The legislative session in Albany ended Friday with lawmakers unable to reach an agreement on MTA funding after Gov. Kathy Hochul put an indefinite "pause" on congestion pricing as a funding source for the agency earlier this week.
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told reporters Friday night that lawmakers can figure out a plan at a future date.
“We are extremely committed to funding the MTA just as we are committed to mitigating congestion. Our conference was not comfortable within the timeframe to commit to the tax without some understanding about congestion mitigation and how that was going to proceed,” she said.
In a press conference Friday evening, Hochul said New Yorkers are “not ready” for congestion pricing.
“The closer we got to the June 30 implementation date, I heard from more and more anxious New Yorkers that this would be a real hardship for them,” she told reporters in Albany.
Hochul originally announced congestion pricing would be paused “indefinitely.” On Friday, she characterized it a “temporary pause.”
“This is on temporary pause. The mechanics and the operations are in place, which is one of the reasons people started getting very anxious,” she said.
Hochul said some working- and middle-class New Yorkers can’t afford the additional $15 toll while heading to their jobs.
“The bottom line is, this is simply about protecting working- and middle-class New Yorkers,” she said.
“It’s real simple to me. Leaders have to be willing to do what’s right, regardless of the political headwinds, and stand up for the voices that are not being heard,” she added.
According to Hochul, the MTA will take “necessary action” for the pause.
When asked why she made the decision to pause congestion pricing when she did, she said it was because the end of session was nearing in Albany and she wanted to catch lawmakers before they left.
Albany lawmakers on Thursday rejected Hochul’s last-minute proposal to replace congestion pricing with a tax on New York City businesses that she argued would raise the $1 billion needed for long-planned transit system upgrades. Hochul’s proposal would have increased what’s known as the “payroll mobility tax” on city businesses.
Hochul on Friday characterized the idea as “a tax, minuscule increase, on New York City’s largest businesses,” and also said it included “a tax cut for smaller businesses.”
In a joint statement, MTA CFO Kevin Willens and MTA General Counsel Paige Graves said under federal law and regulation, the MTA cannot act on a congestion pricing plan without the approval of the city, the state and the federal government. They said they "no longer have the State's consent" with the announcement of the pause.
She said she is prepared to continue working “to avoid any disruption” to the capital plan.
“The leaders and I have a shared interest and responsibility to ensure that the MTA and its capital program is fully funded,” she said. "And I've made it clear. After many, many conversations, I am prepared to continue working with them from this moment on – just got off the phone – to continue to avoid any disruption in the MTA Capital Plan."
It’s unclear where that $1 billion in funding, as well as the $15 billion that was expected to be generated by congestion pricing, would come from.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said the only way to generate funding is to “raise revenue” – which typically in Albany means a tax. But Heastie said there are not many places to get the money from.
Heastie said the governor gave him a heads up within the last two weeks that she was getting concerned with how voters were responding to congestion pricing.
"We are always concerned about the environment, and these are the pluses and minuses of it," Heastie said. "Like I said, the governor made a judgment call that the public right now is not in a very warm place for congestion pricing."
Despite some officials saying Hochul brought up her decision recently, the governor said Friday she was having conversations for “weeks,” including with the White House, with leaders in Washington, with elected officials in the city and with business owners.
Late Thursday night, New York City lawmakers expressed frustration with the governor as a deal eluded them.
“Nobody wants to see the MTA Capital Plan exploded. Unfortunately, the governor has created this environment where that’s at risk,” said state Sen. Michael Gianaris, a Democrat representing Queens. “We’re trying to find a way that — for those of us who continue to support congestion pricing — other means of solving those problems. We’re trying to figure out how do we continue that conversation, without putting projects that we care about in jeopardy.”
State Sen. Jessica Ramos, a Queens Democrat, said the plan should “proceed as planned.”
“I don’t believe that we should be complicit in the wrongdoing in the governor’s office in reversing the congestion pricing decision. Too many people have worked on this. We’ve been working on this, I think, since 2007 in the Legislature. Many of us voted,” Ramos said.
The Legislature did pass legislation aimed at protecting children online and regulating their exposure to addictive social media platforms.
