In this episode, Joanna Pasceri and Jack O’Donnell discuss the ongoing negotiations surrounding the New York state budget, highlighting key issues such as public safety, mental health reforms, and prison overcrowding. They also touch on the challenges of assisted suicide legislation and the complexities of federal budget negotiations, as well as the dynamics within the Democratic Party as midterm elections approach. The conversation concludes with insights into international relations, particularly regarding Canadian elections.
Summary of this Episode
Guests
- Joanna Pasceri: Director of Communications at O’Donnell and Associates.
- Jack O’Donnell: Managing Partner at O’Donnell and Associates.
Major Topics Covered
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- The New York state budget is currently in overtime negotiations.
- Public safety concerns are influencing legislative decisions.
- Mental health reforms are a priority for the governor.
- Prison overcrowding is prompting discussions on early inmate release.
- Assisted suicide legislation is gaining attention but faces hurdles.
- Federal budget negotiations are complicated by party divisions.
- The Democratic Party is facing internal conflicts as midterms approach.
- Canadian elections could impact U.S.-Canada relations.
- Legislators are cautious about over-incarceration issues.
- The outcome of the budget talks will shape future legislative agendas.
Full Transcript of the Episode
Note: This is a generated transcript. Please excuse any typos.
Joanna Pasceri (00:01.76)
Week four passed its due date. Where do we stand with the New York state budget? Hi, everybody. Welcome to our Monday Morning Minute, the podcast version of Monday Morning Memo, our award winning weekly newsletter. This is when we tap into the insights of Jack O’Donnell, managing partner of O’Donnell and Associates and author of our Monday Morning Memo, who is in Albany right now, closely following the budget talks.Let’s bring in Jack for the latest on what’s happening. Welcome, Jack.
Jack O’Donnell (00:33.256)
Hi Joanna, we are certainly in overtime. It’s like the fourth overtime or something.
Joanna Pasceri (00:41.378)
“Budget Slog” as we called it in our memo this week. Is this going to be the week lawmakers reach a deal?
Jack O’Donnell (00:49.207)
Think so. I think there’s actually been some positive movement today. And so I kind of expect tomorrow, Tuesday, that there’ll be at least a handshake agreement where the governor says there’s a deal, takes a press lap, and then it’s all over but the voting, which will still take a few days.
Joanna Pasceri (01:14.723)
Lots of clear, concise information in the memo this week on the stragglers, the last few issues that have yet to be resolved. One of them, criminalizing mask wearing when it’s used to hide your identity while committing a crime. Polls show the public is behind this. What’s the holdup?
Jack O’Donnell (01:32.662)
Well, this is one of those issues with a lot of things on public safety where, you know, there is a real tough balancing act between individual rights and liberties and the broader concerns of public safety. you know, we’ve seen those on a lot of other issues in New York. Public safety is a huge concern.
But also especially with folks in the legislature making sure that more people don’t get arrested for minor things and go to jail for what they see as minor things. The sort of over incarceration of New Yorkers, especially around black and brown New Yorkers. You we’ve seen a long long move from legalization of cannabis and raise the age and a lot of these reforms to fight against it. And so the legislature just feels very strongly they don’t want to do anything that might go back. And so it sounds like mask wearing, which has been holding things up.
The deal is that this will be a secondary factor that could address, you know, not be addressed on the front side, but if you are arrested or convicted of a crime, the fact that you are wearing a mask to do it could be taken into account with your sentencing.
Joanna Pasceri (03:17.029)
Do you think this makes it in the budget?
Jack O’Donnell (03:19.463)
I do with that caveat that instead of being a standalone crime or factor, which is what the governor was pushing, that it becomes a secondary, that it becomes a, if you do something else, then they can also bang you for doing this. So I don’t know. I don’t think those details have been presented to the conferences yet, but we’ll know more about that in the next couple of days.
Joanna Pasceri (03:47.619)
Another issue still outstanding, the governor’s proposal to allow involuntary commitment of the mentally ill when they can’t meet their basic needs. Does this get done?
Jack O’Donnell (03:58.216)
I do think this gets done. think this is a massive priority of the governor. I think it’s something that she really wanted to see. I do think there have been long discussions, both among the leaders and among the members, about kind of threading this needle in a way that also includes some additional monies for treatment and for making sure that more treatment is available for folks who need it. So I do think this gets done.
Joanna Pasceri (04:33.681)
Some of the other issues you wrote about this week, New York prison problems. The governor is calling for the early release of some inmates to address overcrowding and to deal with the state corrections officer shortage. She wants to open the job up to 18 year olds. How do you think these will go over?
Jack O’Donnell (04:51.697)
Yeah, I mean, I think there’ll be some movement around these issues. I don’t know that it’ll go all the way towards everything the governor wants, but it was this understaffing or overcrowding or both that helped drive the initial work action by the corrections officers. So I do think that there is a piece where a lot of folks believe something needs to get done.
One of those is a proposal around allowing the governor to close up to five correctional facilities. And so I expect we’re going to see that. We’re going to see a plan for some closures and consolidations that perhaps make staffing a little easier and provide other options. I do think we’ll see some folks getting out for good behavior. So I think we’re going to see a lot of lot of movement here.
Joanna Pasceri (05:53.49)
You highlight in the memo some of the other issues likely to come up for a vote after the budget is put to rest, including a bill to legalize medical aid and dining, basically assisted suicide of the terminally ill. Is this an issue that passes and is this something only New York would have if it does go through?
Jack O’Donnell (06:14.767)
Well, I don’t know that this is going to pass. mean, this has been around for a number of years now, but it certainly looks like it’s now going to pass the assembly, whether there are enough votes in the Senate or enough time to really do that.
Jack O’Donnell (06:39.891)
This is the end of session when a lot of these issues get dealt with and with the budget being a month late, it really cuts into the time to review, to understand, to build consensus around a lot of these big issues. But expect this aid in dying, this assisted suicide, expect it to be a big issue come June.
Joanna Pasceri (07:06.483)
Turning now to DC, the budget battle heating up there now that the House and Senate have approved their spending blueprints. How easy will it be to come up with a deal that everybody can agree to?
Jack O’Donnell (07:18.11)
Well, I think this is perhaps even harder than some of what’s going on in Albany right now. You know, we’ll see. mean, this is when the rubber really meets the road in Washington. You know, we’ve talked a lot about the divisions in the Democratic Party, but also the divisions in the Republican Party. Speaker Johnson, President Trump have done a really impressive job getting us where we are. But now these committees are going to do actual markups, which means actually talking about what cuts would be made to meet some of those goals, different ways to pay for extending President Trump’s tax cuts. So sort of watching how this goes between conservative republicans who want to see as much as as as trillions of dollars in in in savings in cuts and some more moderate republicans who really don’t want to see any services cut so we’re gonna be watching these markups it’s gonna happen over the next couple weeks and and i think well i think it’s going to be interesting theater
Joanna Pasceri (08:37.278)
You also write in the memo about calls for change within the Democratic Party, especially as the midterm elections draw closer. What’s the plan here and will it help the party take back Congress?
Jack O’Donnell (08:49.265)
Well, I think that’s the question is what’s the plan. mean, I think you see those same divisions in the Democratic Party. There’s been a lot of pushback on legislators starting with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer for supporting a Republican plan to keep government open.
You know there’s a lot of folks on the left to who want of resistance and there’s folks in between who say that they need to govern and so that kind of thing is is really playing out but we’re starting to see bits of it i think that the most visible is dick durbin the senator from illinois who this check sure of number two in the senate announced that he’s going to be leaving
I’m not just the number two in the senate each chair judiciary has a couple very important roles. And so this would be a real opportunity for for Democrats to elevate some new voices and well it certainly can’t hurt right they’ve they’ve lost before. But so I think Democrats are optimistic that that’ll help in the midterm but that also opens up those same squabbles. You know should
Should your candidates be center left? Should they be far left? know, the Democratic socialist versus moderate. So a lot of that needs to play out and I don’t think Democrats have gotten their footing yet. So some of them are just holding their breath, for Republicans to stumble and they haven’t yet. So we’ll see how this plays out.
Joanna Pasceri (10:38.858)
Favorite read this week in our news links?
Jack O’Donnell (10:41.381)
You know, we had a couple of stories about today’s federal election in Canada. We wrote about this as well. The stark turnaround for the Liberal Party, the Liberal leader, you know, they were destined for defeat a few months ago until President Trump started talking about Canada as the 51st state.
I will be watching those elections today and and how how they go mid play a really important role in in canadian-american relations of over the next couple years a very fraught time so big deal and it was good to learn a little more about that
Joanna Pasceri (11:29.481)
Results will be telling indeed. Well, Jack, thanks for that deep dive into this week’s Monday morning memo.
