Email from NYS Senate Updates and Upcoming Events   Dear Neighbor, We are now heading into the final stretch of this year's Legislative session in Albany, which ends for the Senate on June 12th (the Assembly is staying a few extra days). Unfortunately, because the budget was more than a month late, there is a very limited amount of time left in which to make progress on myriad important policy fronts. If you missed my email with updates from the final budget, you can view it by clicking here. Some of my own priorities for the end of session (of the bills for which I am prime sponsor) include: S.705, the Fair Pricing Act, which would lower costs for routine outpatient services performed by doctors in large hospital systems. S.4158, the NY HEAT Act, which would save gas ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars every year while planning for the long-term transition to a fossil fuel-free future. S.3606, the Stop Climate Polluter Handouts Act, which will save New York taxpayers over $350 million every year on subsidies that promote fossil fuel use. S.1572, the End Hedge Fund Control of New York Homes Act, which would increase housing availability by discouraging predatory hedge funds from hoarding 1- to 4-family homes. S.590, which would repeal the “bumping” provision in state law that allows a mayor to use a Charter Revision Commission to block ballot proposals initiated by New Yorkers or the City Council. S.1162, which requires third-party food delivery services like Uber Eats or GrubHub to carry no fault insurance coverage for delivery people working on their behalf. S.7880, the NY PROTECT Act, which maintains state-level tax-exempt status for non-profits targeted by the Trump Administration. S.2433A, the Ground Lease Co-op Bill, which addresses longstanding gaps in state law that leave more than 25,000 ground lease co-op residents vulnerable to displacement. S.2134A, which restores protections for rent stabilized tenants in demolition cases that existed before the First NY v DHCR 2022 appellate court decision. Also, a reminder that we have an important Primary Election coming up in New York City on June 24th. Primaries will be held for mayor, comptroller, public advocate, borough president, and city council. Early voting runs from June 14th through June 22nd. For more information about the election, go to nycvotes.org, and click here for information about the televised debates for citywide offices. Below you will find updates on recent actions by the Trump Administration affecting New Yorkers and legislative activity in Albany, as well as upcoming events and other useful information. As always, if you have any questions or need assistance, please email or call my office at [email protected] or 212-490-9535. Liz Krueger State Senator Update On Trump Administration Impacts Once again I would like to highlight a very small sample of some of the actions of the Trump/Musk Administration that have had concrete, negative impacts on New Yorkers. Click on these links to find previous reports from February, March, and April. First, the federal budget. The budget reconciliation bill that recently passed the House of Representatives by one vote, which has acquired the Orwellian name of the “Big Beautiful Bill," has the potential to do significant harm to New Yorkers (I think perhaps the “No Good, Very Bad Bill” would be more a appropriate name). It includes $625 billion in cuts to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) over ten years, which the CBO says would result in 7.6 million Americans losing coverage. These funding cuts, in addition to various new paperwork requirements to root out imaginary fraud, are estimated by the Commonwealth Fund to result in the loss of nearly 450,000 jobs due to broader economic harms. In New York State, the City Comptroller’s office estimates the state would lose $3 billion in Medicaid coverage, causing 1.5 million New Yorkers, including 800,000 in NYC, to lose their insurance (others estimate more than 2 million). The bill also cuts $300 billion in SNAP food aid, which constitutes nearly 30% of the program funding – the largest SNAP cut in history – including $2 billion to New York State. These cuts would impact 1.8 million New Yorkers. Over 60% of families who rely on SNAP have children. This is all to pay for $2.5 trillion in tax cuts, two-thirds of which will go to those making over $217,000 per year, and one quarter of which will go to the top 1%. Meanwhile, the bottom quintile of earners, those who make less than $17,000, will actually be worse off by over $1,000 per year, which grows to more than $1,400 per year by 2030. And it will still increase the federal deficit by $3 trillion, which has already cause Moody’s to downgrade our country’s credit rating for the first time ever. The chart below demonstrates just how perverse the redistribution of wealth in the reconciliation bill actually is. It compares the