Governor Hochul: "I feel energized. This is really good for New Yorkers. And also, a billion dollars on mental health for the crisis we have unfolding in our streets. So, it's bold, it's ambitious, but how I do it."
Earlier this morning, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on FOX 5's Good Day New York to discuss the passage of the FY 2024 Budget.
AUDIO of the interview is available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: All right, so after weeks of closed-door negotiations in Albany, Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders finally passed a $229 billion Budget. Among the policy issues settled are bail reform rollbacks, and the expansion of charter schools in New York City. The Governor is joining us this morning with details of this 2024 Budget. Governor Kathy Hochul, nice to have you back.
Governor Hochul: Thank you. Great to be back here.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: So, you were here over a month ago. You talked about how it was going to be a battle. What was it like and why did it have to be behind closed doors to get what you needed?
Governor Hochul: Well, there's a lot of negotiations that are very intense, and I have a position that I laid out in my Budget in January and there were some major policy changes. This is the Governor's chance to say, "I want bail reform, I want charters to be allowed for parents to have a choice in, record investment in public schools, mental health funding." But I put that out there. But then there's the legislature, the Assembly and the Senate, their leaders come to negotiate with me on their behalf.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: But why can't there be more transparency in this process?
Governor Hochul: Well, there's hearings that are held in advance. I mean, the legislature has all the time they want before March 31st to hold hearings and have discussions. So, there is opportunity for that. Historically, it doesn't happen, but I will tell there's a lot of give and take, a lot of strong feelings, a lot of emotion around these topics, but it was important that I deliver for New Yorkers. That was my guiding star throughout the entire process.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: So, with the bail reform legislation, are we going to see a difference on the streets of New York City?
Governor Hochul: What I did was what I said I would do, and that is to give the judges the discretion to look at an individual accused of a crime and determine, depending on what the crime is, the severity, should they be held, should they be paying bail, or should they just go out? And that was changed during the 2019 laws where they could only consider the least restrictive means to assure someone returns to court.
We've said you have to look at other factors. The least restrictive means is no longer part of the law anymore. So, what we've done is empowered judges. Now will judges always do the right thing? That's up to the judges, but the legislature did their part in public safety.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: Will that affect shoplifters? You know, they're considered in a different thing, and we know they're devastating neighborhoods all over New York City. I mean, Governor, just on this block, we lost a big supermarket across the street, we lost CVS, we lost mom and pop stores from shoplifting.
Governor Hochul: And that's why I made public safety, fighting crime, one of my top priorities. We also put in language for repeat offenders. These are often people who do it over and over and over again.
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: What does that language kind of lay out in terms of that?
Governor Hochul: That lays out that the judge can look at what they hear. Are they still out on bail or do they already commit an offense? Is there a record? Also, is there a gun involved? Was there an order of protection violated? So, they now have factors that they should look at that they didn't have to look at before. And that's the major change. And also, all those cannabis shops that are popping up all over the City, the illegal ones, we didn't have enough teeth in our laws to go after them.
That was also a major point of contention. But we got the law toughened, so tax and finance can go in and shut them down, confiscate the illegal goods and give our emerging new industry a better chance. Because the products in those stores, you have to wonder -
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: It's not regulated.
Governor Hochul: No.
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: But I do have to ask because as of, you know, I guess as of a month before there was seven legal weed shops in NYC, but authorities are estimating over 1,400 illegal shops.
Governor Hochul: That's right. That's right. And they're proliferating because our laws couldn't do anything about it. We just changed that in the budget. So, now we'll have the sheriffs do their job, go after the landlords. The Mayor and I talked about this - going after the landlords, but also the person selling the product in the store. We can now have the ability to go search the place. We couldn't do that before. We couldn't even search the facility under the laws we had. So, this is a major change as well.
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: Let's talk about the migrant crisis, because you are allotting a billion dollars, which I know is very much needed, but the Mayor is saying we need $4.3 billion to deal with this by next year.
Governor Hochul: Right?
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: Is that enough?
