New York State Senate passes bill to reduce Governor Cuomo’s emergency powers

According to New York State Senate: “the legislation revokes the Governor’s authority to issue new directives while allowing those that are now enforced and that pertain to preserving public health to continue under significantly greater legislative oversight.”

This is something that was talked about earlier this week as the New York state legislature arranged some kind of deal on the topic.

According to The Hill, the New York State Assembly is slated to pass a similar bill (as of writing they’re currently debating it). It would go to Governor Cuomo’s desk for him to sign. If he doesn’t, Senate Democrats have a supermajority in order to override any potential veto.

The bulletpoints of the legislation detail how Governor Cuomo’s powers will be kept in check:

• “Revoking the Governor’s authority to issue any new directives.”
• “Authorizing the Governor to extend or modify directives that are currently in effect to respond to the ongoing pandemic, but requires five days’ notice to the Legislature or to local elected officials before that extension or modification goes into effect.”
• “Requiring the Governor to respond publicly to any comments they received from the Legislature or from local leaders if a directive is extended.”
• “Requiring the Governor to create a searchable database of all executive actions that remain in force to inform lawmakers and the public with the current state of the law.”
• “Allowing the Legislature to terminate a state disaster emergency by concurrent resolution.”

The first and last points demonstrate the lack of political confidence state politicians have for Cuomo’s administration.

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal revealed that Cuomo’s own advisers successfully altered a July 2020 report that focused on nursing-home residents who succumbed to COVID. As a result of the meddling “the report focused only on residents who died inside nursing homes and long-term-care facilities, but left out those who had died in hospitals who had contracted the disease from the facilities.”

Also the editorial board of the Democrat & Chronicle (owned by USA Today) called for Andrew Cuomo’s resignation. Many assumed Cuomo would announce this voluntarily earlier this week when he touted an “announcement” prior to hosting a press conference. At the event, the embattled New York Governor stated he’d be doing the opposite, alongside giving a public apology with regards to the sexual harassment scandal he’s now facing. But this didn’t sit well with his accusers. Charlotte Bennett rejected the claim by Cuomo that his comments were “misinterpreted” by her. "I understood him loud and clear. It just didn't go the way he planned."

Both Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer publicly back the people who came forward and support a full investigation against Governor Cuomo.