NYC NOW - April 26, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: April 26, 2023

APRIL 26 EVENING Council members in New York City are aiming to close what they say are loopholes in the laws governing lead paint in the city's aging housing stock. And the New York state budget is now nearly four weeks late. But there's a glimmer of hope that a deal may be on the horizon. WNYC's Michael Hill discusses the latest with Albany reporter Jon Campbell.

Good evening and welcome to NYC Now. I'm Junae Pierre for WNYC. New York City Council members are aiming to close what they say are loopholes in the laws governing lead paint in the city's aging housing stock. Several new bills debated in the City Council this week would strengthen provisions that require landlords to inspect their buildings for chipping or flaking paint and to abate lead paint hazards in apartments and homes. Council member Perina Sanchez represents parts of the Bronx. Lead poisoning today is a hazard faced by a child in New York City, truly, depending on their zip code and their race. Lead paint is the leading cause of lead exposure among children in New York City. Of the 2,500 children found to have elevated lead levels in 2021, 81% were black, Asian, or Latino. Stick around. There's more after the break.

The New York State budget is nearly a month late, but Governor Kathy Hokel says there's a glimmer of hope that a deal may be on the horizon. I do see a path to wrap up the budget, perhaps as early as the end of this week. For more, my colleague Michael Hill talked with WNYC's Albany reporter John Campbell. The state budget was due as you've been reporting, John, April 1st. This is Governor Hockel's second budget, and both have been late. what's the holdup this time? Michael, it's been 13 years since we've seen a budget this late, and there have been a lot of holdups. Governor Hockel, she decided to put a lot of policy proposals in her original $227 billion proposal back in February, and she and legislative leaders have spent weeks negotiating a change, particularly to the state bail laws, essentially to make it clearer to judges that they have discretion to set cash bail in serious cases. And once they got past that, there were other holdups.

They spent some time negotiating the governor's housing plan, which would have required local governments to grow their housing stock by as much as 3%. But the governor dropped all of that housing policy from her budget late last week. And that seemed to start to break the logjam, so to speak. There still are some holdups, some of which are centered on charter schools and some of which are related to these unlicensed marijuana shops that are popping up all over the city and across the state. John, let's start there with the unlicensed marijuana retailers.

What are the governor and lawmakers discussing about that? This all has to do with the state legalizing marijuana a few years back. Since then, we've seen these unlicensed stores open up all over the place, way before even the first legal sales licenses were awarded last year. And the way the law is written, it's been pretty difficult for the state to crack down on those stores. They're operating in this kind of gray area. So the governor wants to toughen up the law to make it easier for regulators to enforce it. She basically wants to make it easier to shut down these shops, in part by substantially increasing the fines they could face and also making it easier for the state to impose taxes.

The sooner we get that done, the better because as we continue to stand at more legitimate operations, they need to know that their investment of time and energy is going to be worthwhile for them ultimately. So Hockel's trying to get that done in the budget because she says time is of the essence, but there's a lot for lawmakers to chew on here, and they're spending a lot of time debating, say, which state agencies can raid an illegal shop, and when can they do it? And, John, how about charter schools? Why doesn't Governor Hocle and lawmakers see eye to eye on this one? This is always a tough issue in Albany. The governor wants to expand charter schools in New York City.

These are schools that are privately run and publicly funded. some parents like them because it gives them more choice, but public school folks say that charter schools take away from them. So she wanted to lift a regional cap that limited the number of charters in New York City. That would have let more schools open up. But the Democratic majorities in the legislature, they have long resisted that. They fear that allowing this to happen could harm the public school system. And the teachers union opposes them too. And that's a union that has a lot of juice in Albany. So talks have focused in recent days more on what's known as zombie charters.

And these are charters that were awarded to a school that maybe has gone defunct or maybe never opened up in the first place. Governor Hockel wants to award them to new schools that would open up a couple dozen charters. And it seems like there's room for compromise there, although there are still some tough issues to work through, including figuring out how to find space for all these. new charters without it being a burden on the city's finances. So, John, tell us what happens next here? We heard the governor say she hopes things can be wrapped up this week.

Given the divisions that you've been reporting, John, how likely is that to happen? It remains to be seen. The last couple days, Senate Democrats and Assembly Democrats have been meeting in these long marathon private meetings where they're talking about dozens of issues. And that's a pretty good sign. That means things are progressing. They are things for them to talk about. But once they have a deal with the governor, all of these weighty policy issues have to be written up into bills, 10 of them and all.

Then it's on to the voting, and that can take hours and hours and hours. And all of that is to say there's still a lot to do before this budget passed. So by the end of the week, that might be a little tough. Lawmakers have passed five short-term extensions already. If they don't have a deal by Friday, they're going to have to pass another. That's WNYC's all. reporter John Campbell talking with my colleague Michael Hill. Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC.

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