Governor Hochul: His $4.4 is not one year. That is the long-term expense. And so, our billion dollars, much of it for shelter - emergency shelter, some for legal services because they come here. They can achieve legal status and start working within six months. We could use the workers. I talk to employers in restaurants and hotels all the time. They want them, but they have to have legal status. So, we're hiring more lawyers, giving them the ability to start filing the paperwork so they can become legal and be able to work.
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: But it doesn't necessarily fix a problem long-term because you're seeing still an influx of migrants every single day. I know Mayor Adams is upset at the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott. Do you find that anger valid in blaming the Governor rather than the President?
Governor Hochul: There's a lot of blame to be spread around this. I mean, this is a federal problem. The federal government has a responsibility here. And what's going to happen when they lift the COVID laws that sent people back.
There is going to be an influx of people here, but I spoke to the Secretary of Homeland Security last week. They will now be stricter on the border, but also have processing centers on the route up to the United States, so they don't have to come here to do that legal filing that I talked about.
They can do it while they're in their home country and not come until they have that status, which will make a big difference. It's going to take a little while to get the logjam through, but that's the message getting out to the migrants who are heading this way. Stop. Don't come, start your paperwork before you come, and it'll be a different experience when you do arrive.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: Have you tried to call the President or the Governor of Texas? I mean, did you see the pictures of what's going on in the streets of El Paso? It's a mess. There's nowhere -
Governor Hochul: No, I've spoken to the President and the federal government has to do something about this. And we need some massive immigration reform, which I worked on when I was a staffer for Senator Moynihan. We had a plan that was something the Democrats and Republicans supported. We need to get back to a bipartisan solution. But this is a crisis. And it's hitting our streets, and I understand the Mayor's frustration in having to deal with this.
So, we're trying to do what we can as a State, trying to get these people places to stay when they arrive, a safe place. But also, most importantly, if they're going to be here, if they can start working, people will have a very different at attitude. They can start paying for rent. They won't need any services. They can - like many people who came to this country - start taking those jobs, learn the language, and the next generation, it's a whole different ballgame just like all of our immigrant grandparents experienced.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: Can we talk charter schools? I know you wanted a hundred in New York State. You got, what? 14 here and what? About, eight more around the state. Why was there such reluctance - especially when there are so many kids, thousands of kids, every year who are graduating at under the reading level and math level, and you name it?
Governor Hochul: Well, let me say this. I'm a strong proponent of public schools. My kids went to public schools. I went to public schools. Most of my family members, a lot of them are teachers. So I support public schools, but I also think parents should have a choice. And there has not been a new ability passed by the legislature since 2015 to allow any new charters. None. So when we sat here a month ago and talked about this, you point out that everyone's telling you no, they're saying, "It's not going to happen." There's a lot of resistance. I said I want to at least go after the zombies, which are the ones that had been authorized, but shut down. Those should still go toward the cap.
There is a cap passed by the legislature of a limit of how many can open New York City and the rest of the state. So, is it everything we asked for? No. But it's more than we've had since 2015. So it's a start. That's something we were told would not be able to happen.
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: Well, that's a win there. But I think you took a loss in the housing plan. 800,000 new units for the next decade. Take me back to the room behind closed doors where you said, "I want this to happen." And they gave you a hard no.
Governor Hochul: Well, there were conditions that were attached to it that I didn't think would be good for the city or for the state. And that's when I said, "Fine, you don't want to do it this way. Okay. I'm not going to go for half a loaf here. This is too important."
People know we have an affordability crisis. A lot of it is driven by how much you pay in rent or paying for your mortgage. And 800,000 units over 10 years - this is the first five months of my job as a new Governor. I've got a lot of time. I'm going to start shifting and taking all the objection, going out there and changing people's minds about what we are trying to do. I want to build more. I want to make sure we can convert empty office space in Midtown - let people be able to convert it into housing. Let some of the buildings be a different size so we can add more density. Putting multi-family units around transit-oriented development, they call it, near train stations. It makes all the sense in the world. So I'll get back at it. I'm not done.
