Thursday Headlines: Work In Progress Edition

ALBANY — The governor's problematic approach to reducing auto insurance premiums was once again on display in the Capitol on Wednesday.

When Streetsblog asked Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins how she and her conference are weighing the anguish of crash victims with affordability concerns, she told reporters it was too early to say.

"Well, I didn't write it," Stewart-Cousins said. "We're having discussions about it. You know to expect in our one house [budget] our best proposals for the things that the governor has put on the table, and that will be in March, when we normally give our one house. So after we've had a full and robust discussion, we will obviously indicate how we feel this can be approached, or if it should be approached at all, so it's growing. Stay tuned."

She added that the Democratic conference cares about all the things that Gov. Hochul claims she cares about: affordability, crash victims' ability to seek compensation, insurance industry stability and combating fraud. (Last week, her counterpart in the Assembly, Speaker Carl Heastie, also suggested that Gov. Hochul's proposal faced an uphill battle.)

Procedurally, each house of the state Legislature will take its time before crafting a rebuttal to Hochul's executive budget proposal, but how many meetings and votes does it take to decide if crash victims or motorists wallets are more important?

Uber, as expected, is spending big for Hochul while laundering its self-serving position on insurance reform through an advocacy group called Citizens for Affordable Rates (yes, the acronym is CAR). Streetsblog has reported that some of the crash victims bashing Hochul's proposal were hit by, or passengers in, ride-share vehicles.

The men and women tasked with representing New Yorkers' interests in the statehouse will have to pick a side eventually.

In other news:

• School bus drivers think Hochul's plan to expand autonomous vehicle pilots is unsafe and a threat to their livelihoods. (Streetsblog Empire State)
• The New York State Energy and Research Development Authority pulled funding for an e-bike subsidy pilot program. (Streetsblog NYC)
• Gov. Hochul has chosen former New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams as her nominee for lieutenant governor, while her actual lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, is going with former Buffalo mayoral nominee India Walton in his long-shot primary challenge. (NY Post)
• Picking Adams without any notice or consultation left Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte-Hermelyn fuming, and she and her committee withdrew their endorsement of Hochul. (City & State)
• But Hochul will likely survive the split:

• Motorcycles and e-bikes are banned on the state Route 434 greenway in Broome County, but resident complaints about motorists flouting the rules have prompted state DOT to install additional signage. (WNBF)
• Spencerport School District voters rejected another proposal to purchase electric school buses amid an impending deadline for the state's schools to convert their fleets. (WXXI)
• The State Police and the Westchester County District Attorney are partnering on a new traffic safety initiative that will mean more troopers on highways monitoring for excessive speeding and reckless and intoxicated driving. (Mid-Hudson News)