impacts of this bill with Trump's 2017 tax giveaway to the wealthy: Source: Tax Policy Center and Penn-Wharton Budget Model The reconciliation bill is now being considered by the Senate, where we can only hope significant changes will be made to reduce the amount of damage regular Americans will suffer. Here are a few other things the Administration has been up to: President Trump’s “skinny budget,” which outlines his budget priorities for the coming fiscal year and is not part of the reconciliation bill currently moving through Congress, includes nearly $34 billion in cuts to HUD. Part of that would be major cuts to several housing voucher programs, which are used by half a million New Yorkers, 24% of whom are elderly and 30% of whom are people with disabilities. If they are carried out, these cuts will lead to massive numbers of evictions of some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers. The President continues to use Immigrations and Customs Enforcement as a paramilitary arm of the MAGA movement, terrorizing Americans regardless of citizenship status. Among the many examples this month: 20 masked “agents” raided the home of a family of American citizens in Oklahoma, taking all they had of value, including their money; and closer to home, ICE tricked a high schooler in the Bronx with no legal representation into giving up his rights before arresting him and shipping him around the country. The Center for New York City Affairs at The New School has an excellent explainer of the death by a thousand cuts that President Trump and Elon Musk are inflicting on Social Security. As they put it, “Social Security is not broken; it’s being broken through systemic neglect followed by swift resource reductions and public demeaning.” The President dismissed hundreds of scientists contributing to the Congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment, which is the most important federal report on the impacts of climate change. Unfortunately, sticking our heads in the sand doesn’t make the climate crisis go away. And speaking of the climate crisis, the damage caused by the Administration to FEMA continues to mount. Earlier this month, FEMA’s acting administrator was fired for having the audacity to tell a Congressional subcommittee that he didn’t think FEMA should be eliminated. He was replaced by someone “with no disaster response experience.” A recently leaked internal memo offered a damning assessment of the state of affairs at FEMA in the aftermath of Trump and Musk’s attacks: that “critical functions” are at “high risk” of failure due to “significant personnel losses in advance of the 2025 Hurricane Season.” Many local arts organizations are out tens of thousands of dollars as a result of funding cuts at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). President Trump’s proposed budget would eliminate NEA funding entirely. On the subject of sticking our heads in the sand and hoping problems just disappear, the National Institutes of Health ended a program that has been credited with reducing deaths caused by Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) by 50% since 1994. And the EPA has reversed course to take away protections for Americans against PFAS forever chemicals poisoning our drinking water. The President also signed an executive order limiting certain types of infectious disease research, which will make it harder to fight the next pandemic. The FDA may restrict access to updated COVID vaccines for everyone except adults over 65 and people with certain medical conditions. And the CDC has proudly stopped recommending the vaccine for children and pregnant women, which may make it more difficult for those groups to access these essential vaccinations. The Trumpist War on Science continued, with the National Science Foundation freezing all funding, RFK Jr threatening to ban government scientists from publishing in major medical journals, which he called “corrupt, and, closer to home, the NIH cutting undergraduate research support funding to several NYC colleges. Meanwhile, a Trump and RFK Jr just released a report on children's health that appears to have been written by artificial intelligence. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced a moratorium on all visa applications for foreign university students, which will have long-term implications for the development of new technologies in the US, as well as for our national and local economy, not to mention our standing in the world. The Energy Department announced that it will drive up consumer costs and line the pockets of fossil fuel executives by attempting to rescind 47 energy efficiency and water conservation standards. According to previous government analysis, those standards saved Americans an average of $576 last year. Separately, the EPA plans to eliminate the 30-year old Energy Star program, which has saved American consumers and businesses over $500 billion since 