What I did was I started the conversation. And a lot of people have not talked about it. No Governor put forth a plan like this in a long
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: Okay, so we're aiming for next year?
Governor Hochul: We're aiming for next year. But I also believe in, you know, you miss all the shots you don't take. So I thought I should at least take a shot and start people talking about this.
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: What is going on with MTA? Because I know you kind of put the city initially on the hook for $500 million. The Mayor's like, "Uh-uh, we can't do that. We are on the hook for a little bit less."
Governor Hochul: That's called negotiation. Yeah, they are on the hook for less. And we are just trying to find a holistic way to make sure that New Yorkers, people especially in this region, know that that MTA is going to be there, and because of the investments - unprecedented investments - for the next three to four years, we'll be able to expand service, expand service on weekends, more trains, as well as make sure that we don't have to have a big, fare increase to cover it. So, I did this for the commuters of this region. The state has never invested this much before directly, but we had to do it because we're still not at the ridership we were before the pandemic. But we're getting there. People are starting to come back.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: What is it with you and gas stoves? Don't you like to cook?
Governor Hochul: Commercial kitchens are exempt Okay? You are okay.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: Commercial are good, okay. But what buildings? Small buildings?
Governor Hochul: No, everybody who has a gas stove - enjoy it. Keep your gas stove. But just like we had to, a long time ago, transition from coal as your energy source, we do have to transition. There are clean energy alternatives. It's going to take time and I want to make sure that New Yorkers don't get hit hard for the costs, so we're going to roll this out. But new buildings that are going up, they can go electric, they can do heat pumps. Well, this is how you transition. Nobody's touching your gas stoves!
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: But this is not happening next year. We got some time.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: 2026 is the start, right?
Governor Hochul: But the start of if you are building a new building.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: Yeah. Okay.
Governor Hochul: At that point, why not put in what's going to be long-term less expensive for you and better for the environment and for your kids' futures.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: All right, what are we doing for Mother's Day? It's right around the corner. You're a mama and a grandma.
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: She's cooking on the electric stove.
Governor Hochul: I am a new grandma. My grandbaby just had a one-year birthday party, which was great. She came up to Albany and I brought in a whole lot of toys for her, so it's fun. It was a nice distraction for me.
But, I have to say that actual Mother's Day is the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting in my hometown of Buffalo, so I'll be up in Buffalo on that day commemorating the 10 lives that were lost by a white supremacist who went to the grocery store and slaughtered them. So, it'll be a sad day for a lot of those families that were torn apart. So, I'll be actually spending my Mother's Day with all of them.
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: Well, that's nice.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: All right, Governor Kathy Hochul, we always appreciate you stopping by Good Day New York. Congratulations, I guess.
Governor Hochul: Thank you
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: Are you exhausted?
Governor Hochul: No, I feel energized. This is really good for New Yorkers. And also, a billion dollars on mental health for the crisis we have unfolding in our streets. So, it's bold, it's ambitious, but how I do it.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Oh, wait, you have an event today?
Governor Hochul: Yes.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: What are you doing? You're going somewhere after this, right?
Governor Hochul: Well, I am going with the mayor, our district attorneys, law enforcement, gun violence disruptors, all the people that have been involved in the whole effort to reduce crime and to help victims. $700 million we have. We're going to be talking about the bail changes. And so, bringing people together with the mayor, showing great teamwork and saying that we're taking the crime in our streets head on.
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: Ask him if the Gun Czar is really, really helping the city. Oh, I would love to know that.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: The Gun Czar?
Bianca Peters, FOX 5: The Gun Czar. We hired a Gun Czar.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: We have a Gun Czar?
Governor Hochul: There's a lot of guns being taken off the streets - over 10,000 in the last year. That's a good start.
Rosanna Scotto, FOX 5: Governor Kathy Hochul, everybody. Thank you so much for being here.
Governor Hochul: Thank you. I appreciate it. Great to see you both.