As New York lawmakers raced to the finish of an unusually compressed legislative session, host Joanna Pasceri sat down with Jack O’Donnell, managing partner of O’Donnell & Associates, to take stock of what passed, what stalled, and what the final frenzy says about Albany in 2026. From a constitutional amendment aimed at making it easier to redraw congressional district lines, to a one-year moratorium on data centers, to the failure — again — of the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, O’Donnell walks through the policy tradeoffs and political dynamics shaping the session’s closing hours. He also previews the June 23 primaries, including a crowded race to succeed longtime Rep. Jerry Nadler in New York’s 12th Congressional District.
Joanna Pasceri
Lawmakers burned the midnight oil. The Senate adjourning at 1 this morning after moving hundreds of bills, but still, still way behind previous years in passing legislation. Overall, how do you think this session went?
Jack O’Donnell
Well, I think this session really will be defined by the budget. Right. The budget went through the end here. So, you know, not a lot of time for a lot of deal making, a lot of legislating, a lot of back and forth between the houses. So still plenty that got done. But I think that’s really the defining moment here.
Joanna Pasceri
Well, the big news, the legislature approving a constitutional amendment to make it easier to redraw congressional district lines ahead of the 2028 elections. This is in response to Republicans in other states who have launched redistricting efforts to get more power in Washington. Do you think fighting fire with fire is the right approach here?
Jack O’Donnell
Well, I guess, you know, look, I’m a little uncomfortable with all of this hyper partisan redistricting. I mean, we’ve talked about it on this podcast before, but I really think this, you know, it is, it’s just hyper partisanship. And drawing these lines has been really bad for government, really bad for democracy. It forces members to the far wings of both parties because they care about primaries and not generals. And I hate it. But the truth is Republicans are doing it in other parts of the country and so we shouldn’t be surprised that Democrats are doing it here in New York.
Joanna Pasceri
A common struggle in Albany is the fine line between regulation and economic growth. It seems lawmakers approved a one year data center moratorium bill over concerns about energy use. At the same time, these facilities, the wave of the future, really, how does New York strike that balance without sending businesses elsewhere?
Jack O’Donnell
Well, I think that’s a hard, a hard thing to figure out. It’s now on Kathy Hochul’s lap. I do think, look, I don’t want to get into all the hype here. But you’ve got stuff on the far left about these data centers, which you know are clear exaggerations, half truths, myths in some cases. And you’ve got the same on the other side here, right, saying that it’s the, I don’t know, the Chinese government behind these groups and sort of what that means. Look, I do buy the argument that New York needs to be competitive. And, you know, you and I are talking to our friends right now via the World Wide Web and Internet and clouds and all of those things. And so I think it would be great to have a nice, rational policy, but it’s hard to find that and hard to find that balance.
A lot of this comes from New York being behind in energy generation. We’ve had a huge push for green energy, and that’s moving, but it’s moving slowly, which is why we’ve seen New York and other places approve, you know, natural gas pipelines and these other paths on the sort of any of the above choice. So I think it’s a really hard thing. You know, I’ll tell you, a couple legislators pointed out to me that a moratorium is a kind of really lazy way to legislate. If legislators really want to do their job, we should have a statewide framework. We should have hearings on these things. We should figure out what are the rules that everybody needs to follow and set some guidelines instead of just kind of shutting it down. I think it’s a bad look for New York.
Joanna Pasceri
Another example of that balancing act, the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, that failed again. Environmentalists aren’t happy, business groups relieved. Where does this bill go from here?
Jack O’Donnell
Yeah, you know, this is another one that just keeps building and building and building their momentum. So I expect this will be back again next year. I expect if we had the usual three or four weeks after the budget and before the end of session, that this would have gotten maybe a more thorough look. The advocates made a bunch of changes to the bill to try to get closer to the middle. And I think if we had had that regular session time, there might have been some more amendments or more efforts to meet in the middle, but without it, I think we’ll just start over again in January.
Joanna Pasceri
And there’s also that effort to crack down on surveillance pricing. Attorney General Tish James pushing hard for two bills aimed at stopping companies from using your personal data to set prices. What’s the latest on that?
Jack O’Donnell
Well, the surveillance pricing bill has passed both houses of the legislature so that will go to the governor’s desk sometime this year. And at the time of, I want to say press, but at the time of pod — what do I say here, Joanna? — as of this conversation, the other bill, the electronic shelf labels, has passed the Senate and is still up for debate in the Assembly. And the Assembly has another, I don’t know, six hours to go, six to eight hours to go. So we’ll have to talk about that one more next week.
Joanna Pasceri
And one more question for you, Jack, before we let you go. Primary day coming up soon here in New York, Tuesday, June 23rd. Each week we are highlighting some of the hottest races in our Monday Morning Memo. Is there one race that stands out to you? What are you watching closely here?
Jack O’Donnell
Yeah, I definitely love that we’re doing that. I hope people are taking the time to see that. We’ll have another installment in the Monday Morning Memo this week from our colleague. And I’m just really excited about that sort of in-depth look. Ralph Ortega has the insight, so it’s worth a read. There’s a series of races where we have DSA Democratic Socialist challengers running against more centrist, more traditional Democrats. And so you see that in four or five really competitive Assembly races in New York City and one or two really competitive congressional races. So, definitely watching that to see kind of the direction of the party.
And then the other race that is just really a lot of fun is New York 12. This is the congressional seat that Jerry Nadler has occupied for the last generation almost. And some really interesting characters here. Two Assembly members, Michael Lasher and Alex Bores. Jack Schlossberg, the Kennedy scion, is part of this race. And also you have a former anti-Trumper in the race. So just kind of a really interesting mix. And it’s already seen an awful lot of money and it’s in one of the most highly educated districts, one of the most heavily turnout districts in the country, in Manhattan. So this has been a really fun race. A couple of these guys are friends. Michael Lasher’s a very old friend, but Alex Bores is someone we’ve gotten to work with a lot over the last couple of years in the Assembly. He brings a real fresh approach to this and has just been incredible at getting things done in Albany. And so watching that race very closely, too.
Joanna Pasceri
Jack, as always, great insight. Thanks for joining us.
Jack O’Donnell
Great to be with you.
For a full recap of what happened — and what didn’t — in Albany this session, sign up for Jack’s Monday Morning Memo at odonnellsolutions.com.
