December 19, 2025
First, some good news….
Hochul expected to sign gender-affirming care protection
The governor is poised to back the measure just after the Trump administration announced a proposal to block gender-related care for minors.
By Katelyn Cordero | 12/18/2025 06:22 PM EST
ALBANY, New York — Gov Kathy Hochul is expected to sign legislation that would expand the state’s shield laws to protect providers of gender-affirming care, bill sponsor Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal confirmed to POLITICO. The development comes on the same day the Trump administration announced a proposal to block the treatment for minors, threatening to pull funding to any hospitals that perform the procedures.
The state legislation is designed to prevent out-of-state efforts to penalize or interfere with care in New York. The state already has shield laws in place to protect providers of abortion care, but the bill would expand those protections to treatment for transgender New Yorkers, who have been under fire from President Donald Trump.
Hochul is required to decide whether to sign the bill by Friday. Over the past several weeks, the governor negotiated chapter amendments with sponsors Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright, along with the Attorney General’s office, Hoylman-Sigal said.
The final iteration of the bill is expected to include some minor administrative changes regarding insurance coverage and how hospitals would report and notify the attorney general’s office when they receive a subpoena related to gender-affirming care. Hoylman-Sigal said there is a sense of urgency to provide protections for the state’s LGBTQ+ community.
“New York is a beacon for lifesaving abortion care and gender-affirming treatment, and we will continue to do so as states can under the laws that respect the separation of powers,” Hoylman-Sigal said. “This bill is more important than ever to be signed into law. I’m sure it will be litigated, and I have faith in the attorney general to defend it.”
He said the legislation is needed to protect against Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s proposal to cut federal funding to hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to minors.
“It’s pure politics in the most vicious and debased form that we’ve seen in recent history. I can barely contain myself with how appalled I am,” Hoylman-Sigal said. “It’s a rallying cry … not just this bill, but for even more legislation to try to thwart the attempt of the Trump administration to infringe upon vulnerable young people.”
Attorney General Letitia James, who helped draft the bill and negotiate changes to win over the governor, released a statement Thursday condemning the president’s efforts to block gender-affirming care to minors.
“This president would rather target young people than lower costs or expand access to health care,” James said. “It is reprehensible that our federal government is intent on hurting and isolating the adolescents it is supposed to protect. I will use every tool at my disposal to fight this proposal and protect transgender Americans and their families.”
Trump and Kennedy have characterized the administration’s moves as necessary to protect kids.
“The federal government will do everything in its power to stop unsafe, irreversible practices that put our children at risk,” Kennedy said in a statement. “This Administration will protect America’s most vulnerable. Our children deserve better — and we are delivering on that promise.”
Hochul’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
——————
For Political Types, this is a good read..
Governor heads into 2026 reelection with a triangle of complications
——————–
Troubling development – not unexpected but no less concerning given the breadth and scope of the DHS Inspector General’s powers.
Trump loyalist confirmed as health department watchdog
By: Amanda Chu
| 12/18/2025 08:38 PM EST, PoliticoPRO
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health department has a new watchdog.
The Senate voted 53-43 on Thursday along party lines to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee, Thomas “March” Bell, as inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Bell, who led a controversial House probe into Planned Parenthood in 2015, will have sweeping authority to audit and investigate the healthcare industry and the nation’s federal health programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.
In his October confirmation hearing, Bell praised Trump and Kennedy’s leadership and vowed to use his authority to support their agenda. Since taking the helm at HHS, Kennedy has overhauled staffing, targeted ingredients used by the food and beverage industry and rolled back vaccine requirements as part of his larger Make America Healthy Again movement to address chronic disease.
“If confirmed as inspector general, I’ll examine, evaluate, audit and investigate agencies within HHS to support the initiatives of President Trump and Secretary Kennedy,” Bell told the Senate Finance Committee in opening remarks.
Bell’s confirmation on Thursday was part of an en bloc vote on 97 Trump nominees, following a procedural change led by Senate Republicans in September to allow the chamber to confirm nominees in bulk.
His confirmation follows Trump’s purge of inspector generals’ offices across the executive branch earlier this year, removing a significant layer of oversight as the president centralized control across the federal government.
Bell is succeeding Christi Grimm, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden and fired by Trump in January. Grimm is one of the eight fired federal watchdogs suing the Trump administration for unlawful termination.
Democrats have condemned Bell’s nomination over concerns about his ability to be nonpartisan and his House investigation of Planned Parenthood a decade ago.
“Americans ought to be able to know that their independent watchdogs are going to call balls and strikes without political interference,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the Finance Committee’s top Democrat, said at the October hearing. “If confirmed, it’s my view that Mr. Bell will challenge that faith to the core.”
Bell, an attorney, served as chief counsel and staff director of the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, a panel formed by House Republicans in 2015 to investigate alleged fetal tissue sales from groups like Planned Parenthood. The investigation found no evidence that Planned Parenthood broke the law, but it bolstered Republicans’ efforts to strip funding from the reproductive health care group.
Republicans, meanwhile, have taken to Bell’s defense.
“His long career in oversight and investigations at the Department of Justice and in the House of Representatives, among other federal and state agencies will serve him well in this position,” Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said at the hearing, adding that Bell has met the committee’s “rigorous vetting standard.”
————————–
Former NYS Commissioner Mike Hogan led the investigation leading to the Report linked (below):
BUFFALO NEWS: New Report Examines Erie County’s Mental Health Crisis Response, Offering Statewide Lessons… https://archive.ph/kkk6L#selection-3121.8-3121.84
——————————-
Heads Up! Coming in 2026, a NYC Council bill would create New Department of Community Safety to address city’s mental health response:
In a preview of a major legislative push to come next year, New York City Council Member Lincoln Restler introduced a new bill on Thursday that would create a Department of Community Safety, along the lines of Mamdani’s campaign proposal to shift mental health response away from the police. The legislation carried 27 other co-sponsors as of Thursday, though that count doesn’t include any incoming members who might sign once they officially join the council.
