October 10, 2025

Excerpt from NY Times article (below) released minutes ago re: (federal) OMB Director having ordered firings of some currently laid off federal government staff.  Apparently an unspecified number of Health and Human Services Department workers are about to lose their jobs.  It’s not just HHS but this seems to be focused on staff and programs overseen by federal agencies that implement programs he views as popular with Democrats.

“…The administration has already canceled or frozen tens of billions of dollars in federal aid that had primarily benefited Democratic-led cities and states. Mr. Trump has also threatened to slash what he has described as “Democrat agencies,” reducing spending perhaps on a permanent basis, even though lawmakers have not agreed to any cuts.

“We’ll be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans, frankly,” Mr. Trump said at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, adding that he would give Democrats a “little taste of their own medicine.”

If the Trump administration proceeds with its plans, a new round of layoffs could further decimate the federal workforce, which is expected to employ 300,000 fewer people by the end of December compared with January, officials have said. The staggering decline is a direct result of Mr. Trump, who has presided over an aggressive and legally contested effort to shrink the bureaucracy through firings, layoffs and induced retirements...”

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(NYS) Senate Democrats have selected their new top budget staffer

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins has made her selection for who will succeed current Secretary of Finance David Friedfel.

It’s Christopher Friend — no, not the Republican who’s a sitting member of the state Assembly. This Friend has been on staff with the state Senate Democrats since 2019. He was previously with the state Division of Budget and the state Assembly.

The position is incredibly important. As secretary of finance, Friend will be the Senate’s counterpart to state Budget Director Blake Washington and Assembly Ways and Means Secretary Philip Fields.

We’re not far out from the start of the state budget process. The state Division of Budget is due to release its mid-year update to the current budget’s financial plan this month.

After that, budget representatives from the division, both chambers of the Legislature and the state comptroller’s office will hold their annual “Quick Start” meeting. That’s when they discuss their initial estimates for revenue and spending.

That sets the baseline for where all parties expect to start from when Hochul presents her executive budget in January.

Hochul issues first 7 vetoes of 2025 – all from Skoufis

All seven of those bills were sponsored by state Sen. James Skoufis, a Democrat from Orange County who has butted heads with Hochul this year.

When state budget negotiations were stagnant after Hochul and lawmakers missed the April 1 deadline this year, Skoufis said on the state Senate floor that she “seems to think she is a monarch of sorts.”

Another 72 bills are in her office, starting the clock for her to make a decision on them. Those were sent to her last night, making her deadline Oct. 21. I’ll link to a list of those bills further down.

Let’s first look at the seven she vetoed Friday and late Thursday.

1. FOIL deadlines: That included a bill that would have set new deadlines for government agencies to fulfill requests made under the state Freedom of Information Law. Hochul wrote in her veto memo that those deadlines would be too strict.

“It establishes arbitrary deadlines for state and local governmental entities to disclose records in response to FOIL requests, regardless of the complexity or length of any given request of the staff time needed to complete review,” Hochul wrote.

The veto was panned by the good government group Reinvent Albany, which said Friday that it showed “far more sympathy with recalcitrant bureaucrats than with the simple principle that government is the people’s business.”

It was sponsored in the Assembly by Steven Raga.

2. State health records: A second bill from Skoufis would have directed the state Department of Health to contract with an outside entity to digitize vital records, like birth and death certificates.

It was intended to alleviate the thousands of requests that have been made to the agency by individuals for those records. Hochul wrote that she’s directing the agency to do what the bill would have required.

“I am directing the Department of Health to assess vendors that can assist with digitizing vital records to facilitate public access and streamline departmental processes,” Hochul wrote.

It was sponsored in the Assembly by Amy Paulin, the Health Committee chair.

“This would erect burdensome barriers that could hinder efforts to ensure a health and diverse broker marketplace,” Hochul wrote.

It was sponsored in the Assembly by Edward Braunstein.

4. Electric vehicle emergencies: Hochul wrote that a fourth bill from Skoufis that would create a new program to train first responders on electric vehicle emergencies would cost money and should therefore be negotiated as part of the state budget.

It was sponsored in the Assembly by Chris Eachus.

5. Online retail prices: A fifth Skoufis bill Hochul vetoed would have required retailers to disclose if product prices displayed online or through third parties, like Instacart, are different than what’s set in store.

It was intended to allow consumers to know if it would be less expensive for them to pick up the item in store. Hochul said the mandate would be too tough for businesses.

“Amongst other concerns, the requirement to share the comparative in-store pricing information to the delivery or online platforms in real time would be operationally challenging, particularly for retailers with multiple locations, and may lead to increased costs for consumers at a time when the cost of groceries is already a substantial burden for New Yorkers and their families,” Hochul wrote.

It was sponsored in the Assembly by Bill Magnarelli.

6. Body storage at nursing homes: Another Skoufis-Paulin bill Hochul vetoed would have required nursing homes to have a designated area to place the bodies of deceased persons.

The bill was in response to the inability of some nursing homes to hold those bodies during the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in families being rushed to transport them somewhere else. Nursing homes don’t have morgues.

Hochul wrote that it wouldn’t be fair to ask that of nursing homes without funding and that the state already has a plan for those situations, like morgues on wheels.

“New York state has identified resources for this purpose, including mobile morgues for the temporary storage of deceased individuals where there are mass fatality events or other state emergencies,” Hochul wrote.

7. Feedback for state agencies: The final Skoufis bill vetoed by Hochul would have required agencies that provide public-facing services to ask consumers for feedback on their performance.

Hochul wrote that state agencies wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the bill’s requirements, including a biannual report on how they responded to the feedback.

“This bill imposes mandates and timelines that would stifle the ability of state agencies to innovate and respond to feedback,” Hochul wrote and said she’d use “existing tools” to reach the same goal.

It was sponsored in the Assembly by John McDonald.

What’s in the 72 bills on Hochul’s desk

There are at least seven more Skoufis bills that Hochul is considering at the moment, along with 65 others.

Here’s the full list of the 72 bills that are on Hochul’s desk.

Many of them are local bills but a good chunk of them are not. I won’t tell you about all of them but here are a few that stick out.

1. Powers of the attorney general’s office: One bill, also from Skoufis, would clarify certain powers and protections of the state attorney general’s office and expand others.

It would, for one, allow the office to exempt records in civil investigations from public disclosure if they would reveal the identity of a confidential informant to reveal investigative techniques. That’s already the case for criminal matters.

The office’s enforcement powers would also be clarified to explicitly state its jurisdiction over civil rights matters involving law enforcement agencies and discrimination matters involving educational entities.

2. Using algorithms to set rent: This would prohibit property owners from using software or artificial intelligence to set the cost of rent.

That can be done through the collection of proprietary information from several landlords. An analysis of that information can determine how all of them should price their units to eliminate competition.

That software can also recommend that landlords take certain units off the market to drive up demand and keep costs high.

3. Other tools to confiscate guns: Two bills would create new ways for law enforcement officers to confiscate someone’s guns to prevent an act of violence.

The first would require that someone’s recent acts of aggravated cruelty to animals be considered when deciding to issue a temporary extreme risk protection order, which requires all firearms to be seized.

The second would build on a 2020 state law that gives law enforcement officers the option to confiscate any guns in plain sight when responding to a domestic violence call. This would instead mandate officers to remove those firearms.

Here’s a link to the full list of the 72 bills on Hochul’s desk.