THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
"LOVETT: Is it four more years--or two--for newly re-elected Cuomo?"
By Kenneth Lovett, Albany Bureau Chief
Nov 06, 2018
For Gov. Cuomo after his re-election victory Tuesday, is it four more years or just two?
Cuomo has long been believed to harbor national ambitions.
And the way he made President Trump front-and-center of his third-term re-election campaign against overmatched Republican challenger Marc Molinaro has many believing he might take the plunge.
After all, it’s something his father, former three-term Gov. Mario Cuomo, never did.
“I think now that he officially has done what his father did, he got a third term, the question is where does he go from here?” said the Rev. Al Sharpton.
“There’s some talk of president."
"We’ll see."
"The question is does he go the step beyond Mario?"
"Does he run for President or could he try to win a fourth term?”
Cuomo is not the only New Yorker mentioned as a possible 2020 candidate.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate as has U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who easily won her own re-election bid Tuesday.
”As Donald Trump showed two years ago, in a field with many many candidates, anything can happen,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said.
Many close to the governor say it’s more likely he has his sites already on a fourth term as governor that his father wasn’t able to accomplish.
One thing is clear, Cuomo will likely make a decision on 2020 pretty quickly.
Not just because the next Presidential cycle begins in earnest now that mid-term elections are over.
The governor also remembers full well how his father publicly vacillated about whether to take the plunge—earning him the moniker “Hamlet on the Hudson.”
Unlike his election to a third term, this is not a sequel Cuomo wants any part of — “Hamlet on the Hudson 2.”
Cuomo said during his gubernatorial debate with Molinaro that he plans to serve a full, four-year term as governor if re-elected.
But he wouldn’t be the first person to change his mind.
But for however long Cuomo remains in Albany—four years, two years—he will be dealing with a different animal than he is used to.
With the Democrats winning control of the state Senate, Cuomo will now be sandwiched between a Legislature that will attempt to pull him even more to the left than he has been comfortable with.
Expect Cuomo and the legislative Democrats to quickly pass a number of low-hanging progressive fruit, like a strengthening of the abortion law and voting reforms to show the state is heading in a different direction.
But for eight years, Cuomo was able to blame the Senate Republicans for blocking certain progressive initiatives he might not have wanted.
He used a group of breakaway Democrats aligned with the Senate GOP in the same way and likely hoped they would serve as his firewall on certain leftist issues like potentially raising taxes on millionaires should the Dems take over the chamber.
But six of the eight breakaway Dems lost their primaries in September.
Cuomo during the general election campaign sought to create relationships with Democratic candidates from the suburbs and upstate, which tend to be more moderate, especially when it comes to taxes.
The current Democratic leadership say they learned their lessons from 2008-09, the last time they held the majority.
They lost it the next election because they didn’t protect marginal and upstate members.
“Some things stay the same, somethings change,” Greenberg said of a Cuomo third term.
“His relationship with the Assembly will largely be the same."
"His relationship with the Senate will be completely different...”
Ken Lovett has been with the Daily News’ Albany bureau chief since 2008. During his two decades as a reporter at the state Capitol, he has covered five governors.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politic ... ion_Capcon
THE YOUNG ANDY CUOMO CHRONICLES
Re: THE YOUNG ANDY CUOMO CHRONICLES
"State to revisit possible loophole in mining rules"
By Brian Nearing
Updated 6:10 pm EDT, Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Albany - The state will explore closing a loophole in 26-year-old mining rules that allowed a Sand Lake mine owner to expand without a permit under cover of an exemption aimed at encouraging construction of buildings.
Officials at the Department of Environmental Conservation are "currently discussing revisions" to rules used to enforce a 1991 state mining law, according to a statement Wednesday from DEC headquarters.
"DEC is proposing to amend these regulations to clarify ambiguous sections, strengthen portions of the regulations, reflect changes in the regulatory fee structure and civil penalties, and reflect changes in scientific knowledge," according to the statement.
"Stakeholder and public outreach activities will be scheduled in the future as this process develops."
At issue is a section of these rules that allows for "excavation and removal of minerals" for up to two years during construction projects, without requiring developers to obtain a DEC mining permit that involves a detailed environmental review.
That provision was used by Jude Clemente, owner of Troy Sand & Gravel, to mine on a 17-acre property on Stop 13 Road next to his sprawling 151-acre mine on Route 43 in Sand Lake from early 2016 until DEC shut down the expansion in June 2018.
By that time, he had removed about 45,000 cubic yards of material, or enough to fill more than 3,200 dump trucks.
That material could have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.
Clemente used a construction exemption obtained from DEC in February 2015 by Sand Lake construction company owner Lawrence Dickinson, whose plans to build two homes on the residentially owned property never materialized past the initial planning stages.
Dickinson applied for and received the state exemption even though Clemente had owned the property since 2009.
Dickinson also got approval for the homes from the Sand Lake planning board.
DEC stopped issuing such construction exemptions sometime in 2015, according to an agency official.
The two-year construction deadline in the state exemption is meant to discourage back-door mining projects disguised as development.
DEC rules also limited excavation on an exempted site to what is "an integral part" of construction activity.
It could not be immediately determined how many construction exemptions DEC has issued since these rules went into effect in 1992, or how many times DEC issued fines for mining that was done without any actual construction taking place.
In October, DEC and Clemente agreed that he pay a $5,000 state fine for violating state mining law since his work was "not construction activity."
He also was ordered to grade and reseed the property this fall.
No access roads were ever built from Stop 13 Road into the purported building sites.
Instead, Clemente extended a haul road from his mine into the adjoining property and began excavating, carving out steep hillsides appearing to be up to 30 feet high, according to an aerial view of the site from Google Maps.
The episode has drawn the ire of town officials and also highlights a possible loophole in state rules meant to help developers avoid stringent environmental reviews that mine owners like Clemente must meet.
Last week, town Supervisor Nancy Perry said the town had no idea that Clemente had used Dickinson's exemption to expand his mining operation, since the work is not visible from outside the mine property.
She said the episode is troubling in a town where efforts by long-established miners like Clemente to expand have sparked some community opposition.
The issue comes as a state judge weighs a lawsuit that Clemente and other firms filed against the town in September 2017 over a new zoning law that limits mining.
The lawsuit claims the town was "tampering with the competitive mining market."
That law includes a requirement that any potential new mine must be on a parcel that is at least 20 acres.
The Stop 13 Road site that Clemente mined is 17 acres.
The law also sets limits on how close to roads and adjoining property lines a mine can be.
Perry, who as a planning board member cast the sole vote against Dickinson's housing proposal for the Stop 13 Road property, said the new zoning law was meant as a balance between the interests of miners and town residents.
https://www.timesunion.com/business/art ... to-8569473
By Brian Nearing
Updated 6:10 pm EDT, Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Albany - The state will explore closing a loophole in 26-year-old mining rules that allowed a Sand Lake mine owner to expand without a permit under cover of an exemption aimed at encouraging construction of buildings.
Officials at the Department of Environmental Conservation are "currently discussing revisions" to rules used to enforce a 1991 state mining law, according to a statement Wednesday from DEC headquarters.
"DEC is proposing to amend these regulations to clarify ambiguous sections, strengthen portions of the regulations, reflect changes in the regulatory fee structure and civil penalties, and reflect changes in scientific knowledge," according to the statement.
"Stakeholder and public outreach activities will be scheduled in the future as this process develops."
At issue is a section of these rules that allows for "excavation and removal of minerals" for up to two years during construction projects, without requiring developers to obtain a DEC mining permit that involves a detailed environmental review.
That provision was used by Jude Clemente, owner of Troy Sand & Gravel, to mine on a 17-acre property on Stop 13 Road next to his sprawling 151-acre mine on Route 43 in Sand Lake from early 2016 until DEC shut down the expansion in June 2018.
By that time, he had removed about 45,000 cubic yards of material, or enough to fill more than 3,200 dump trucks.
That material could have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.
Clemente used a construction exemption obtained from DEC in February 2015 by Sand Lake construction company owner Lawrence Dickinson, whose plans to build two homes on the residentially owned property never materialized past the initial planning stages.
Dickinson applied for and received the state exemption even though Clemente had owned the property since 2009.
Dickinson also got approval for the homes from the Sand Lake planning board.
DEC stopped issuing such construction exemptions sometime in 2015, according to an agency official.
The two-year construction deadline in the state exemption is meant to discourage back-door mining projects disguised as development.
DEC rules also limited excavation on an exempted site to what is "an integral part" of construction activity.
