Skoufis and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Legislative Day

Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed seven bills on Thursday, and they were all carried in the state senate by Orange County Democrat James Skoufis, a recurring critic of the state’s chief executive.

The governor is generally responsible for determining when bills that make it through the legislature are signed or vetoed. According to legislative records, 72 bills were on the governor’s desk as of Friday morning, including five additional Skoufis bills. Some – or all – of those are expected to be signed.

Asked about the timing of the vetoes, Hochul spokesperson Kara Cumoletti said the governor evaluates all legislation on its merits. But a different source in the governor’s communications shop implied that personal politics can play a role in certain decision-making.

“If I were an advocate or industry group, I would probably be thinking about a different sponsor for my bill next year,” the source said in regard to the tensions between Hochul and Skoufis.

In response to Hochul administration’s implied threats to target bills from Senator Skoufis, NYPIRG’s Blair Horner said, “New Yorkers should expect that approval and veto decisions are made purely on the merits of the bills that come to the governor’s desk.”

Senate Democratic spokesman Mike Murphy called Thursday’s vetoes by the governor disappointing. “I would hope decisions are based on policy differences not personal disagreements,” he said.

Skoufis played down the impact of the vetoes, noting that the governor already signed 16 of his bills this year and predicted she would sign more in the coming days. He described having his bills singled out as a “faux flex” from the governor. 

“Everyone — literally everyone — laughs behind her back over the contrived ‘tough guy’ persona she desperately tries to project. God bless the Governor’s petty little heart,” the senator added.

An analysis of the vetoed legislation, which included measures to improve access to genealogical vital records maintained by the state and promote price transparency when shopping for groceries online, suggests these proposals were the types of bills the governor may have been inclined to reject.

Another vetoed bill would have addressed delays in accessing records under New York’s Freedom of Information Law and is the embodiment of the type of proposal governors love to nix. This veto was decried by Reinvent Albany, which described the Skoufis bill as one of the “most promising FOIL legislation in years.”

“The Governor says in her veto message that one of her reasons for rejecting the FOIL timing bill is that agencies can’t implement it because they don’t have the needed funding. Yet, the Governor controls that agency funding,” wrote the transparency advocacy group on Friday.

The unique bill activity was flagged for The Capitol Pressroom by a source outside the state legislature.