Thursday Headlines: Grand Compromise Edition
Negotiations look promising for most of the state budget, but for Albany’s “three men in a room,” car insurance remains a roadblock, according to the leader of the state Senate.
Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told reporters yesterday that Gov. Hochul’s car insurance proposal continues to leave state lawmakers with the same questions about legal rights, savings and the data backing up the entire pitch.
She added that insurance companies are gaining a lot from the proposed reforms without giving up much.
“We just want to make sure that the things that the governor is proposing will actually reduce rates and not, in any way, impact folks negatively. … The initial proposal is pretty much the insurance companies don’t have to do anything different, and we would like to see them do things a little bit differently, too,” Stewart-Cousins said. “So that’s the sense of the conversation, and I think we’re moving.”
The insurance industry has been a regular donor to Hochul’s campaigns, giving nearly $200,000 since 2021.
The New York State Trial Lawyers Association has opposed Hochul’s proposed reforms, which aim to lower car insurance premiums by constricting the rights of crash victims to seek damages and attacking fraud, from the beginning, and they’re big donors as well.
Gothamist reported that their campaign arm, LAWPAC, has donated nearly $3 million to more than 300 campaigns since 2021.
The collision of powerful forces has only fueled a contentious negotiation process that’s seen accusations from Stewart-Cousins’s number two, Deputy Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris, that Hochul isn’t as willing to negotiate as the state Legislature.
The Hochul administration argued in response that the politicians are under the thumb of the trial lawyers, who count Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s former roommate, Patrick Jenkins, as a lobbyist, when they should be worried about their constituents.
Stewart-Cousins, for her part, said that the governor wasn’t being obstinate for the sake of it. “I think we’re all negotiating in good faith,” she said. “And everybody’s negotiating.”
That worry is actually part of the delay.
State lawmakers from across New York have been lamenting the lack of data the governor has provided that backs up the idea that her proposal will lower auto premiums. They’re also concerned about what limiting the rights of crash victims will mean for their constituents. The burden of explaining their vote on a budget with red flags on legal rights and no real promise of cheaper insurance looms, too.
Several lawmakers see increased transparency from insurers as the real answer to affordability, especially as they claim to operate at a loss in New York, but have seen record profits as national companies.
Assembly Member Jen Lunsford (D-Monroe County) and state Sen. April Baskins (D-Buffalo) introduced legislation (A10524A/S9537A) that would limit the data that insurers use when they set premiums and make the overall rate-setting process more transparent for the public. A similar bill (A10616/SS1655) from state Senate Insurance Chair Jamaal Bailey (D-Bronx) and Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) would force insurance companies to be clearer about how they set rates and why.
Compared to previous years, hammering out other proposals with the governor has been smoother. Stewart-Cousins said conversations about climate and immigration are promising, even declaring that negotiations are at the “middle of the middle,” lining up with her prediction of a state budget before May 1.
“I really do believe one of the reasons that I could say that we’re in the middle of the middle is that I think with State Environmental Quality Review Act, we are getting to a good place,” she said.
More news:
- Hochul won’t be raising income taxes, but taxing rich property owners with part-time New York City residences is her latest addition to budget talks. (The New York Times)
- The new proposal is already being dragged by her Republican opponent in November’s election, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (The New York Post), but it’s the latest evidence of a symbiotic relationship between the governor and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. (Politico New York)
- The governor has also renewed her push for a 25-foot buffer zone for protests outside religious buildings. (amNY)
- Lawmakers are debating whether to reform a state pension system that directly benefits them as state employees. (The City)
- The MTA said elevator repairs at Poughkeepsie Station won’t be happening anytime soon. (Mid Hudson News)
- The federal government paid out more than $500,000 to landowners along a 41-mile stretch of Metro-North railroad being converted to a hiking and biking trail. (The Journal News)
Read More:
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