It could not be immediately determined how many construction exemptions DEC has issued since these rules went into effect in 1992, or how many times DEC issued fines for mining that was done without any actual construction taking place.
In October, DEC and Clemente agreed that he pay a $5,000 state fine for violating state mining law since his work was "not construction activity."
He also was ordered to grade and reseed the property this fall.
No access roads were ever built from Stop 13 Road into the purported building sites.
Instead, Clemente extended a haul road from his mine into the adjoining property and began excavating, carving out steep hillsides appearing to be up to 30 feet high, according to an aerial view of the site from Google Maps.
The episode has drawn the ire of town officials and also highlights a possible loophole in state rules meant to help developers avoid stringent environmental reviews that mine owners like Clemente must meet.
Last week, town Supervisor Nancy Perry said the town had no idea that Clemente had used Dickinson's exemption to expand his mining operation, since the work is not visible from outside the mine property.
She said the episode is troubling in a town where efforts by long-established miners like Clemente to expand have sparked some community opposition.
The issue comes as a state judge weighs a lawsuit that Clemente and other firms filed against the town in September 2017 over a new zoning law that limits mining.
The lawsuit claims the town was "tampering with the competitive mining market."
That law includes a requirement that any potential new mine must be on a parcel that is at least 20 acres.
The Stop 13 Road site that Clemente mined is 17 acres.
The law also sets limits on how close to roads and adjoining property lines a mine can be.
Perry, who as a planning board member cast the sole vote against Dickinson's housing proposal for the Stop 13 Road property, said the new zoning law was meant as a balance between the interests of miners and town residents.
https://www.timesunion.com/business/art ... to-8569473
Re: THE YOUNG ANDY CUOMO CHRONICLES
FEDERALIST No. 73
The Provision For The Support of the Executive, and the Veto Power
From the New York Packet.
Friday, March 21, 1788.
HAMILTON
To the People of the State of New York:
THE third ingredient towards constituting the vigor of the executive authority, is an adequate provision for its support.
It is evident that, without proper attention to this article, the separation of the executive from the legislative department would be merely nominal and nugatory.
The legislature, with a discretionary power over the salary and emoluments of the Chief Magistrate, could render him as obsequious to their will as they might think proper to make him.
They might, in most cases, either reduce him by famine, or tempt him by largesses, to surrender at discretion his judgment to their inclinations.
These expressions, taken in all the latitude of the terms, would no doubt convey more than is intended.
There are men who could neither be distressed nor won into a sacrifice of their duty; but this stern virtue is the growth of few soils; and in the main it will be found that a power over a man's support is a power over his will.
If it were necessary to confirm so plain a truth by facts, examples would not be wanting, even in this country, of the intimidation or seduction of the Executive by the terrors or allurements of the pecuniary arrangements of the legislative body.
It is not easy, therefore, to commend too highly the judicious attention which has been paid to this subject in the proposed Constitution.
It is there provided that “The President of the United States shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation WHICH SHALL NEITHER BE INCREASED NOR DIMINISHED DURING THE PERIOD FOR WHICH HE SHALL HAVE BEEN ELECTED; and he SHALL NOT RECEIVE WITHIN THAT PERIOD ANY OTHER EMOLUMENT from the United States, or any of them.''
KEEPING IN MIND THAT THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CORRUPT STATE OF NEW YORK GIVES THE NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ABSOLUTELY NO AUTHORITY, JURISDICTION OR DISCRETION TO INVESTIGATE A SITTING PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO SCORE SOME CHEAP POLITICAL POINTS AS SHE IS TALKING ABOUT DOING HERE, WHICH IS TO CONDUCT A POLITICAL WITCH HUNT …FEDERALIST No. 77
The Appointing Power Continued and Other Powers of the Executive Considered
From the New York Packet.
Friday, April 4, 1788.
HAMILTON
To the People of the State of New York:
Let us take a view of the converse of the proposition: “the Senate would influence the Executive.''
As I have had occasion to remark in several other instances, the indistinctness of the objection forbids a precise answer.
In what manner is this influence to be exerted?
In relation to what objects?
The power of influencing a person, in the sense in which it is here used, must imply a power of conferring a benefit upon him.
How could the Senate confer a benefit upon the President by the manner of employing their right of negative upon his nominations?
If it be said they might sometimes gratify him by an acquiescence in a favorite choice, when public motives might dictate a different conduct, I answer, that the instances in which the President could be personally interested in the result, would be too few to admit of his being materially affected by the compliances of the Senate.
The POWER which can ORIGINATE the disposition of honors and emoluments, is more likely to attract than to be attracted by the POWER which can merely obstruct their course.
WHICH IS A GROSS MISUSE OF GOVERNMENT RESOURCES FOR PARTISAN POLITICAL PURPOSES IN ORDER TO CAUSE DISSENSIONS IN THIS COUNTRY AND TO DISRUPT THE FUNCTIONING OF OUR GOVERNMENT …
WHICH IS A FORM OF SEDITION, CONDUCT AND/OR SPEECH INCITING PEOPLE TO REBEL AGAINST THE AUTHORITY OF THE PRESIDENT BY PRETENDING HE HAS NONE …
AND SHE SURE AS HELL DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THE EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION MEANS …
BUT THEN, SHE IS A DEMOCRAT, SO SHE DOESN'T HAVE TO …
SHE CAN INSTEAD MAKE IT UP AS SHE GOES …
And so ...
NBC NEWS
"Incoming New York attorney general plans wide-ranging investigations of Trump and family"
Allan Smith
12 DECEMBER 2018
New York Attorney Gen.-elect Letitia James says she plans to launch sweeping investigations into President Donald Trump, his family and "anyone" in his circle who may have violated the law once she settles into her new job next month.
"We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well," James, a Democrat, told NBC News in her first extensive interview since she was elected last month.
James outlined some of the probes she intends to pursue with regard to the president, his businesses and his family members.
They include:
Any illegalities involving Trump's real estate holdings in New York, highlighting the October New York Times investigation into the president's finances.
The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian official.
Examine government subsidies Trump received, which were also the subject of Times investigative work.
Whether he is in violation of the emoluments clause in the U.S. Constitution through his New York businesses.
Continue to probe the Trump Foundation.
"We want to investigate anyone in his orbit who has, in fact, violated the law," said James, who was endorsed by and will serve in the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been mentioned as a possible 2020 Democratic contender but insists he won't run.
James campaigned on passing a bill to change New York's double jeopardy laws with an eye on possible pardons coming out of the White House.
James told NBC News she wants to be able to pursue state charges against anyone the president were to pardon over federal charges or convictions and whose alleged crimes took place in the state.
Under current New York law, she might not be unable to do that.
"I think within the first 100 days this bill will be passed," she said, adding, "It is a priority because I have concerns with respect to the possibility that this administration might pardon some individuals who might face some criminal charges, but I do not want them to be immune from state charges."
She's also enlisting help from some prosecutorial heavy hitters, like former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, as a part of her transition to help her identify important hires for her office with an eye on bringing in experts for its Trump-related investigations.
New York is home to the president's namesake business, the Trump Organization, and it is where Trump's presidential campaign was headquartered and his reelection campaign as well.
And it is where a number of key events under special counsel Robert Mueller's microscope, such as the controversial June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, took place.
All of that falls within James' jurisdiction.
As a result, she is about to become one of the most recognizable — and powerful — state attorneys general in the country.
"Taking on President Trump and looking at all of the violations of law I think is no match to what I have seen in my lifetime," James said.
Currently the city's public advocate for a few more weeks, James is set to take over for New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood.
She was appointed to fill in for the remainder of Eric Schneiderman's term after he resigned earlier this year following accusations of sexual misconduct.
The most prominent litigation between the attorney general's office and the president involves the Trump Foundation.
Schneiderman began probing the charity in 2016 and Underwood later filed the lawsuit against Trump, his adult children and the foundation in June.
The foundation is accused of engaging in illegal political coordination with the Trump campaign, self-dealing and violating legal obligations.
The Trumps and the foundation could face millions of dollars in penalties as a result.
Trump's lawyers tried and failed to have the case thrown out in New York state Supreme Court, alleging the probe was politically motivated.
Underwood also was investigating whether Trump has violated the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which generally prohibits federal officials from receiving gifts or payments from foreign or state governments.
The White House, Trump Organization, an attorney representing the company and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani did not respond to requests for comment.
Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz told NBC News that the president has "considerably more vulnerability" when faced with New York state investigations because he can't hold out the offer of pardons or fire investigators, though he said James' scope would be limited to matters occurring before Trump became president.