1992. At an annual cost of $32 million per year, that’s a 500-to-1 return on investment – government doesn’t get much more efficient than that. Due to increasing concerns and outrage over actions being taken by the Trump administration, everyday people are getting involved with pushing back against the administration. It is crucial to contact your U.S. Representatives to advocate against harmful policies, such as the reconciliation bill, but it has also become abundantly clear that there are limits to what minority members of congress can do - "we the people" must speak out against the administration's egregious initiatives. If you want to participate in pushing back against these egregious initiatives, I have included some resources that I hope will be helpful: 10 ways to be prepared and grounded now that Trump has won How Will We Know When We Have Lost Our Democracy? If fear is the goal, then solidarity is the antidote Appeasing Donald Trump Won’t Work A nationwide No Kings Mass Protest is being held on June 14 from 2-4 p.m. at Bryant Park. Please click here for more information. To find other Events, Petitions, and Volunteer Opportunities, please click here to search for opportunities in and around New York City. Please click here to view a list of advocacy organizations that you can connect or volunteer with on issues that matter to you. Sen. Krueger Introduces NY PROTECT Act To Shield Non-Profits From Trump/Musk Attacks Earlier this month, I introduced the New York Preventing Revocation of Organizations' Tax-Exempt Classification by Trump (NY PROTECT) Act, with Assemblymember Deborah Glick, to ensure that 501(c)3 organizations that lose federal tax-exempt status as a result of an illegal or improper revocation by the IRS can continue operating in New York as if they maintained such status. Recently, the Trump Administration has threatened to revoke tax-exempt 501(c)3 status from several organizations that President Trump has deemed to be acting counter to his ideological priorities. Among the types of groups he has threatened are environmental advocacy organizations, those promoting democracy and voting rights, and Harvard University. Congressional Republicans have also previously advanced legislation to give the president broad powers to revoke non-profit status by deeming organizations to be supporters of terrorism. Many of these organizations do critical work in New York communities, and losing their 501(c)3 designation would have far-reaching impacts. A 501(c)3 organization whose status is illegally or improperly revoked by the IRS, may be subjected to an array of state or local taxes. Further, a 501(c)3 designation provides more than just a status for taxing purposes. This status, and a certification of such status, is required by many programs, contracts and qualifications under New York State Education, Housing, Health, and Ag & Markets Law, and other areas in connection with state and local governments. The NY PROTECT Act, S.7880, will ensure that no services or contracts are interrupted as a result of federal actions that are illegal or improper. Organizations that held tax-exempt status on January 19th, 2025, and believe that status has been improperly revoked by the IRS, can apply to the Commissioner of Tax and Finance to become a "state protected not-for-profit organization." Such a designation will remain in effect until the earlier of April 15th the following year, or one year after the IRS restores the organization's federal status. Organizations may renew their state protected designation if their status continues to be improperly withheld by the IRS. The bill sunsets on January 20th, 2029. The Trump Regime is determined to wage a Cultural Revolution to enforce their ideology on everyone and everything, and they will retaliate in any way they can against those who don't toe the line. New York must continue to stand up for our American values and protect organizations advocating for academic freedom, democracy, the environment, and any number of issues critical to our lives and our futures. It is clearly not legal for the IRS to revoke tax-exempt status from groups just because Trump doesn't like them, but we can't wait for the courts to overturn these actions - we need to act now to protect New York's non-profits so they can continue to do their vital work in our communities. Rally For The Fair Pricing Act Earlier this month, I rallied with members of SEIU Local 32BJ and several of my legislative colleagues in support of the Fair Pricing Act, S.705, which I carry along with Assm. Chantel Jackson. With hospital prices driving the skyrocketing cost of healthcare expenses, the Fair Pricing Act (FPA) would make New York the first state in the nation to cap (at 150% of the Medicare rate) prices for routine outpatient services to align with the lower rates paid in doctor’s office settings. If enacted into law, the FPA would help bring down the cost of