NY Legislature in special session on evictions, marijuana, open meetings
The New York State Legislature was due to begin a special session at noon today called by Gov. Kathy Hochul after discussions with state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Yonkers and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.
A push for the special session came after the U.S. Supreme Court had blocked extension of the federal moratorium on evictions while New York state”™s moratorium was due to expire Aug. 31.
Hochul has called on the legislature to ban evictions and extend rental assistance programs at least through Jan. 15.
Landlord groups, as well as tenant groups, have sharply criticized the state”™s management of the rent relief program, which to date has distributed only about 7% of the $2.7 billion in federal money it has received as part of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP).
The state”™s ERAP operation has been criticized for a cumbersome application process coupled with delays in getting money into the hands of landlords. It”™s estimated that between 750,000 and 1 million people are behind in rent in New York.
“The pandemic has created unimaginable stress and anxiety for tenants and landlords who are struggling through no fault of their own,” Hochul said Tuesday night when announcing that she would be signing a proclamation calling for the special legislative session.
“Many of them lost jobs, lost the ability to pay their bills, and now the debt has been mounting and the fact is that we are not out of the pandemic yet as much as we had hoped months ago when the numbers were trending in a different direction.”
Hochul said that in addition to the eviction moratorium the legislature will be taking up a review of the Open Meetings Law and taking steps to move forward with the state”™s program to legalize marijuana use.
She called “heartless” the U.S. Supreme Court”™s action to wipe out a two-month extension of the federal eviction ban that had been ordered by the federal government”™s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Under my watch, here in the state of New York we are not going to exacerbate what is already a crisis in terms of the homelessness problem. We are not going to allow people who through no fault of their own lost income, not able to pay, and facing eviction,” Hochul said.
She said that there”™s a need to amend the state”™s Open Meetings Law to ensure that meetings of government bodies across the state are more accessible and safer as the pandemic continues.
Hochul said that since former Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not take the action, she would be nominating people to lead the state”™s marijuana legalization effort and would be looking for the legislature to confirm the nominations during the special session.
“There is no reason why simple announcements in terms of who the executive director is and who the chair person is were not done in time, but I’m going to make up for that lost time,” Hochul said.