He added that it remains an open question as to whether a sitting president can be charged with a state crime.
For her part, James said she thinks Mueller's "doing an excellent job."
"I think he's closing in on this president," she said, "and his days are going to be coming to an end shortly."
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ ... id=HPDHP17
Re: THE YOUNG ANDY CUOMO CHRONICLES
THE TWERP THAT ROARED!
YOUNG ANDY IS SETTING HIMSELF UP FOR A RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020 AS A DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST …
THE DUDE HAS AN EGO AS BIG AS ALL OUTDOORS …
WHILE HE PRESIDES OVER THE MOST CORRUPT STATE IN THE NATION …
SO HIS CLAIM THAT NEW YORK, UNDER HIS STEWARDSHIP, COULD AND WOULD SERVE AS THE ALTERNATIVE TO THE "FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNMENT MALFEASANCE" FROM WASHINGTON, D.C. IS LUDICROUS ...
NEW YORK UNDER YOUNG ANDY IS A POSTER CHILD OF GOVERNMENT MALFEASANCE …
And so ..
"Cuomo assails Trump to start off third term - Governor repeats oath, delivers speech that focuses on Washington rather than Albany"
By David Lombardo, Albany, New York Times Union
Updated 9:56 pm EST, Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Using Ellis Island as his backdrop, Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivered an inaugural address that took aim at the policies of President Donald Trump, faulting the president's immigration policies and arguing that the nation was in the midst of a "social depression" that New York would lead the way in reversing.
"It is New York's duty, it is New York's destiny, once again, to bring the light that leads the way through the darkness," the 61-year-old Democrat said.
"To show the nation the way forward and upward."
He faulted Trump's divisive rhetoric for fueling anti-Semitism and a white-supremacist in Charlottesville, Va., that ended with a woman's death.
"Like looters during a blackout, they didn't cause the darkness, but they exploited it," he said.
He argued that the cure for the country's "social depression" was a dose of his "justice agenda," which he outlined in a pseudo state of the state address last month.
The third-term governor broadly outlined a progressive agenda planned for the upcoming legislative session, outlining a list of familiar topics that included gun control laws, abortion protections, criminal justice reform, and a "green new deal" he intended to push in the Legislature's upcoming session.
But Cuomo opened and closed his speech with shots at the Trump administration.
The governor's remarks delivered inside a hall at Ellis Island - a place millions of immigrants came to the United States - largely revolved around the premise that New York - under his stewardship - could and would serve as the alternative to the "failure of leadership and government malfeasance" from Washington D.C.
"There is no other nation that can threaten us. America's only threat is from within: It is the growing division amongst us."
His remarks were preceded by an introductory video that resembled those that have been used to launch past presidential campaigns.
Cuomo, who received 3.6 million votes in November on his way to a third term in office, was sworn in by state Chief Judge Janet DiFiore.
He had his family by his side, including partner Sandra Lee.
The evening also served as a platform for the newly elected state attorney general, Letitia James, who, without mentioning the president by name, made it clear in a brief speech that she would continue her predecessor's commitment to using the office as a bulwark against the Trump administration.
The festivities at Ellis Island were only possible amid the federal shutdown because the state is paying $65,000 a day to keep the site, and the adjacent Statue of Liberty, open to the public.
In a deviation from his prepared remarks, Cuomo said he was proud to foot the bill, which New York has done during previous shutdowns, too.
This was not the first time the governor has forsaken Albany for his inaugural address, choosing to give speeches in Manhattan and Buffalo four years ago.
His father, former-Gov. Mario Cuomo, who was on his deathbed at the time, died during the second speech.
His first inaugural address was delivered in 2011 from the Capitol.
When the governor returns to Albany he will have a self-imposed 100-day deadline to deliver on a litany of progressive priorities, including some proposals that have languished in the Republican controlled state Senate (voting reforms) and others that would be a first for either house of the state Legislature (legalizing recreational marijuana).
Cuomo was optimistic on Tuesday about his chances of accomplishing his legislative goals with one-party control of state government, claiming he felt liberated by the Democratic takeover of the Senate.
While the governor has been faulted by his critics for past support of Senate Republicans, he said Tuesday that for the past eight years, "I felt like I was fighting with one arm tied behind my back."
He added that they would not repeat the mistakes of the past, an allusion to the scandal-plagued dysfunction of the period a decade ago when Democrats controlled the Legislature and executive mansion.
The idea that Democratic state lawmakers were waiting for Cuomo to realize "the most progressive agenda this state has ever seen" appeared to irk the spokesman for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who skipped the event and has feuded with the governor of late over pay raises for his members.
"These are bills the Assembly has already done and our members have long fought for," tweeted Heastie spokesman Mike Whyland.
David.Lombardo@timesunion.com - 518.454.5427 - @poozer87
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... DailyBrief
YOUNG ANDY IS SETTING HIMSELF UP FOR A RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020 AS A DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST …
THE DUDE HAS AN EGO AS BIG AS ALL OUTDOORS …
WHILE HE PRESIDES OVER THE MOST CORRUPT STATE IN THE NATION …
SO HIS CLAIM THAT NEW YORK, UNDER HIS STEWARDSHIP, COULD AND WOULD SERVE AS THE ALTERNATIVE TO THE "FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNMENT MALFEASANCE" FROM WASHINGTON, D.C. IS LUDICROUS ...
NEW YORK UNDER YOUNG ANDY IS A POSTER CHILD OF GOVERNMENT MALFEASANCE …
And so ..
"Cuomo assails Trump to start off third term - Governor repeats oath, delivers speech that focuses on Washington rather than Albany"
By David Lombardo, Albany, New York Times Union
Updated 9:56 pm EST, Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Using Ellis Island as his backdrop, Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivered an inaugural address that took aim at the policies of President Donald Trump, faulting the president's immigration policies and arguing that the nation was in the midst of a "social depression" that New York would lead the way in reversing.
"It is New York's duty, it is New York's destiny, once again, to bring the light that leads the way through the darkness," the 61-year-old Democrat said.
"To show the nation the way forward and upward."
He faulted Trump's divisive rhetoric for fueling anti-Semitism and a white-supremacist in Charlottesville, Va., that ended with a woman's death.
"Like looters during a blackout, they didn't cause the darkness, but they exploited it," he said.
He argued that the cure for the country's "social depression" was a dose of his "justice agenda," which he outlined in a pseudo state of the state address last month.
The third-term governor broadly outlined a progressive agenda planned for the upcoming legislative session, outlining a list of familiar topics that included gun control laws, abortion protections, criminal justice reform, and a "green new deal" he intended to push in the Legislature's upcoming session.
But Cuomo opened and closed his speech with shots at the Trump administration.
The governor's remarks delivered inside a hall at Ellis Island - a place millions of immigrants came to the United States - largely revolved around the premise that New York - under his stewardship - could and would serve as the alternative to the "failure of leadership and government malfeasance" from Washington D.C.
"There is no other nation that can threaten us. America's only threat is from within: It is the growing division amongst us."
His remarks were preceded by an introductory video that resembled those that have been used to launch past presidential campaigns.
Cuomo, who received 3.6 million votes in November on his way to a third term in office, was sworn in by state Chief Judge Janet DiFiore.
He had his family by his side, including partner Sandra Lee.
The evening also served as a platform for the newly elected state attorney general, Letitia James, who, without mentioning the president by name, made it clear in a brief speech that she would continue her predecessor's commitment to using the office as a bulwark against the Trump administration.
The festivities at Ellis Island were only possible amid the federal shutdown because the state is paying $65,000 a day to keep the site, and the adjacent Statue of Liberty, open to the public.
In a deviation from his prepared remarks, Cuomo said he was proud to foot the bill, which New York has done during previous shutdowns, too.
This was not the first time the governor has forsaken Albany for his inaugural address, choosing to give speeches in Manhattan and Buffalo four years ago.
His father, former-Gov. Mario Cuomo, who was on his deathbed at the time, died during the second speech.
His first inaugural address was delivered in 2011 from the Capitol.
When the governor returns to Albany he will have a self-imposed 100-day deadline to deliver on a litany of progressive priorities, including some proposals that have languished in the Republican controlled state Senate (voting reforms) and others that would be a first for either house of the state Legislature (legalizing recreational marijuana).
Cuomo was optimistic on Tuesday about his chances of accomplishing his legislative goals with one-party control of state government, claiming he felt liberated by the Democratic takeover of the Senate.
