In The News-New York State
NYS COELIG Approves its 2026 Legislative Agenda
The New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government this week approved its 2026 legislation agenda, calling for reforms in both lobbying compliance, ethics disclosure, and the States Open Meetings Law.
The Ethics and Lobbying proposals include legislative initiatives to establish accessorial (accomplice) liability, outline specific deadlines for lobbyist and client training and impose fees for non-compliance, express individual liability for responsible parties of lobbying and client organizations, and require electronic filing of all lobbying filings.
With respect to ethics, the Commission proposes legislation to require posting financial disclosure statements and electronic filings of documents. The Commission also promotes amendments to the Open Meetings Law to eliminate the physical access requirement for advisory committees and subcommittees of public bodies.
Specifics of the proposals include:
ETHICS AND LOBBYING
Accessorial (Accomplice) Liability (Executive Law, Public Officers Law, Civil Service Law and Lobbying Act)
Proposal: Amend laws to expressly prohibit individuals and entities under the Commission’s jurisdiction from soliciting, aiding, or importuning another to engage in conduct that violates the State’s ethics and lobbying laws.
Conforming Changes to the Lobbying Act
Proposal: Amend Lobbying Act to require lobbyists (and, as proposed, clients) to complete the online ethics training course within 60 days of being listed on a Statement of Registration. Additionally, the proposal would require filers to complete the online ethics training course from once every three years to once every two years to coincide with the biennial registration cycle.
Training Non-Compliance Penalties for Lobbyists and Clients
Proposal: Amend Executive Law and the Lobbying Act to authorize the Commission to impose late fees on lobbyists and clients who fail to timely comply with the mandated ethics training. Proposed late fees for failure to timely complete mandatory ethics training could include language similar to the statutory language authorizing late filing fees, which authorizes late fees of up to a certain dollar amount per day.
Express Individual Liability of Responsible Parties and other Lobbying Representatives for Intentional Lobbying Act Violations
Proposal: Amend the Lobbying Act to clarify that the Responsible Party listed on the lobbying reports is the individual responsible for the accuracy, truthfulness, and completeness of the lobbying filings, and that such individual will be responsible for any knowing and willful violation of the Lobbying Act.
Require Electronic Submission of All Lobbying Filings
Proposal: Amend the Lobbying Act to require electronic filing of all lobbying reports.
ETHICS
Post the Financial Disclosure Statements of Candidates.
Proposal: Starting with the 2026 Primary Election candidates, post the Financial Disclosure Statements of all Primary and General Election Candidates for Statewide Office and the Legislature, subject to the Commission’s receiving a budgetary infusion to cover additional agency costs.
Require Electronic Filing of All Financial Disclosure Statements.
Proposal: Amend Public Officers Law to require electronic filing of all Financial Disclosure Statements.
OPEN MEETINGS LAW
Eliminate the Physical Access Requirement in for Advisory Committees and Subcommittees of Public Bodies.
Proposal: Amend the Open Meetings Law to allow meetings of purely advisory and non-decision-making committees, including ad hoc committees and subcommittees, to be held virtually with no requirement of physical access to participating commission members, provided that the meeting is publicly live-streamed and the public has access to one or more viewing sites.
A proposal to add penalties and violations of the Public Officers Law and explicitly codify sexual harassment as conduct that violates the code of ethics was not approved and will be revisited by the Commission at its December meeting following revisions by the legislative committee.
In The News-New York City
Commissioner Tisch to Join the Mamdani Administration
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani this week announced the appointment of New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch to serve as the Police Commissioner in his incoming administration.
“Thanks to the men and women of the NYPD, the strategies we deployed this year have delivered historic reductions in crime,” said Commissioner Tisch. “I’ve spoken to Mayor-elect Mamdani several times and I’m ready to serve with honor as his Police Commissioner. That’s because he and I share many of the same public safety goals for New York City: lowering crime, making communities safer, rooting out corruption, and giving our officers the tools, support, and resources they need to carry out their noble work.
She was appointed the 48th police commissioner of the City of New York by Mayor Eric Adams in November 2024. Immediately prior, she had served as the commissioner of the New York City Department of Sanitation, a post she held since April 2022.
