New York state lawmakers wrapped up their 2023 legislative session this month as they always do: By passing hundreds upon hundreds of bills in the waning days, causing a major pile-up of legislation for the governor to review.
This year, 896 bills cleared both houses of the state Legislature — each of which was the product of some level of negotiation between the Senate and Assembly, which wrapped up its work on Wednesday. More than 600 of those bills received final approval in the month of June alone.
The most consequential talks, however, are yet to come.
Over the coming six months, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office will examine each bill to determine whether she will sign them into law or veto them. But those aren’t her only options. Under long-standing New York tradition, governors can — and often do — present lawmakers with an ultimatum: agree to make changes to a bill after the fact, or face a gubernatorial veto.
Hochul’s decisions will help determine the fate of recently passed legislation that could have an effect on millions of New Yorkers, including bills to automatically seal criminal convictions, make Diwali a school holiday and create a panel to study the possibility of slavery reparations for Black residents.
“It’s hard because there's obviously an initial celebration when both houses pass a bill you support,” said Amanda Jack, a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society, which advocated for a number of criminal justice reforms this year. “And then you have to remember that it's not over.”
Hochul, a Democrat, hasn’t been shy to insist on so-called “chapter amendments” to tweak bills already passed by lawmakers to garner her support. In her first full year in office last year, 108 bills she signed into law — about 10% of the total passed by the Legislature — required a chapter amendment, according to New York StateWatch, a legislative tracking service.
In Albany, governors are generally included in major legislative negotiations for major pieces of legislation — including the state budget and the various policies packed inside.
This year, as time wound down on the Legislature’s session, Hochul’s office was involved in talks over the Clean Slate Act, a measure that will seal many criminal convictions after a waiting period — three years for most misdemeanors, eight years for most felonies. On Wednesday, Hochul said she insisted the most serious crimes — including murder and terrorism — were specifically excluded, a change lawmakers made shortly before passing the bill earlier this month.
But even still, Hochul has not yet publicly committed to signing the Clean Slate Act into law as is, leading some to question whether she may seek a chapter amendment, strong-arming the Legislature into an agreement. Hochul also hasn’t taken a position on a separate criminal justice reform, which would make it easier for people to challenge wrongful convictions if new evidence pops up.
On Tuesday, Hochul told reporters in Albany that the “ideal process” would be for the Legislature to engage her office before passing a bill. But she acknowledged that’s not practical based on how state lawmakers traditionally operate, cramming passage of hundreds of bills in the legislative session’s final days.
“I'll simply say that this method works for the Legislature,” she said. “That is what they do. But now it is upon me to give more thoughtful analysis from my end to make sure that I'm making decisions that are the best for the entire state of New York, not just individual areas.”
The Legislature has until the end of the calendar year to formally send each of the bills that cleared both houses to Hochul. Once that happens, Hochul has 10 days — not counting Sundays — to sign or veto them.
In general, the Legislature allows the governor to decide which bills to send and when. Usually, it happens in tranches — giving her the opportunity to spread out her office’s review.
When the governor wants to request a chapter amendment, that usually happens through a request from her staff to the Legislature’s staff, according to Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens).
“[Our] staff will have a conversation about what the governor thinks of some bills and whether there's room to make changes that would satisfy her, or whether she likes it the way it is or not,” he said.
Shontell Smith, the Senate Democrats’ former counsel and chief of staff, said Senate staff will then reach out to the sponsors of a particular bill and ask if they would be OK with making changes or if they would rather see the governor veto it.
Often, lawmakers will be amenable to a chapter amendment — which the Legislature would have to approve once it reconvenes the next year. But sometimes, lawmakers aren’t comfortable with the proposed changes — or perhaps just want to prove a point, Smith said.
“Sometimes they’re just so dedicated to the bill as is that they would rather it die,” she said. “Sometimes they’d just rather have the veto, because at least if you have the veto, you can show your constituents that you fought for it and that you're dedicated to the cause.”
Jack, the Legal Aid attorney, said her organization is hopeful that Hochul will sign much of the criminal justice reform legislation without insisting on amendments.
Among other bills, Legal Aid supports the Clean Slate Act, arguing that it will allow people to gain employment and housing without being branded by their past convictions. But the state District Attorneys Association is lobbying against the measure, arguing that it doesn’t put crime victims first.
“Our expectation and our hope is that she signs it as is,” Jack said.
The Legislature isn’t scheduled to return to the Capitol until January.