While the governor has been faulted by his critics for past support of Senate Republicans, he said Tuesday that for the past eight years, "I felt like I was fighting with one arm tied behind my back."
He added that they would not repeat the mistakes of the past, an allusion to the scandal-plagued dysfunction of the period a decade ago when Democrats controlled the Legislature and executive mansion.
The idea that Democratic state lawmakers were waiting for Cuomo to realize "the most progressive agenda this state has ever seen" appeared to irk the spokesman for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who skipped the event and has feuded with the governor of late over pay raises for his members.
"These are bills the Assembly has already done and our members have long fought for," tweeted Heastie spokesman Mike Whyland.
David.Lombardo@timesunion.com - 518.454.5427 - @poozer87
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... DailyBrief
Re: THE YOUNG ANDY CUOMO CHRONICLES
PEOPLE ARE FLEEING NEW YORK STATE UNDER YOUNG ANDY CUOMO BECAUSE UNDER YOUNG ANDY, THE STATE IS A CORRUPT ****HOLE WITH A HIGH COST OF LIVING …
NEW YORK STATE UNDER YOUNG ANDY IS A POSTER CHILD OF GOVERNMENT MALFEASANCE …
WHICH IS DRIVING PEOPLE ELSEWHERE …
And so ...
"New York poised to lose two congressional seats - Census says state leads country in outward migration"
By David Lombardo, Albany, New York Times Union
Published 12:32 pm EST, Thursday, December 20, 2018
ALBANY - New York's congressional delegation is likely to shrink in four years.
The state is poised to go from 27 members in the House of Representatives to 25, based on an analysis by Election Data Services of the U.S. Census Bureau's updated population estimates for July 2018.
The delegation has shrunk every decade since 1953, when it was a high of 45 members.
New York was one of nine states to lose population in the last year, shedding 48,510 residents and ending up with an estimated population of 19.54 million.
The loss was driven largely by New Yorkers leaving the state for other parts of the country, with a nation-leading net domestic migration of 180,306 people.
This continues a trend since 2010, during which time the state lost nearly 1.2 million residents to other states.
During this same period the state's population ticked up 0.85 percent, due to international migration and natural increases.
Based on New York's trajectory and population changes across the state, the political consulting firm Election Data Services expects the state's representation in Congress to shrink, but the final tally is still up in the air.
"You're right at the edge of one seat or two seats," said Election Data Services President Kimball Brace.
The House of Representatives consists of 435 seats, with each state getting at least one member.
The remaining 385 seats are apportioned based on a population formula established by a 70-year-old calculation.
And while New York is destined to lose one seat in 2022, the fate of the second seat will likely come down to the official census count in 2020.
One analysis by Election Data Services found that if the population of the other 49 states stayed the same, New York's 2020 population would need to increase by 19,648 people to prevent the loss of the second seat.
"There is some wiggle room," said Brace.
The latest population estimates and analysis from Election Data Services should serve as a "wake up call" about the importance of the census, according to Rockefeller Institute fellow Jeff Wice.
Traditionally, he said, the census has not captured all the people living in the state.
Wice anticipated the upcoming state budget would invest in resources to ensure the census accurately reflects New York's population.
The New York Library Association has called for the state to invest $40 million into resources that will help people be counted.
A spokesperson for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo stressed that the state is "committed to being a full partner in a robust outreach effort so that every New Yorker is counted."
The governor directed the state to begin preparations in early 2017 for the upcoming census, the state attorney general's office is challenging the addition of a citizen question to the census that is expected to discourage participation in the count.
Cuomo and legislative leaders formed a 16-member commission earlier this year to ensure an accurate count, but the library association noted on Tuesday that group hasn't met and is scheduled to deliver its final report in less than a month.
The census bureau will release its official count in December 2020, and the updated congressional districts will be reflected in the 2022 elections.
It's not clear yet which of New York's congressional seats could be in jeopardy of disappearing.
The population figures will also affect the state legislative boundaries, but it's unlikely the size of the state Assembly or state Senate will change.
All of the district lines will be crafted by a special commission, with final approval of the boundaries belonging to the state Legislature and Cuomo.
The most recent congressional lines were crafted by a federal judge.
David.Lombardo@timesunion.com - 518.454.5427 - @poozer87
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... DailyBrief
NEW YORK STATE UNDER YOUNG ANDY IS A POSTER CHILD OF GOVERNMENT MALFEASANCE …
WHICH IS DRIVING PEOPLE ELSEWHERE …
And so ...
"New York poised to lose two congressional seats - Census says state leads country in outward migration"
By David Lombardo, Albany, New York Times Union
Published 12:32 pm EST, Thursday, December 20, 2018
ALBANY - New York's congressional delegation is likely to shrink in four years.
The state is poised to go from 27 members in the House of Representatives to 25, based on an analysis by Election Data Services of the U.S. Census Bureau's updated population estimates for July 2018.
The delegation has shrunk every decade since 1953, when it was a high of 45 members.
New York was one of nine states to lose population in the last year, shedding 48,510 residents and ending up with an estimated population of 19.54 million.
The loss was driven largely by New Yorkers leaving the state for other parts of the country, with a nation-leading net domestic migration of 180,306 people.
This continues a trend since 2010, during which time the state lost nearly 1.2 million residents to other states.
During this same period the state's population ticked up 0.85 percent, due to international migration and natural increases.
Based on New York's trajectory and population changes across the state, the political consulting firm Election Data Services expects the state's representation in Congress to shrink, but the final tally is still up in the air.
"You're right at the edge of one seat or two seats," said Election Data Services President Kimball Brace.
The House of Representatives consists of 435 seats, with each state getting at least one member.
The remaining 385 seats are apportioned based on a population formula established by a 70-year-old calculation.
And while New York is destined to lose one seat in 2022, the fate of the second seat will likely come down to the official census count in 2020.
One analysis by Election Data Services found that if the population of the other 49 states stayed the same, New York's 2020 population would need to increase by 19,648 people to prevent the loss of the second seat.
"There is some wiggle room," said Brace.
The latest population estimates and analysis from Election Data Services should serve as a "wake up call" about the importance of the census, according to Rockefeller Institute fellow Jeff Wice.
Traditionally, he said, the census has not captured all the people living in the state.
Wice anticipated the upcoming state budget would invest in resources to ensure the census accurately reflects New York's population.
The New York Library Association has called for the state to invest $40 million into resources that will help people be counted.
A spokesperson for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo stressed that the state is "committed to being a full partner in a robust outreach effort so that every New Yorker is counted."
The governor directed the state to begin preparations in early 2017 for the upcoming census, the state attorney general's office is challenging the addition of a citizen question to the census that is expected to discourage participation in the count.
Cuomo and legislative leaders formed a 16-member commission earlier this year to ensure an accurate count, but the library association noted on Tuesday that group hasn't met and is scheduled to deliver its final report in less than a month.
The census bureau will release its official count in December 2020, and the updated congressional districts will be reflected in the 2022 elections.
It's not clear yet which of New York's congressional seats could be in jeopardy of disappearing.
The population figures will also affect the state legislative boundaries, but it's unlikely the size of the state Assembly or state Senate will change.
All of the district lines will be crafted by a special commission, with final approval of the boundaries belonging to the state Legislature and Cuomo.
The most recent congressional lines were crafted by a federal judge.
David.Lombardo@timesunion.com - 518.454.5427 - @poozer87
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... DailyBrief
Re: THE YOUNG ANDY CUOMO CHRONICLES
AND HERE IS YET ANOTHER IGNORANT HACK POLITICIAN COMING ONTO THE SCENE HERE IN AMERICA WITHOUT A CLUE AS TO HOW GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS IN THIS COUNTRY, NOR DOES SHE CARE …
SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE THIS STATE'S TOP LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER …
BUT SHE IS PERVERTING THE POSITION BECAUSE SHE IS A HATE-FILLED DEMOCRAT …
SHE HAS NO AUTHORITY AS A STATE A.G. TO CHALLENGE THE LEGITIMACY OF A PRESIDENT PUT INTO OFFICE BY THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE …
AND SHE IS OFF HER ROCKER IF SHE THINKS SHE IS …
WHICH INCIDENTALLY DOES NOT SERVE AS A BAR TO HER BEING THE NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL …
MENTAL COMPETENCE IS NOT A REQUIREMENT TO BE N.Y.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL …
NOT IS KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW …
And so
CNN
"NY AG: I'm unafraid to challenge 'illegitimate president'"
CNN's Athena Jones reports on New York's new Attorney General.