Commissioner Tisch began her career in public service with the NYPD in 2008, when she was hired as an Intelligence Research Specialist in the department’s Counterterrorism Bureau. She went on to serve as Counsel to the Police Commissioner, and the CTB’s Director of Policy and Planning. When Police Commissioner William Bratton returned to the lead the NYPD in 2014, he appointed Tisch as the Deputy Commissioner of Information Technology
In November 2019, Tisch was appointed by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio as commissioner of the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunication and led New York City IT response during the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Before joining the NYPD, Commissioner Tisch previously worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the Law Firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the Domestic Policy Council of the White House, and the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal.
Commissioner Tisch holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, in Government from Harvard University, a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School, and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. She was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2011.
Mayor Adams Releases November 2025 Financial Plan Update
New York City Mayor Eric Adams this week announced the release of the November 2025 Financial Plan Update with investments that bring the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget to $118.2 billion.
Included among the additions are funding for the Mayor’s plan to increase the headcount of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) by 5,000 officers, increased funding for rental assistance, and expanding New York City Department for the Aging’s (NYC Aging) Caregiver program to support an additional 3,000 participants.
“Over the course of four on-time, annual budgets, our administration has delivered for working-class New Yorkers time and again, and this November Financial Plan Update is another example of how our strong fiscal management is making New York City safer, more affordable, and improving New Yorkers’ quality of life,” said Mayor Adams.
Investment Highlights (all FY 2026 unless noted)
Safety Initiatives
- Addressing quality-of-life and public-safety issues at the Bronx Hub with a multi-agency operation, which includes services for individuals experiencing homelessness and substance use disorders ($22.7 million).
- Funding for additional staff and other associated costs related to expanded automated red light and bus lane camera enforcement ($17.9 million).
- Hiring to meet the first phased-in increase of up to 5,000 additional police officers by FY 2029 ($17.8 million in FY 2027).
- Adding 93 positions to increase community outreach, inspections, disease surveillance, and laboratory testing for Legionnaire’s disease ($14 million).
- Increasing staffing within the Bronx and Brooklyn District Attorneys’ Offices to address an increased workload due to discovery obligations ($12 million).
- Transitioning B-HEARD to NYC Health + Hospitals ($10 million).
- Funding a portion of replacement costs of 1,000 NYPD vehicles that are past their useful life ($10 million).
- Supporting health care – including medical and dental services – for youth in New York City Administration for Children’s Services detention facilities ($6.5 million).
- Expanding programming for Emerge, which aims to improve the re-entry outcomes of justice-involved New Yorkers and at-risk youth by providing free access to vocational trades training and providing direct employment in industries like transportation and logistics ($2.9 million).
- Establishing an LGBTQ+ Emergency Fund that will provide funding to community-based networks that provide direct services to LGBTQ+ New Yorkers ($2 million).
- Creating a Youth Justice Bureau within the Bronx District Attorney’s Office with specialized training on youth development, resource coordinators, and partnerships with mental health services ($1.5 million).
- Adding staff to help clear the backlog of complaint cases related to the Citizen Idling Program ($1.5 million).
- Expanding the body-worn camera program to all 130 New York City Department of Sanitation police officers ($500,000).
Affordability Initiatives
- Providing additional support for rental assistance by primarily supporting the 60,000 New York City households who currently use City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement vouchers ($400 million).
- Meeting increased state-mandated reimbursement costs for foster parents, adoptive parents, and kinship guardians ($50 million).
- Funding to partially cover the city’s annual contributions to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority driven in part by increased paratransit costs ($15.2 million).
- Expanding NYC Aging’s Caregiver program to support an additional 3,000 participants, bringing the total served to about 8,400, and expanding the agency’s Aging Connect, transportation, and case management programs ($9.3 million).
- Reimbursing owners of qualified 1 to 3 unit properties who purchased wheelie trash bins ($9.1 million).
- Expanding student loan counseling from just New York City employees to every city resident ($6.5 million).
- Reinstating weekend ferry service between Brooklyn and Governors Island during the 2026 May through October high season ($100,000).
- Funding distribution, maintenance, and wireless service costs through the end of 2025 associated with the purchase of 350,000 Chromebooks for New York City public school students ($24.3 million).
- Supporting programing and additional staffing related to Mayor Adams’ “After-School for All” expansion in New York City ($3.5 million).