basic medical services like flu shots, MRIs, IV drips for dehydration, telehealth visits and many more procedures that are increasingly costing patients, businesses and government entities exorbitant amounts of money. A recent study conducted by Brown University’s School of Public Health found that if the FPA was already the law, healthcare costs could have been over $1 billion lower in 2022 and patients could have enjoyed a savings of up to $213 million in out-of-pocket expenses. Op-Ed: Act Now To Shield New Yorkers' Reproductive Health Data This month the Albany Times Union ran on op-ed by two medical students on the need for Governor Hochul to sign the NY Health Information Privacy Act (S.929/A.2141). In light of the privacy concerns laid bare by the bankruptcy of DNA testing company 23andMe -- which prompted Attorney General Letitia James to urge customers to delete their data -- as well as the Trump Administration's ongoing attacks on reproductive rights, urgent action is required to protect New Yorkers. The bill would regulate companies that collect and sell healthcare information, and provide additional rights and protections to consumers related to the sale of their private health information. It passed both houses of the Legislature earlier this year. Most New Yorkers think their healthcare data is their own, that's it's protected by federal HIPAA laws and is sacrosanct. But that could not be further from the truth. The 23andMe bankruptcy should be a wake-up call. Our health data is being collected, tracked, and sold to third parties by the very companies that are supposed to be taking care of us - including women's health apps, which tend to have vague or hard-to-find privacy policies. This critical legislation will empower New Yorkers by giving them control over how their health data is used - and it could not be more urgently needed. At this time when our privacy rights are under fierce attack, I urge Governor Hochul to act now and sign the bill. Click Here to Read the Op-Ed Update On Lenox Hill Hospital Rezoning As you may be aware, Northwell Health has submitted a rezoning application in order to modernize and significantly enlarge Lenox Hill Hospital. The application is currently going through New York City's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) process, which includes the following steps: 1) City Planning Commission certification, 2) Community Board Review, 3) Borough President Review, 4) City Planning Commission Review, 5) City Council Review, and 6) Mayoral Review. So far, the Lenox Hill Hospital rezoning application has completed the first three steps and is currently undergoing City Planning Commission Review. Following years of discussions and a public hearing, Community Board 8 voted to disapprove the application unless major modifications are made. Community Board 8's resolution is available online here. The Manhattan Borough President subsequently recommended approval of the application with 17 conditions. The City Planning Commission held a public hearing on the application on May 21, and must vote on the application within 60 days after the Borough President's review. I submitted testimony to the City Planning Commission strongly urging the rejection of Lenox Hill Hospital's rezoning application unless all of the modifications recommended by Community Board 8 are made. You can read my testimony here. The proposed hospital expansion project would be unprecedented for the Lenox Hill community and Manhattan. If approved, the zoning application would authorize a protracted hospital construction project that would disrupt the neighborhood for a decade, permit the construction excessively large tower, and have significant impacts on citywide health care infrastructure and costs. While there is no question that Lenox Hill Hospital plays an integral role our community and needs to modernize many of its facilities in order to meet current standards of healthcare delivery, substantial changes to the rezoning application are required to minimize the impacts of construction and scale of development on the surrounding neighborhood. If you would like to submit written testimony to the City Planning Commission, you may do so online. Based on the information that my office has received, all electronic comments will be accepted until 5 PM on Monday, June 2. Click Here to Read Sen. Krueger's Testimony Sarah Woodside Gallagher Honored With Women of Distinction Award This month I was pleased to honor Sarah Woodside Gallagher at the Senate's annual Women of Distinction award ceremony. Ms. Gallagher is a veteran of the entertainment industry. She has worked in commercial and documentary production, cable channel development, television, and feature films. Ms. Gallagher also found deep satisfaction in the greening of her Upper East Side Manhattan neighborhood. She co-founded Upper Green Side, a non-profit organization dedicated to making the community