Source: CNN
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2019/01/0 ... keilar.cnn
SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE THIS STATE'S TOP LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER …
BUT SHE IS PERVERTING THE POSITION BECAUSE SHE IS A HATE-FILLED DEMOCRAT …
SHE HAS NO AUTHORITY AS A STATE A.G. TO CHALLENGE THE LEGITIMACY OF A PRESIDENT PUT INTO OFFICE BY THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE …
AND SHE IS OFF HER ROCKER IF SHE THINKS SHE IS …
WHICH INCIDENTALLY DOES NOT SERVE AS A BAR TO HER BEING THE NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL …
MENTAL COMPETENCE IS NOT A REQUIREMENT TO BE N.Y.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL …
NOT IS KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW …
And so
CNN
"NY AG: I'm unafraid to challenge 'illegitimate president'"
CNN's Athena Jones reports on New York's new Attorney General.
Source: CNN
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2019/01/0 ... keilar.cnn
Re: THE YOUNG ANDY CUOMO CHRONICLES
MARKETWATCH
"Opinion: Why the housing and mortgage crisis is far from over"
By Keith Jurow
Published: Jan 7, 2019 3:06 p.m. ET
With major data providers reporting that mortgage delinquencies continue to decline, Wall Street and the pundits are more convinced than ever that the mortgage crisis is dead and buried.
The enormous delinquency problem in the New York City metro area shows why I’m convinced that the U.S. housing and mortgage crisis is far from over, and reveals an ugly truth about mortgage deadbeats.
Moreover, New York City is not the only city in this weakened position.
Here’s what’s happening in New York that is likely occurring in other major U.S. real estate markets.
In 2009, the New York State legislature passed a statute requiring all mortgage servicers to send a pre-foreclosure notice to all delinquent owner-occupants in the state.
The notice warned them that they were in danger of foreclosure and explained how they could get help.
Servicers were required to regularly send statistics back to the state's Department of Financial Services for all notices sent out.
The department published two reports in 2010 with a compilation of these numbers.
That was the last time these statistics were officially reported.
I have obtained the unpublished figures from a person involved with compiling the pre-foreclosure notice filings for the department.
The latest update shows cumulative figures through the third quarter of 2018, covering New York City as well as Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.
Totals for the entire state are also included.
Here is a brief summary of what the data show.
Since February 2010, mortgage servicers have sent out a total of 1,242,490 pre-foreclosure notices to delinquent owner-occupants in New York City and Long Island.
This does not include delinquent investor-owners because that was not required under the 2009 law.
About 85% of these notices were for delinquent first liens and the remainder were for second liens.
From the data and my contact, it’s likely that roughly 40% of these were second or third notices sent to the same property.
Why?
The servicers have been sending repeat notices to owners who have not taken action to cure their delinquency for more than a year, and have not yet been foreclosed.
My contact recently informed me that close to 20% of the total are duplicates sent out mistakenly by the servicers.
That most of these delinquent owners have not paid for years is confirmed by related figures published monthly in the Long Island Real Estate Report.
Since early 2016, almost half of the formal notices of default filed in Suffolk County have been repeat notices.
Why?
In New York State, a default notice (known as a lis pendens) is only active for three years after which it expires.
Hence lenders have had to file a new default notice for borrowers whose default notice has been active for three years.
The Suffolk County statistics reveal how outrageous the serious delinquency situation has become in the New York metro area.
Although 359,362 cumulative pre-foreclosure notices have been sent to deadbeat borrowers in Suffolk County alone, fewer than 1,000 formal default notices have been filed each month on these properties since mid-2008.
How is that possible?
Mortgage servicers have been compelled by the 2009 statute to send out pre-foreclosure notices to all delinquent owner-occupants.
Yet it is entirely up to the discretion of the mortgage servicer whether or not to file a formal default notice on the delinquent property before beginning foreclosure proceedings.
For more than eight years, the servicers have chosen not to foreclose or even begin the process for the vast majority of delinquent owners.
Why deadbeats don't worry about losing their property
Some may contend that pre-foreclosure notice numbers don't reveal much because many of these delinquencies must have been either (1) foreclosed by the servicing bank or (2) brought current by the borrower.
Let's tackle these objections one at a time.
Concerning foreclosures, I have reliable figures from Property Shark that an average of 1,548 properties were foreclosed annually in New York City between 2012 and 2016.
Furthermore, their latest data show that just 1,312 foreclosed properties are now owned by the banks (REOs) and a mere 630 were scheduled for foreclosure auction as of November 2018.
The Furman Center for Real Estate at New York University publishes an annual State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods Report.
Its 2015 report shows that an average of only 300 properties were foreclosed and re-possessed each year in New York City by the lender from 2011 to 2014.
This in a city where 635,359 pre-foreclosure notices have been sent to deadbeats since early 2010.
Its latest report for 2017 showed that the annual number of default notices filed in NYC has been declining every year since 2013 to just 10,000 in 2017.
The inescapable truth is that for eight years, mortgage servicers have foreclosed on exceptionally few long-term delinquent homeowners in New York City and Long Island.
What about the claim that many of these delinquent property owners have probably brought their loans current after receiving a pre-foreclosure notice?
Remember that roughly 40% of these pre-foreclosure notices are second- or third notices sent to borrowers because they have not paid the arrears owed.
My article in February 2017 with figures from Fitch Ratings showing that 53% of all delinquent non-agency (i.e., not guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac) securitized loans in the state of New York had not made a payment for more than five years as of August 2016.
The New York City metro alone had roughly 225,000 of these loans outstanding.
In February 2016, 37% of them were seriously delinquent.
That is the worst delinquency rate for any major metro in the nation.
The notion that many owners in the New York City metro have cured their delinquency is ludicrous.
Does this have implications for the delinquency situation of other major metro areas?
Clearly.
Because of New York State's pre-foreclosure notice requirement, the New York City metro data provide the most comprehensive and reliable delinquency statistics in the nation.
Unfortunately, to a great extent we are in the dark when it comes to the two dozen other major metros where the housing collapse of a decade ago was centered.
The trouble is that all data providers which claim to have delinquency figures are dependent on the numbers they obtain from the mortgage servicers — which are their clients.
Seven years of digging for reliable data have taught me that numbers from the servicers are extremely inaccurate and often incomplete.
It is evident that in early 2016, 10 major metros that had deadbeat problems with their non-agency securitized loans all had serious delinquency rates of 23% or higher.
I am confident that the delinquency rate for those major metros that suffered significant housing collapses is almost certainly much higher than widely believed.
Keith Jurow is a real estate analyst who covers the bubble-era lending debacle and its aftermath. Contact him at http://www.keithjurow.com.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-t ... ewer_click
"Opinion: Why the housing and mortgage crisis is far from over"
By Keith Jurow
Published: Jan 7, 2019 3:06 p.m. ET
With major data providers reporting that mortgage delinquencies continue to decline, Wall Street and the pundits are more convinced than ever that the mortgage crisis is dead and buried.
The enormous delinquency problem in the New York City metro area shows why I’m convinced that the U.S. housing and mortgage crisis is far from over, and reveals an ugly truth about mortgage deadbeats.
Moreover, New York City is not the only city in this weakened position.
Here’s what’s happening in New York that is likely occurring in other major U.S. real estate markets.
In 2009, the New York State legislature passed a statute requiring all mortgage servicers to send a pre-foreclosure notice to all delinquent owner-occupants in the state.
The notice warned them that they were in danger of foreclosure and explained how they could get help.
Servicers were required to regularly send statistics back to the state's Department of Financial Services for all notices sent out.
The department published two reports in 2010 with a compilation of these numbers.
That was the last time these statistics were officially reported.
I have obtained the unpublished figures from a person involved with compiling the pre-foreclosure notice filings for the department.
The latest update shows cumulative figures through the third quarter of 2018, covering New York City as well as Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.
Totals for the entire state are also included.
Here is a brief summary of what the data show.
Since February 2010, mortgage servicers have sent out a total of 1,242,490 pre-foreclosure notices to delinquent owner-occupants in New York City and Long Island.
This does not include delinquent investor-owners because that was not required under the 2009 law.
About 85% of these notices were for delinquent first liens and the remainder were for second liens.
From the data and my contact, it’s likely that roughly 40% of these were second or third notices sent to the same property.
Why?
The servicers have been sending repeat notices to owners who have not taken action to cure their delinquency for more than a year, and have not yet been foreclosed.
My contact recently informed me that close to 20% of the total are duplicates sent out mistakenly by the servicers.
That most of these delinquent owners have not paid for years is confirmed by related figures published monthly in the Long Island Real Estate Report.
