News & Blog

New York Capital Brief:
January 14, 2021


State of the State Address
This week, Governor Cuomo deviated from his traditional one-day State of the State address and instead, delivered his seven-point plan over the course o...

New York Capital Brief:
January 07, 2021


NYS Legislature ‘Gavels In’ for 2021 Session
The New York State Senate and Assembly kicked off the 2021 session on Wednesday, with most members participating virtually and very few members present in the Chambers. In December, the legislature convened briefly to extend the resolution that allows lawmakers to conduct all legislative session and voting procedures remotely through 2021. This rule change was initially implemented in March as a response to the COVID pan...

New York Capital Brief:
December 19, 2020


Nurse Receives First Vaccine in NY

On Monday, Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, was the first person in New York to receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 ...

New York Capital Brief:
December 10, 2020


Fauci Approves NY’s ‘Critical Hospital Capacity’ Metric

Governor Cuomo was joined virtually by Dr. Anthony Fauci,  head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to deliver a joint warning to New Yorkers in light of the upcoming holiday...

Meet Hodes & Landy’s Legislative Intern, Olivia!
November 30, 2020


Olivia Vecchio has joined the H&L Team as a Legislative Intern to assist with all aspects of bill tracking and analysis, media monitoring, and special projects. Olivia is a current student at the University at Albany, SUNY, studying global political science and brings along experience from her time working on the staff of a State Senator and serving on a NY Congressional ca...

New York Capital Brief:
November 25, 2020


NYS Senate Dems Declare Historic Supermajority
This morning, nearly three weeks after Election Day with a record number of absentee ballots counted, Hudson Valley incumbent Senator Pete Harckham declared victory. The conclusion of this year’s most costly NYS legislative race ensures the Senate Democrats a minimum of 42 of 63 seats, the largest majority and the first Democratic supermajority in Stat...

New York Capital Brief:
November 19, 2020


Several Democrats Declare Victory in Key Senate Races
This week, six Democrats declared victory in highly contested New York Senate races, bringing the Democrats closer to reaching a supermajority and quite possibly the largest Democratic majority in the New York’s history. Currently, the Senate Democrats hold 40 seats and need to pick up two additional seats to reach the veto-proof...

New York Capital Brief:
November 12, 2020


Cuomo Announces New Statewide Restrictions

On Wednesday, Governor Cuomo announced new statewide COVID-19 restrictions on bars, restaurants, gyms, and residential gatherings in New York S...

New York Capital Brief:
November 05, 2020


Mail-in Voting Impact on NYS

The stakes remain high for both Democrats and Republicans in NYS legislative races, as the Democrats look to gain a supermajority in the State Senate and expand their party’s influence in the State Assembly.  Although many candidates hold generous leads after the conclusion of early and in-person voting, the final tabulation of mail-in-ballots will determine the results in several too-clo...

New York Capital Brief:
October 29, 2020


The Countdown to November 3

With a current $15 billion budget deficit in New York, Governor Cuomo and lawmakers continue to hold out for federal aid before acting on final deficit reduction measures. As a temporary stopgap measure, several months ago Cuomo began withholding a portion of funding for local governments, schools,...