The legislation would task a brand new department with opening at least one office in each borough and providing emergency response services to “support the preservation of public health, safety and welfare.” The department would also be tasked with managing city contracts related to alternatives to incarceration programs, reentry services and violence prevention programs.
—————————–
Minimum wage Zomentum
By NICK REISMAN, EMILY NGO and JEFF COLTIN | 12/19/2025 06:00 AM EST, Politico
Zohran Mamdani’s victorious mayoral election is driving a renewed push to again change New York state’s minimum wage laws in the coming year.
Left-leaning Democratic state lawmakers are preparing potential legislation that would eliminate the so-called subminimum wage for tipped workers, such as waiters, and for prison inmates.
They are also weighing whether to link the minimum wage to a cost-of-living formula, which supporters contend would be a more precise gauge than the rate of inflation. And they want to eliminate the bifurcated downstate-upstate wages.
The looming debate in Albany is another example of how Mamdani, who ran on a broad platform of combating high prices in a deeply expensive city, has significantly shifted the policy discussion in the state Capitol.
“The mayor-elect shined a light on an issue that our communities are facing for a long time,” said Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas. “I know that’s why he won. He understood the realities that people are facing — people earning a minimum wage are not able to make their rent or put food on their families’ table.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office touted her efforts to address voter angst over rising costs.
“The governor will continue to deliver on her promise to put money back in New Yorkers’ pockets, including an increased minimum wage she championed that takes effect Jan. 1,” said spokesperson Jen Goodman.
New York’s minimum wage is set to rise on Jan. 1 by 50 cents. In New York City, Long Island and Westchester County, it will hit $17. North of Westchester, the wage will reach $16. Come 2027, the wage will be tied to the Consumer Price Index.
The current wage increase schedule is the product of a 2023 deal reached by Hochul and the Democratic-led Legislature. At the time, the governor praised the agreement as a win for workers in the “affordability crisis.”
The governor, who like the Legislature is up for reelection, is expected to make affordability policies a centerpiece of her State of the State address next month.
She’s also championed measures meant to address high costs, like a rebate check framed as a way of counteracting inflation.
A push for economic populism will likely reach a fever pitch next year when lawmakers begin their 2026 session on Jan. 7.
Mamdani wants universal child care care, free bus service — and a tax hike on rich New Yorkers to pay for it.
“It’s clear based on what we saw — not just with the election of Zohran Mamdani but the national election — that there’s a huge focus for a lot of Americans on the cost of living,” said Democratic Assemblymember Brian Cunningham. “Obviously New York City and New York state is one of the most expensive places in the country to rent a home, to buy a home, to raise a family.”
Prior efforts to raise the tipped minimum wage have been furiously opposed by restaurant staff who fear that their customary gratuities would drop as a result.
Business organizations that represent private sector firms both large and small will push back — arguing that provisions like tax credits meant to offset the cost of any wage increase won’t go far enough.
“It’s always brought up in this affordability context, but what everyone seems to neglect is any time you increase costs — the minimum wage, taxes, energy bills — there are measures small-business owners will have to take to offset those costs,” said Ashley Ranslow, the state director of the National Federation of Independent Business. “I find it ironic when they talk about affordability and then shift costs onto small-business owners.” — Nick Reisman
———————–
Senators leave for the holidays without passing funding package
Leaders hope to pass the legislation in early January.
By Jordain Carney, Jennifer Scholtes, Katherine Tully-McManus | 12/18/2025 10:08 PM EST
Senate leaders gave up late Thursday on trying to pass a government funding package before adjourning for the holidays — after more than a month of negotiations with lawmakers who voiced objections.
Senators huddled on the floor Thursday night as they made an eleventh-hour attempt to find a path forward on bringing up a bundle of five bills. But Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper announced they would hold up the package after White House budget director Russ Vought’s decision to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
One Democratic senator, granted anonymity to disclose private discussions, said the Democrats were not the only hurdle to finishing the legislation. But it made things difficult for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who will have less time to advance the package when lawmakers return to town in January with just a few weeks left to avoid a partial shutdown on Jan. 30.
“I’m disappointed that we will not be moving to our second package of appropriations bills tonight. Republicans were ready to go,” Thune said before the Senate left town. “I want this body to know that I remain as committed as ever to funding the government through the regular order process.”
Leaving the Capitol late Thursday evening, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he and Thune are in agreement on advancing funding bills next month.
“We want to get through the process and get the appropriations bills done,” Schumer told reporters. “Our goal is to have full appropriations for the rest of the fiscal 2026 year … by Jan. 30.”
At the same time, Senate passage of this funding package won’t stave off another lapse all on its own. That’s because the legislation is only the product of negotiations in the Senate, and bipartisan deal-trading with House lawmakers won’t start until top Republican appropriators reach a separate agreement on overall bill totals.
Besides cash for the Pentagon, the package under consideration in the Senate would fund the departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Labor and Interior, along with the EPA.
For the last five weeks, Senate GOP leaders have been trying to lock in approval from all 100 senators to begin debate on this funding measure. But Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and John Kennedy of Louisiana raised objections.
Those holdouts ultimately consented after Republican leaders agreed to a vote on nixing earmarks in the package and committed to eventually advance Johnson’s bill to ensure some federal workers are paid during government shutdowns.