Since early 2016, almost half of the formal notices of default filed in Suffolk County have been repeat notices.
Why?
In New York State, a default notice (known as a lis pendens) is only active for three years after which it expires.
Hence lenders have had to file a new default notice for borrowers whose default notice has been active for three years.
The Suffolk County statistics reveal how outrageous the serious delinquency situation has become in the New York metro area.
Although 359,362 cumulative pre-foreclosure notices have been sent to deadbeat borrowers in Suffolk County alone, fewer than 1,000 formal default notices have been filed each month on these properties since mid-2008.
How is that possible?
Mortgage servicers have been compelled by the 2009 statute to send out pre-foreclosure notices to all delinquent owner-occupants.
Yet it is entirely up to the discretion of the mortgage servicer whether or not to file a formal default notice on the delinquent property before beginning foreclosure proceedings.
For more than eight years, the servicers have chosen not to foreclose or even begin the process for the vast majority of delinquent owners.
Why deadbeats don't worry about losing their property
Some may contend that pre-foreclosure notice numbers don't reveal much because many of these delinquencies must have been either (1) foreclosed by the servicing bank or (2) brought current by the borrower.
Let's tackle these objections one at a time.
Concerning foreclosures, I have reliable figures from Property Shark that an average of 1,548 properties were foreclosed annually in New York City between 2012 and 2016.
Furthermore, their latest data show that just 1,312 foreclosed properties are now owned by the banks (REOs) and a mere 630 were scheduled for foreclosure auction as of November 2018.
The Furman Center for Real Estate at New York University publishes an annual State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods Report.
Its 2015 report shows that an average of only 300 properties were foreclosed and re-possessed each year in New York City by the lender from 2011 to 2014.
This in a city where 635,359 pre-foreclosure notices have been sent to deadbeats since early 2010.
Its latest report for 2017 showed that the annual number of default notices filed in NYC has been declining every year since 2013 to just 10,000 in 2017.
The inescapable truth is that for eight years, mortgage servicers have foreclosed on exceptionally few long-term delinquent homeowners in New York City and Long Island.
What about the claim that many of these delinquent property owners have probably brought their loans current after receiving a pre-foreclosure notice?
Remember that roughly 40% of these pre-foreclosure notices are second- or third notices sent to borrowers because they have not paid the arrears owed.
My article in February 2017 with figures from Fitch Ratings showing that 53% of all delinquent non-agency (i.e., not guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac) securitized loans in the state of New York had not made a payment for more than five years as of August 2016.
The New York City metro alone had roughly 225,000 of these loans outstanding.
In February 2016, 37% of them were seriously delinquent.
That is the worst delinquency rate for any major metro in the nation.
The notion that many owners in the New York City metro have cured their delinquency is ludicrous.
Does this have implications for the delinquency situation of other major metro areas?
Clearly.
Because of New York State's pre-foreclosure notice requirement, the New York City metro data provide the most comprehensive and reliable delinquency statistics in the nation.
Unfortunately, to a great extent we are in the dark when it comes to the two dozen other major metros where the housing collapse of a decade ago was centered.
The trouble is that all data providers which claim to have delinquency figures are dependent on the numbers they obtain from the mortgage servicers — which are their clients.
Seven years of digging for reliable data have taught me that numbers from the servicers are extremely inaccurate and often incomplete.
It is evident that in early 2016, 10 major metros that had deadbeat problems with their non-agency securitized loans all had serious delinquency rates of 23% or higher.
I am confident that the delinquency rate for those major metros that suffered significant housing collapses is almost certainly much higher than widely believed.
Keith Jurow is a real estate analyst who covers the bubble-era lending debacle and its aftermath. Contact him at http://www.keithjurow.com.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-t ... ewer_click
Re: THE YOUNG ANDY CUOMO CHRONICLES
IN NEW YORK CITY, YOU ARE MUCH BETTER OFF BEING AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT THAN YOU ARE BEING AN AMERICAN CITIZEN ...
IF YOU ARE AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT, YOU GET CODDLED AND TREATED WITH KID GLOVES ...
IF YOU ARE AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, THEN YOU GET TO FOOT THE BILL FOR THE CODDLING ...
MARKETWATCH
"New York City will cover illegal immigrants as part of $100 million-a-year health-care expansion"
By Associated Press
Published: Jan 9, 2019 11:31 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City will spend up to $100 million per year to expand health care coverage to people without health insurance, including immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
The plan involves expanding the city’s existing public insurance program and providing uninsured people with access to affordable care at city-owned facilities.
“From this moment on in New York City everyone is guaranteed the right to health care,” the Democratic mayor said.
“We are saying the word guarantee because we can make it happen.”
The program is intended to reach an estimated 600,000 city residents currently without health insurance.
Half of that group can’t get health insurance because of their immigration status, de Blasio said, while the remainder includes young people who don’t think they need coverage and people who find the Affordable Care Act exchanges unaffordable or difficult to navigate.
The plan will build on the city’s existing public-option health insurance program called MetroPlus, which currently insures more than 500,000 low-income New Yorkers.
It will also aim to provide the uninsured with a range of services, including primary-care physicians, mental health services and prescription drugs, through the network of hospitals and clinics run by the city Health and Hospitals Corporation.
The city’s public hospitals already care for low-income New Yorkers, including those without legal immigration status, but too much of that care consists of expensive and inefficient emergency room visits, de Blasio said.
“We want to flip the script,” de Blasio said.
“The emergency room truly should be the last resort.”
Dr. Mitchell Katz, the CEO of the public hospital system, said the city will hire additional primary-care doctors to meet an expected growth in demand.
The city’s plan is similar to programs that have been established elsewhere like the Healthy San Francisco initiative but is broader, said Katz, who has previously led health agencies in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
“Here psychotherapy is a covered benefit, which was not the case in San Francisco,” he said.
De Blasio said the program will take two years to implement and will be “the most comprehensive health care system in the nation.”
Patients will be charged on a sliding scale, with the poorest New Yorkers paying nothing.
The mayor unveiled the program at a news conference at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx after first announcing in on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“We’re going to make sure it’s seamless because that way people actually are encouraged to get the health care they need and never get to the point where they end up in the emergency room,” he said on “Morning Joe.”
He told the news conference that he would love to see a single-payer health care system enacted by Congress or by New York state lawmakers, but “our people need health care right now.”
De Blasio’s announcement came the day after Gavin Newsom, the newly inaugurated Democratic governor of California, proposed state-funded health care coverage for 138,000 young people living in the country illegally and reinstating a mandate for everyone to buy insurance or pay a fine.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington state proposed a statewide public health insurance option available to anyone who is not covered by an employer.
The prospects for a statewide universal health care proposal in New York improved last fall when Democrats took control of the entire Legislature by winning a Senate majority.
But while many liberal members of the Senate and Assembly say they favor an expansion of state-run health care, finding the money to pay for such a program would be challenging.
The 2019 legislative season kicks off Wednesday.
Republican state Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, who ran unsuccessfully against de Blasio in the 2017 mayor’s race, criticized the expanded health care plan.
“Our citizens have a hard enough time covering their own healthcare costs and now Mayor de Blasio also wants them to pay for the healthcare of 300,000 citizens of other countries,” Malliotakis said in a statement.
“The mayor must stop abusing the middle class and treating us like his personal ATM.”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-y ... ewer_click
IF YOU ARE AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT, YOU GET CODDLED AND TREATED WITH KID GLOVES ...
IF YOU ARE AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, THEN YOU GET TO FOOT THE BILL FOR THE CODDLING ...
MARKETWATCH
"New York City will cover illegal immigrants as part of $100 million-a-year health-care expansion"
By Associated Press
Published: Jan 9, 2019 11:31 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City will spend up to $100 million per year to expand health care coverage to people without health insurance, including immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
The plan involves expanding the city’s existing public insurance program and providing uninsured people with access to affordable care at city-owned facilities.
“From this moment on in New York City everyone is guaranteed the right to health care,” the Democratic mayor said.
“We are saying the word guarantee because we can make it happen.”
The program is intended to reach an estimated 600,000 city residents currently without health insurance.
Half of that group can’t get health insurance because of their immigration status, de Blasio said, while the remainder includes young people who don’t think they need coverage and people who find the Affordable Care Act exchanges unaffordable or difficult to navigate.
The plan will build on the city’s existing public-option health insurance program called MetroPlus, which currently insures more than 500,000 low-income New Yorkers.