more sustainable. Among its many activities, Upper Green Side sponsors two weekly Upper East Side greenmarkets, organizes regular volunteer gardening on the First Avenue bicycle islands, and cares for area street trees and tree beds. Under her leadership, Upper Green Side pioneered regular free community electronics recycling and paper shredding events (AKA “Shred-A-Thons”), and it is now in its second decade of publishing a weekly eco-friendly online neighborhood newsletter, This Week at the Markets. Currently, Ms. Gallagher is working with other advocates to fully restore and expand the New York City community composting program, which teaches residents, schoolchildren, and businesses how to compost and why it’s important to do so. She is determined to restore and increase the number of community compost collection sites on the Upper East Side. Ms. Gallagher also serves on the Board of Directors of Friends of the East River Esplanade, the non-profit dedicated to restoring the crumbling East River Esplanade and enhancing the esplanade’s public walking, running, and bike paths, boating access, fishing piers, landscaping, and community programming. Nominated for several awards for her work in television, Ms. Gallagher attended the Fox Lane School and Smith College. Thomas Pike Inducted Into New York State Senate Veterans' Hall of Fame This month I was honored to nominate Thomas Pike for induction into the New York State Senate Veterans' Hall of Fame. Mr. Pike served in the United States Army and achieved the rank of Colonel. A native New Yorker, he served for over 30 years with the Armed Forces. He grew up in Manhattan and attended school on the Upper East Side. His career as a military intelligence officer prominently featured support for the Global War on Terrorism, where he held multiple leadership positions of increasing responsibility. His commitment to service included five deployments—three to Afghanistan and two to the Balkans, where he held several leadership positions. During his final deployment, he served as the Director of Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence (HUMINT) for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul, Afghanistan, providing critical support to U.S. and NATO forces. He returned to the United States to take command of a brigade. In 2018, Mr. Pike returned to his New York City roots with his family. His final military assignment involved supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at its downtown Manhattan office. He assisted in several emergency response missions, including earthquake relief in Puerto Rico, a hurricane response in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and assistance to 50,000 Afghan refugees at Fort Dix, New Jersey following the fall of Kabul in 2021. His most extensive mission came during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he leveraged Department of Defense medical support at the Javits Center and 11 public hospitals in New York City. He subsequently assisted with FEMA’s vaccine initiative, coordinating Navy and Air Force units as they administered vaccines in underserved communities in Queens and Brooklyn. Today, Mr. Pike focuses on mentoring the next generation, teaching leadership and responsibility to children and teenagers across New York City. He serves as the Assistant Commandant for the Knickerbocker Greys, a historic after-school cadet corps for boys and girls established in 1881. Additionally, he leads the Military Order of Foreign Wars in New York, a non-profit organization supporting veterans’ issues, youth development, and military history. An accomplished author, Mr. Pike has published three books—two on the Vietnam War and one chronicling the history of the Knickerbocker Greys. He is frequently invited as a guest lecturer on topics related to the Vietnam War, intelligence operations, and critical infrastructure preparedness, where he shares his expertise with diverse audiences. Mr. Pike’s awards include three Legions of Merit, three Bronze Star Medals, three Defense Meritorious Service Medals, and the Combat Action Badge. Town Hall With Congressman Nadler On June 17th I will be co-sponsoring a Town Hall with Congressman Jerry Nadler. Titled "Forging A Path Forward," the Town Hall will be an opportunity for constituents to hear about how the Trump agenda is impacting people in the district, and to ask questions of your elected representatives. Tuesday, June 17, 2025 Doors Open at 5 pm Seating is on a first come first served basis Activist Resource Fair 5 pm – 6 pm Town Hall 6 pm- 7:30 pm Hunter College, North Assembly Hall, Entrance on the Southside of 69th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues Click Here to RSVP for the June 17th Town Hall E-Waste Recycling On Roosevelt Island During Roosevelt Island Day, June 7th, I am co-sponsoring an E-Waste Recycling Event from 10am to 1pm, with Carter Burden Older Adult Center. Drop-off