Fall Out From Hochul’s Vetoes in 2023 Linger Into the New Year

The new year is underway, but Governor Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers may still be dealing with some issues from last year. The governor vetoed a number of bills in the waning days of 2023, and that has led to some lingering disappointment.

Hochul vetoed several measures that leading state lawmakers championed, including a ban on non-compete agreements, which companies use to prevent employees who leave a job from working for a competitor for a set amount of time.

The governor tried unsuccessfully to modify the measure so that it would only apply to lower-level jobs, but still be preserved for top executives in large corporations or top Wall Street brokers.

She also vetoed a bill known as the Grieving Families Act, which aimed to make it easier for families to seek damages for grief and anguish if their loved one died because of a health care facility’s negligence.

And, perhaps more importantly for lawmakers up for re-election in 2024, Hochul vetoed a measure that would have changed public campaign finance laws to expand matching funds for large-scale donations.

When advocates and some lawmakers complained, the governor’s director of communications called some of the bills “extreme” proposals. Anthony Hogrebe said the measures “would have put public safety or the state's economic recovery at risk.”

Hochul says, in her defense, the Legislature passed over 900 bills in 2023 — and 500 of them were during the final week of session.

“And then at that point, there's no opportunity for negotiation or conversation or understanding the impact that it might have on an agency that now has to staff up 50 more people to accomplish this,” Hochul said. “And you didn't budget any money. That's usually what happens.”

And she points out that she did end up signing SOME of the more controversial bills, including the Birds and the Bees Act. That law now bans an agricultural pesticide (known as neonicotinoids) linked to honeybee die-off.

Hochul says it’s up to her and her staff to decide whether a measure actually lives up to its catchy name.

“That's just one example of where we have to look at bills that sound good on the face. And they always have a great title,” Hochul said. “But that does not mean that in its implementation, that it is right for New York.”

Hochul says in this case, she had to weigh whether it would harm the farming industry. While farmers may have thought it was extreme, she says they found a “middle path.”

Democrats hold a supermajority in both houses of the Legislature, so they have the power to pass the bills again and then override any potential vetoes by Hochul, enabling the measures to become law.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, speaking on Spectrum News’ “Capital Tonight” show, says lawmakers are not yet ready to go that route.

“The legislature should take that same type of care in doing overrides,” said Heastie. “Those are always like nuclear options, and you would hope never to have to get to that point.”

The governor says she hopes this year to begin collaborating earlier with senators and Assemblymembers on controversial issues to avoid vetoes.

“Let's start the bills or talk to us during the session,” the governor said. “And then we can have bills that we worked on together by the end of June, and then we can start signing them right away.” 

Speaker Heastie pushed back on that.

Speaking on “Capital Tonight,” he said “collaboration is a two-way street.”