It will also aim to provide the uninsured with a range of services, including primary-care physicians, mental health services and prescription drugs, through the network of hospitals and clinics run by the city Health and Hospitals Corporation.
The city’s public hospitals already care for low-income New Yorkers, including those without legal immigration status, but too much of that care consists of expensive and inefficient emergency room visits, de Blasio said.
“We want to flip the script,” de Blasio said.
“The emergency room truly should be the last resort.”
Dr. Mitchell Katz, the CEO of the public hospital system, said the city will hire additional primary-care doctors to meet an expected growth in demand.
The city’s plan is similar to programs that have been established elsewhere like the Healthy San Francisco initiative but is broader, said Katz, who has previously led health agencies in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
“Here psychotherapy is a covered benefit, which was not the case in San Francisco,” he said.
De Blasio said the program will take two years to implement and will be “the most comprehensive health care system in the nation.”
Patients will be charged on a sliding scale, with the poorest New Yorkers paying nothing.
The mayor unveiled the program at a news conference at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx after first announcing in on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“We’re going to make sure it’s seamless because that way people actually are encouraged to get the health care they need and never get to the point where they end up in the emergency room,” he said on “Morning Joe.”
He told the news conference that he would love to see a single-payer health care system enacted by Congress or by New York state lawmakers, but “our people need health care right now.”
De Blasio’s announcement came the day after Gavin Newsom, the newly inaugurated Democratic governor of California, proposed state-funded health care coverage for 138,000 young people living in the country illegally and reinstating a mandate for everyone to buy insurance or pay a fine.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington state proposed a statewide public health insurance option available to anyone who is not covered by an employer.
The prospects for a statewide universal health care proposal in New York improved last fall when Democrats took control of the entire Legislature by winning a Senate majority.
But while many liberal members of the Senate and Assembly say they favor an expansion of state-run health care, finding the money to pay for such a program would be challenging.
The 2019 legislative season kicks off Wednesday.
Republican state Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, who ran unsuccessfully against de Blasio in the 2017 mayor’s race, criticized the expanded health care plan.
“Our citizens have a hard enough time covering their own healthcare costs and now Mayor de Blasio also wants them to pay for the healthcare of 300,000 citizens of other countries,” Malliotakis said in a statement.
“The mayor must stop abusing the middle class and treating us like his personal ATM.”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-y ... ewer_click
Re: THE YOUNG ANDY CUOMO CHRONICLES
MARKETWATCH
"Why New York’s plan to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use is a big deal"
By Ciara Linnane
Published: Jan 16, 2019 4:18 p.m. ET
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use in the Empire State is a milestone in the push toward full legalization of the substance in the U.S., experts said Wednesday.
Cuomo said Tuesday in his State of the State speech that he’s including in his budget for the current fiscal year a plan to make cannabis legal for adults over the age of 21.
The governor is aiming to create a legal industry that would include minority- and women-owned businesses and create jobs in some of the more economically deprived parts of the state.
Ten states have so far legalized cannabis for recreational use, while another 33 have legalized medical cannabis.
“Legalize adult-use cannabis,” he said.
“Stop the disproportionate impact on communities of color."
"And let’s create an industry that empowers the poor communities that paid the price and not the rich corporations who come in to make a profit.”
Smoke Wallin, president of California-based cannabis company Vertical Cos., said the move is a significant step forward in the “mainstreaming” of the industry.
“Although the fourth most populous state, after California, New York represents the most influential market for consumers and the steady march toward national normalization,” he said.
“We expect the continued state by state liberalization of cannabis use to continue to put pressure on the federal government.”
Rob DiPisa, co-chair of the Cannabis Law Group at law firm Cole Schotz, agreed, noting New York’s influential role in many industries, from fashion to business to entertainment.
“This will change everything,” DiPisa said.
“Once New York enters the market, we’ll see bright young people come in and challenge the industry.”
Cuomo is expecting to generate about $300 million in annual tax revenue from the new business, although he will include an option for counties to opt out of legal sales, if they choose.
Funds raised would be used to finance a state traffic-safety committee, for small-business development, and for substance-abuse services and other programs.
The governor is proposing to impose a 20% state tax and 2% county tax on transfers of cannabis from wholesalers to retailers, along with a $1-per-gram tax on dry flower for growers and a 25-cents-per-gram tax on trim.
That may put a steep burden on companies operating at the wholesale level, said DiPisa, while Cuomo’s intention to include unionized labor in the new industry is a worthy goal that may add still further costs.
“Having seen what we have on the West Coast, when these markets come on line, there is typically high demand at the start, followed by oversaturation that can result in way more cannabis than is needed — and so the price falls,” he said.
In 2015 and 2016, for example, the wholesale price of a pound of cannabis in West Coast states that have legalized recreational cannabis was above $2,000.
The comparable price fell below $400 last summer in Oregon, thanks to oversupply, putting pressure on growers.
The other challenges include that cannabis companies need to be well-capitalized but are unable to access capital in the form of capital markets or bank loans.
Cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, where it is classified as a Schedule I drug, putting it in the same class as heroin and cocaine.
As long as the federal prohibition is in place, companies can’t have bank accounts at federally insured institutions, and they can’t sell product across state lines.
“That’s the Achilles’ heel in this business; normally, if you have a surplus or price plummets, you just ship it to another state, but here you don’t have that option,” said DiPisa.
Vertical’s Waller said that Cuomo’s revenue projection is conservative and that he would expect revenue from a city as densely populated as New York to be closer to $1 billion, upon full rollout.
“Given that the much smaller state of Colorado is generating several hundred million [dollars] annually, it seems reasonable,” he said.
(Colorado’s population is 5.6 million, while New York’s statewide population is more than three times that; New York City’s population alone exceeds 8.5 million.)
The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF was up 0.5% on Wednesday and has gained 22% so far in 2019, while the S&P 500 has gained about 5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has added about 4%.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-n ... ewer_click
"Why New York’s plan to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use is a big deal"
By Ciara Linnane
Published: Jan 16, 2019 4:18 p.m. ET
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use in the Empire State is a milestone in the push toward full legalization of the substance in the U.S., experts said Wednesday.
Cuomo said Tuesday in his State of the State speech that he’s including in his budget for the current fiscal year a plan to make cannabis legal for adults over the age of 21.
The governor is aiming to create a legal industry that would include minority- and women-owned businesses and create jobs in some of the more economically deprived parts of the state.
Ten states have so far legalized cannabis for recreational use, while another 33 have legalized medical cannabis.
“Legalize adult-use cannabis,” he said.
“Stop the disproportionate impact on communities of color."
"And let’s create an industry that empowers the poor communities that paid the price and not the rich corporations who come in to make a profit.”
Smoke Wallin, president of California-based cannabis company Vertical Cos., said the move is a significant step forward in the “mainstreaming” of the industry.
“Although the fourth most populous state, after California, New York represents the most influential market for consumers and the steady march toward national normalization,” he said.
“We expect the continued state by state liberalization of cannabis use to continue to put pressure on the federal government.”
Rob DiPisa, co-chair of the Cannabis Law Group at law firm Cole Schotz, agreed, noting New York’s influential role in many industries, from fashion to business to entertainment.
“This will change everything,” DiPisa said.
“Once New York enters the market, we’ll see bright young people come in and challenge the industry.”
Cuomo is expecting to generate about $300 million in annual tax revenue from the new business, although he will include an option for counties to opt out of legal sales, if they choose.
Funds raised would be used to finance a state traffic-safety committee, for small-business development, and for substance-abuse services and other programs.
The governor is proposing to impose a 20% state tax and 2% county tax on transfers of cannabis from wholesalers to retailers, along with a $1-per-gram tax on dry flower for growers and a 25-cents-per-gram tax on trim.
That may put a steep burden on companies operating at the wholesale level, said DiPisa, while Cuomo’s intention to include unionized labor in the new industry is a worthy goal that may add still further costs.
“Having seen what we have on the West Coast, when these markets come on line, there is typically high demand at the start, followed by oversaturation that can result in way more cannabis than is needed — and so the price falls,” he said.
In 2015 and 2016, for example, the wholesale price of a pound of cannabis in West Coast states that have legalized recreational cannabis was above $2,000.
The comparable price fell below $400 last summer in Oregon, thanks to oversupply, putting pressure on growers.
The other challenges include that cannabis companies need to be well-capitalized but are unable to access capital in the form of capital markets or bank loans.
Cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, where it is classified as a Schedule I drug, putting it in the same class as heroin and cocaine.
As long as the federal prohibition is in place, companies can’t have bank accounts at federally insured institutions, and they can’t sell product across state lines.
