Good afternoon — It’s Tuesday and Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day.
Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here for a 30-day free trial.
In today’s CapCon:
This year’s primary elections are two weeks from today. Here are five races to watch with plenty more to follow as we approach the big day.
We’re continuing to roll out bills passed by the state Legislature that Hochul will have to consider by January. Here are three that passed at the last minute.
Should New York allow a voting machine that tabulates votes using a barcode that voters can’t read? That’s the subject of a lawsuit from Common Cause.
Names in today’s CapCon: Kathy Hochul, Will Waldron, Pat Fahy, Zohran Mamdani, Jonathan Rivera, Jeremy Zellner, Sean Ryan, Adam Bojak, Kevin Deese, Karen Hoak, Deborah Glick, Ryder Kessler, David Siffert, Jeannine Kiely, Corinne Arnold, Benjamin Yee, Furhan Ahmad, Rob Rolison, Evan Menist, Elijah Reichlin-Melnick, Lisa Kaul, Gay Lee, Didi Barrett, Michael Kelsey, Claire Cousin, Sam Hodge, Jordan J.G. Wright, Keith L.T. Wright, Yusef Salaam, Conrad Blackburn
These have passed the state Legislature but haven’t been acted on by the governor.
(Will Waldron/Times Union)
✅ Bills Passed But Pending: Pharmacy reimbursement, prohibiting book bans and AI in news content
With the legislative session now behind us, I’ll start to highlight bills that passed both chambers of the state Legislature but haven’t yet been considered by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Hochul has until the end of the year to decide if she’ll approve, reject, or negotiate changes to each bill passed this year by state lawmakers.
While lawmakers can send bills to Hochul at any time for consideration, that’s not how they operate. They wait until Hochul asks them to send bills for her consideration.
That’s because, once a bill is sent to Hochul’s desk, she has a 10-day deadline (excluding Sundays) to make a decision. If she doesn’t act in that time, the bill automatically becomes law. It’s like the opposite of a pocket veto at the federal level.
Here are three bills approved by lawmakers you might not have heard about that will be decided by Hochul between now and January.
The Patient Access to Pharmacy Act: If you were in the state Capitol when pharmacists were rallying for this bill, you probably heard them. It passed the state Assembly at the last minute on the final day of this year’s session.
It’s intended to help support independent pharmacies in particular by setting a minimum amount that pharmacy benefit managers, and by extension a customer’s health insurance, pay for medication.
Start your 30-day trial to read the rest
Experience full access to Capitol Confidential New York—expert reporting, policy analysis, and clear insight into what’s moving and what comes next.
