisiana: Not now, not ever.

Governor Issues Ban on DeepSeek AI

On Monday, Governor Hochul announced a statewide ban to prohibit the DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence application from being downloaded on ITS-managed government devices and networks.

DeepSeek is an AI start-up founded and owned by High-Flyer, a stock trading firm based in the People’s Republic of China. Concerns have been raised regarding DeepSeek AI’s connection to foreign government surveillance and censorship, including how DeepSeek can be used to harvest user data and steal technology secrets.

Governor Hochul said:

Public safety is my top priority and we’re working aggressively to protect New Yorkers from foreign and domestic threats. New York will continue fighting to combat cyber threats, ensure the privacy and safety of our data, and safeguard against state-sponsored censorship.