According to Mayor Adams, out-year budget gaps are manageable and either declined or grew modestly since budget adoption. The FY 2027 budget gap is now $4.7 billion, a reduction of $353 million, or nearly 7 percent, driven by pension and labor savings. The FY 2028 and FY 2029 gaps are both now $6.3 billion.
The plan update reflects $419 million in additional tax revenue in FY 2026 since the budget was adopted in July, driven by stronger than expected personal income tax collections related to the city’s strong economy. This plan reflects total savings of $528 million in FY 2026 and $602 million in FY 2027. The savings achieved in the November Plan Update substantially offset agency expense changes over FY 2026 and FY 2027, the Mayor explained.
In reviewing the November Update, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams questioned the Mayor’s police initiative.
“For the past several years, the NYPD has experienced hiring and attrition issues, caused by and producing management challenges, excessive forced overtime, and strains on officers’ quality of work life,” she explained. “An outgoing mayor placing tens of millions of dollars into outyear expense budgets for headcount, without any meaningful plan to address current workforce challenges, is not reflective of responsible budgeting. This only adds to growing outyear budget gaps and will leave taxpayer dollars sitting unused in the NYPD’s headcount budget when they could be used for New Yorkers’ pressing needs. The Council will review the November Plan to ensure that we deliver what all New Yorkers across our city need to thrive.”
Briefs
Comptroller DiNapoli: State Pension Fund Valued at $291.4 Billion at End of Second Quarter
The estimated value of the New York State Common Retirement Fund (Fund) was $291.4 billion at the end of the second quarter of State Fiscal Year 2025-26, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced. Fund investments returned an estimated 4.13% for the quarter and 9.82% for the first six months of the fiscal year.
“Despite ongoing domestic and global volatility, financial markets have performed well over the past quarter, benefitting the state pension fund,” Comptroller DiNapoli said. “Yet concerns over a slowing labor market, inflation and uncertain federal policy warn of turbulence ahead. Our diversification strategy, long-term perspective and effective management strongly positions the Fund to ensure that state and local government employees will receive the retirement benefits they have earned, even amid any market fluctuations.”
The Fund’s audited value was $273.1 billion as of March 31, the end of the state’s fiscal year.
As of Sept. 30, 2025, the Fund had 41.7% of its assets invested in publicly traded equities. The remaining Fund assets by allocation are invested in cash, bonds, and mortgages (21.5%), private equity (14.1%), real estate and real assets (14.1%) and credit, absolute return strategies and opportunistic alternatives (8.6%). The Fund’s long-term expected rate of return is 5.9%.
State Approves Plan for Creedmoor Mixed Use Project
The Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) this week approved the General Project Plan for the Creedmoor Mixed-Use Project, a state initiative to transform 46.5 acres of vacant, State-owned land in eastern Queens into a mixed-use community featuring new housing, open space, and community amenities such as retail, childcare, and senior services.
The plan is supported by the Governor’s $500 million, Redevelopment of Underutilized Sites for Housing (NY-RUSH) initiative, announced as part of the FY25 Enacted Budget to build new homes on State-owned property.
The redevelopment is located on a portion of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center campus, which has sat largely vacant and underutilized for decades as the State modernized and consolidated mental health operations. The plan calls for the creation of 2,022 new homes. This includes over 950 affordable rental units, which include veteran, supportive and senior apartments and more than 1,000 affordable and market-rate homeownership units, along with over ten acres of open space, new community facilities, and neighborhood retail space that will serve both new and existing residents.
Governor Hochul Announces Reopening of Final Service Area on the New York State Thruway as Part of $450 Million Service Area Redevelopment Project
Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday week, Governor Kathy Hochul this week announced the reopening of the new Modena Service Area, located on the Thruway (I-87) southbound between exit 18 (New Paltz – Poughkeepsie – NY Route 299) and exit 17 (Newburgh – Scranton- I-84 – NY Routes 17K & 300). This the final service area to reopen as part of the $450 million private investment to redevelop and modernize all 27 service areas on the 570-mile Thruway system. No toll or tax dollars were used for construction.
The service area redevelopment project began in 2021 and included rebuilding 23 of the 27 service area restaurant buildings with significant renovations and upgrades to the remaining four.
As part of the project, 2,000 jobs were created with Applegreen, the service area operator. The project consisted of 1.5 million work-hours of construction.