items at the Senior Center Garden/Patio-between 546 and 540 Driveway. Accepting electronics, TVs, monitors, computers, laptops, mice, keyboards, satellite boxes, video games, phones. Not accepting appliances, loose batteries, or light bulbs. Electric Landscaping Equipment Demo Day At The Capitol With momentum growing in the Legislature to pass a statewide rebate program for purchasing electric landscaping equipment, earlier this month I joined representatives from STIHL, EGO, Milwaukee Tools, Ryobi, The Home Depot, and Ace Hardware, as well as organizers from NYPIRG, Environment America, and other advocacy groups for an informative day of testing out cleaner, quieter electric landscaping equipment. The “Electric Landscaping Equipment Demo Day” offered legislators and their staff, as well local residents, the opportunity to learn about the benefits of going electric. Gas-powered landscaping equipment has a significant negative impact on workers, communities, and the environment. Electric equipment, on the other hand, is lighter, quieter, has lower maintenance costs, a significantly smaller environmental footprint, and is better for workers’ health. S.1574/A.2657 would create an Electric Landscaping Equipment Rebate Program, administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). It would offer point-of- sale rebates to commercial landscapers and institutional users, including municipalities, who purchase battery-powered electric landscaping equipment, such as leaf blowers, weed whackers, or lawn mowers. Gas-powered landscaping equipment emits large amounts of greenhouse gases and harmful, smog-forming pollution, including hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), and fine particulate matter (PM). The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has reported that operating a gas-powered lawn mower for one hour creates as much smog-forming pollution as driving an average car 300 miles, the distance from New York City to Portland, ME. Operating a gas-powered leaf blower for one hour creates as much smog-forming pollution as driving a car 1,100 miles, or from New York City to Tampa, FL. Noise is also a significant negative impact from gas-powered lawn care equipment. According to a 2018 report in the Journal of Environmental and Toxicological Studies, sound levels at distances of 100 to 400 feet were up to 22 decibels louder for gas-powered leaf blowers than their battery-electric equivalents (the decibel scale is logarithmic, so each increase of 10 represents a noise ten times louder). S.1574 passed the state Senate by a vote of 52-9 on March 17, showing its broad bipartisan support. A.2657 passed out of the Assembly Committee on Energy on May 6, and has been sent to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. Addressing the climate crisis requires action on all fronts. Gas-powered landscaping equipment emits a stunning amount of greenhouse gases and co-pollutants, not to mention the noise that blights communities across the state. This bill will make it easier for New York's landscaping companies to transition to cleaner, quieter equipment. It's a win for small businesses, workers, communities, and our shared environment. Click Here to Watch Blair Horner of NYPIRG Discussing the Rebate Bill Congestion Pricing Update I was pleased to see that on Wednesday, a judge issued a preliminary injunction ruling that the Federal DOT is unable to withhold or deny approval of transportation funding for New York State over our refusal to end our Congestion Pricing program. I have long been a vocal supporter of Congestion Pricing, and every week more data is released showing that this program has been a resounding success. I was heartened to see Secretary Sean Duffy's illegal attempt to bully New York State dealt another serious blow. I remain a firm believer that Congestion Pricing is beneficial to our health, our environment, and our economy, and look forward to seeing New York State win this case in court. What Is Ranked Choice Voting? OMNY Call Center Hours Extended The MTA has just announced that OMNY Call Center hours are extending to 6am-8pm, seven days a week, starting this coming Monday June 2nd at midnight. I have heard from many constituents who are frustrated with the OMNY help line's long wait times, so I am happy to hear this and hopeful that this will result in speedier, more effective rider service. You can call OMNY's help line at 877-789-6669. Roosevelt Island Pride Flag Raising Roosevelt Island Day AAPI Enterprise Empowerment Initiative District Office: 211 East 43rd Street, Suite 2000 | New York, NY 10017 | (212) 490-9535 | Fax: (212) 499-2558 Albany Office: Capitol Building, Room 416 | Albany, NY 12247 | (518) 455-2297 | Fax: (518) 426-6874 Email: [email protected] | On the Web: krueger.nysenate.gov   Senator Liz Krueger | 211 E 43rd St #2000 | New York, NY 10017 US Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice