The state Senate is trying to kill Gov. Kathy Hochul’s last-minute push to crack down on masked protesters — out of “heightened concern” for student demonstrators, sources told The Post Thursday.
Some of the lawmakers are worried about protecting protesters’ ability to rally while shielding their identities following the recent high-profile arrests by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement of anti-Israel college demonstrators, according to the sources.
“It’s dead unless she forces it,” one state senator said of Hochul and her proposal.
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Three other sources confirmed that senators are mostly panning the governor’s pitch behind closed doors.
Hochul wants to create an increased penalty for harassment when someone purposely hides their face while menacing or threatening violence against a group of people.
The governor, however, has been largely silent on the issue publicly since she first pitched it last year and left it out of her State of the State address in January that listed her priorities for 2025.
Hochul tried to slide the issue behind closed doors during budget negotiations with legislators last month, sources have said.
Proponents such as the NAACP and Anti-Defamation League say it would help cut down on antisemitic thugs threatening and calling for violence against Jewish communities.
Some opponents argue it would lead to indiscriminate policing and have a chilling effect for protesters.
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State Sen. James Skoufis (D-Orange) sponsors the bill that Hochul is proposing inserting into the budget deal.
He told The Post that word of the proposal’s death has been largely exaggerated.
“It’s still a live bill,” Skoufis said, noting that he thinks his proposal will most likely have to be tweaked in order to make it across the finish line.
“If we can get the lion’s share of the proposal, I’d happily support the lion’s share of the proposal getting into the final budget,” he said.
Taking questions from reporters for the first time since March 24, Hochul on Thursday said her position on the mask policy hasn’t changed despite the Trump administration’s crackdown on protestors.
“I’ve always been opposed to people using masks to harass other people and threaten them and to be intimidating or to harm them. That position has not changed, regardless of who the occupant in the White House is,” she said.
Lawmakers passed and Hochul signed another budget extension Thursday allowing state workers to continue being paid and keeping state programs functioning through Monday.
Rank-and-file legislators went on recess through the weekend, though higher level talks will likely continue.
Lawmakers in both the Senate and Assembly have been griping over the last week that Hochul has held up the spending plan, which was due Tuesday, over policy issues before clearing the way to discuss actual budgetary items.
Hochul has most recently pitched new measures meant to alleviate a staffing crisis in state prisons following the illegal strike that led her administration to can nearly 2,000 correction officers, as thousands of National Guard troops filled in.
One proposal would reduce the minimum age for COs to 18 from 21. The other would make it easier for prisoners who are incarcerated for non-violent crimes to be released early.
But the main sticking point holding up talks are still Hochul’s efforts to change laws governing how prosecutors turn over evidence ahead of criminal trials.
Lawmakers rejected the gov’s proposal to ease discovery evidence requirements, asking for tweaks to give prosecutors less power over the process.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) told reporters Thursday that he thinks coming to an agreement on the issue would clear the “logjam” and allow lawmakers and the governor to wrap up talks by the end of next week.
An advocacy group run by the influential business group the Partnership for The City of New York recently launched a campaign urging voters to pressure their representatives to support changes to the much-maligned pre-trial discovery law.
The Partnership-run Coalition for New York’s Future blasted text messages in an 11th-hour blitz alerting voters that both state Attorney General Letitia James and civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton support Hochul’s push to tighten the law so criminal defendants aren’t released on technicalities.
“Respected civil rights advocates Rev. Al Sharpton and NY AG Tish James support Gov. Hochul’s proposed discovery reforms to protect victims and make New York safer. Even with the proposed changes, New York’s discovery laws will still be the fairest and most progressive in the country,” the text message said.
“Tell your representatives to step up for New Yorkers and pass common sense reforms NOW.”
The pro-business group is also paying for social media ads amplifying the same message, said Partnership CEO Kathryn Wylde.
The group also backs Hochul’s plan to make it easier to involuntarily remove severely mentally ill New Yorkers from the streets to get them into treatment.
“It’s social media ads to the public and email to thousands of members across NYS who have signed up to join and make their voices heard. The goal is to make sure the long silent majority of New Yorkers who want a safer and more affordable New York are aware of the policies being debated in Albany and City Hall and know how to weigh in on the issues they care about,” Wylde told The Post.