New Yorkers with Disabilities Make up More of New York’s Workforce
But Challenges Remain
The participation rate for individuals with disabilities in the New York workforce has risen over the last few years, but only about a quarter of them remained a part of the labor force, according to a report released Thursday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.
The Comptroller explained that the disability workforce for those at least 16 years old and older rose 4.6% between 2019 and 2024, while only 28.8% of those with disabilities participated in the workforce in 2024. In 2024, more than 2.5 million New Yorkers 16 and older had a disability, representing 15% of the working-age population.
Due to the daily challenges facing people with disabilities, the report said they are less likely to graduate high school or earn a bachelor’s degree and tend to have lower rates of labor force participation and employment. In 2024, one in four New Yorkers with a disability lived below the poverty line compared to one in five nationally.
Comptroller DiNapoli emphasized the importance of leveraging existing vocational programs, improving transportation services for jobs that cannot be done remotely and educating employers about the benefits of hiring people with disabilities as measures that could diminish barriers to employment for people with disabilities.
State agencies are required to develop an annual plan that details how they will improve the percentage of people with disabilities they hire, and the chief disability officer is required to annually collect data from each agency and report on and evaluate the state’s progress.
Cracking Down on Retail Theft: Governor Hochul Announces New York State Police Organized Retail Theft Task Force Has Recovered More Than $2.6 Million in Stolen Goods
Governor Hochul this week announced that the New York State Police Organized Retail Theft Task Force has recovered more than $2.6 million in stolen goods statewide since launching new initiatives to curb retail theft in April 2024.
Across 1,006 operations, State Police and local law enforcement partners have made 1,224 arrests and filed 2,146 charges. This effort has contributed to a 13.6 percent decrease in retail theft year-over-year in New York City and a 13 percent decrease in larceny outside of New York City from January through June of this year as compared to the same time last year.
Following a post-pandemic spike in reported retail theft in New York City and a statewide surge in reported larcenies, Governor Hochul invested more than $40 million in District Attorneys’ offices, local law enforcement, and retail theft teams within the State Police. She also advanced initiatives to strengthen laws, hold perpetrators accountable, protect retail workers and support small businesses, including:
- Elevating the assault of a retail worker from a misdemeanor to a felony, ensuring any person who causes physical injury to a retail worker performing their job is subject to enhanced criminal penalties.
- Allowing prosecutors to combine the value of stolen goods when filing larceny charges, and allowing retail goods from different stores to be aggregated for the purposes of reaching a higher larceny threshold when stolen under the same criminal scheme.
- Making it illegal to foster the sale of stolen goods to go after third-party sellers.
- Securing $5 million to fund tax credits to help small businesses invest in and alleviate the financial burden for added security measures.
New York Record-Setting $3.3 Billion in State Spending With Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses
In Fiscal Year 2024–25, New York State disbursed $3.3 billion in payments to MWBEs — the highest statewide MWBE utilization spend in the history of the program — and achieved an estimated 31.86 percent utilization rate. Governor Kathy Hochul explained that this marks the fifth consecutive year the State has met or exceeded its nation-leading 30 percent MWBE participation goal.
The MWBE program now includes 9,745 certified firms statewide, with 2,225 firms certified or recertified in FY 2024–25. The State also expanded demographic reporting, with 249 certified businesses voluntarily providing detailed Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) information for the first time, ahead of next year’s inclusion of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) categories.
Earlier this year, Governor Hochul signed legislation raising the MWBE discretionary purchasing threshold to $1.5 million, further streamlining procurement and expanding contracting opportunities for certified MWBE firms across the State.
Coming Up
New York State
*There are currently no meetings scheduled for the State level at the time of this Publication*
New York City
Monday, November 24th
Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection, 250 Broadway – 8th Floor – Hearing Room 1, 10 a.m
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
250 Broadway – 8th Floor -Hearing Room 1, 10 a.m.
Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises, 250 Broadway – 8th Floor – Hearing Room 3. 11 a.m.
Committee on Higher Education, 250 Broadway – 8th Floor – Hearing Room 2, 1 p.m.
Committee on Parks and Recreation, 250 Broadway – 8th Floor – Hearing Room 1, 1 p.m.
City Council Stated Meeting, Council Chambers – City Hall, 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, November 25th
City Council Stated Meeting, Council Chambers – City Hall, 1:30 p.m.