“That’s the Achilles’ heel in this business; normally, if you have a surplus or price plummets, you just ship it to another state, but here you don’t have that option,” said DiPisa.
Vertical’s Waller said that Cuomo’s revenue projection is conservative and that he would expect revenue from a city as densely populated as New York to be closer to $1 billion, upon full rollout.
“Given that the much smaller state of Colorado is generating several hundred million [dollars] annually, it seems reasonable,” he said.
(Colorado’s population is 5.6 million, while New York’s statewide population is more than three times that; New York City’s population alone exceeds 8.5 million.)
The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF was up 0.5% on Wednesday and has gained 22% so far in 2019, while the S&P 500 has gained about 5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has added about 4%.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-n ... ewer_click
Re: THE YOUNG ANDY CUOMO CHRONICLES
"Governor's budget advances aggressive liberal agenda -Marijuana, DREAM Act and sports gambling advanced"
By David Lombardo, Albany, New York Times Union
Updated 7:20 am EST, Wednesday, January 16, 2019
ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo reasserted himself as New York's progressive leader on Tuesday, unveiling a state budget filled with liberal policies that are expected to be realized in the coming months as the result of one-party Democratic rule at the Capitol.
"It's a lot."
"No doubt about it," Cuomo said of the legislative agenda packed into his $175 billion executive budget.
"But there's been a lot that's been bottled up for many, many years that we couldn't get done," he told the crowd assembled at the Egg's Hart Theatre.
"In many ways, I feel the state has now been liberated with the Senate Democratic caucus."
The budget advances proposals that were nixed by the former Senate Republican majority, including tuition assistance for undocumented immigrants, ending cash bail and expanding opportunities for child sex abuse survivors to pursue civil claims.
It also broke new ground with the proposed legalization of adult-use marijuana and the addition of sports gambling at the four upstate commercial casinos.
Democratic state legislators, who are off to a fast start this year in Albany, were less enthusiastic about the governor's plan to jam the budget proposal with policy initiatives, including some that were passed by the Legislature this week and are waiting for his signature.
"There's probably not a need to do it," said Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, who noted it was the governor's "prerogative" to take this tact.
He acknowledged it was a successful gambit in the past to pressure the Senate Republicans to accept liberal programs.
Deputy Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris said much of the proposal was "hard to disagree with," but he is waiting for the "meat on the bones" from the bill text that came out on Monday evening.
Regardless, though, he said it wouldn't affect the state Senate's legislative schedule, which includes expanding abortion rights and a package of education reforms.
"We have an agenda to move forward," Gianaris said.
Cuomo has argued that the policy-heavy budget is needed to ensure Democrats deliver on their campaign pledges in a timely manner.
"We can make history, I believe that," Cuomo said.
"I believe we can have the most productive first 100 days in state history."
"... The time for talking is over. It is the time for doing."
While Democratic lawmakers said they liked most of what they heard in the governor's speech, which elicited seven standing ovations, a fight could be shaping up over state education aid.
Cuomo wants to increase the state's share by $1 billion to $27.7 billion, while calculating a new model for distributing aid that focuses on the need of individual schools and not school districts.
He said that under the existing funding formula the neediest schools aren't getting their fair share.
Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Shelley Mayer noted that advocates and the state Board of Regents have called for the state to double the investment proposed by the governor.
"Before we talk about how it's allocated - and that's a conversation worth having – we need to talk about how much money there is and this is not enough to get us to the place we need to go," Mayer said.
The fight over education spending is familiar in Albany, with state legislators annually proposing a much higher investment and the final number settling somewhere in the middle.
An annual battle again taking shape is the $12.5 million in state funding that Albany leaders have planned for but is absent from the initial plan put forth by Cuomo.
But like past years, state Division of Budget Director Robert Mujica indicated there would be give and take on the issue in the coming months.
"As we have gone around and around this in the past years, we usually end up in a positive place," he told reporters.
The budget includes a regulatory framework for recreational marijuana, but doesn't anticipate any state revenue from legalization for the upcoming fiscal year.
It projects approximately $83 million in revenue for the fiscal year starting in April 2020.
As part of the governor's focus on "tax fairness" and to ensure "vital investments" by the state, the budget estimates the plan would bring in $5.1 billion annually by extending and imposing higher taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, including a five-year renewal of the "Millionaire's Tax' and a new "fairness fee" on carried interest.
Cuomo is also trying again to collect sales taxes from all internet purchases.
His proposal would apply the state's five-cent deposit fee to more beverages, and expand a car rental surcharge to create new funding for upstate transit systems.
The state budget is due March 31, with scheduled pay raises for state legislators in 2020 tied to its "timely" passage.
David.Lombardo@timesunion.com - 518.454.5427 - @poozer87
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... DailyBrief
By David Lombardo, Albany, New York Times Union
Updated 7:20 am EST, Wednesday, January 16, 2019
ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo reasserted himself as New York's progressive leader on Tuesday, unveiling a state budget filled with liberal policies that are expected to be realized in the coming months as the result of one-party Democratic rule at the Capitol.
"It's a lot."
"No doubt about it," Cuomo said of the legislative agenda packed into his $175 billion executive budget.
"But there's been a lot that's been bottled up for many, many years that we couldn't get done," he told the crowd assembled at the Egg's Hart Theatre.
"In many ways, I feel the state has now been liberated with the Senate Democratic caucus."
The budget advances proposals that were nixed by the former Senate Republican majority, including tuition assistance for undocumented immigrants, ending cash bail and expanding opportunities for child sex abuse survivors to pursue civil claims.
It also broke new ground with the proposed legalization of adult-use marijuana and the addition of sports gambling at the four upstate commercial casinos.
Democratic state legislators, who are off to a fast start this year in Albany, were less enthusiastic about the governor's plan to jam the budget proposal with policy initiatives, including some that were passed by the Legislature this week and are waiting for his signature.
"There's probably not a need to do it," said Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, who noted it was the governor's "prerogative" to take this tact.
He acknowledged it was a successful gambit in the past to pressure the Senate Republicans to accept liberal programs.
Deputy Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris said much of the proposal was "hard to disagree with," but he is waiting for the "meat on the bones" from the bill text that came out on Monday evening.
Regardless, though, he said it wouldn't affect the state Senate's legislative schedule, which includes expanding abortion rights and a package of education reforms.
"We have an agenda to move forward," Gianaris said.
Cuomo has argued that the policy-heavy budget is needed to ensure Democrats deliver on their campaign pledges in a timely manner.
"We can make history, I believe that," Cuomo said.
"I believe we can have the most productive first 100 days in state history."
"... The time for talking is over. It is the time for doing."
While Democratic lawmakers said they liked most of what they heard in the governor's speech, which elicited seven standing ovations, a fight could be shaping up over state education aid.
Cuomo wants to increase the state's share by $1 billion to $27.7 billion, while calculating a new model for distributing aid that focuses on the need of individual schools and not school districts.
He said that under the existing funding formula the neediest schools aren't getting their fair share.
Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Shelley Mayer noted that advocates and the state Board of Regents have called for the state to double the investment proposed by the governor.
"Before we talk about how it's allocated - and that's a conversation worth having – we need to talk about how much money there is and this is not enough to get us to the place we need to go," Mayer said.
The fight over education spending is familiar in Albany, with state legislators annually proposing a much higher investment and the final number settling somewhere in the middle.
An annual battle again taking shape is the $12.5 million in state funding that Albany leaders have planned for but is absent from the initial plan put forth by Cuomo.
But like past years, state Division of Budget Director Robert Mujica indicated there would be give and take on the issue in the coming months.
"As we have gone around and around this in the past years, we usually end up in a positive place," he told reporters.
The budget includes a regulatory framework for recreational marijuana, but doesn't anticipate any state revenue from legalization for the upcoming fiscal year.
It projects approximately $83 million in revenue for the fiscal year starting in April 2020.
As part of the governor's focus on "tax fairness" and to ensure "vital investments" by the state, the budget estimates the plan would bring in $5.1 billion annually by extending and imposing higher taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, including a five-year renewal of the "Millionaire's Tax' and a new "fairness fee" on carried interest.
Cuomo is also trying again to collect sales taxes from all internet purchases.
His proposal would apply the state's five-cent deposit fee to more beverages, and expand a car rental surcharge to create new funding for upstate transit systems.
The state budget is due March 31, with scheduled pay raises for state legislators in 2020 tied to its "timely" passage.
David.Lombardo@timesunion.com - 518.454.5427 - @poozer87
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... DailyBrief