New York lawmakers have their sights set on legislation before session ends to counter President Donald Trump's agenda after the pending budget over $254 billion will not address potentially sweeping federal cuts.

Hochul and legislative leaders have plans to call the Legislature back to Albany later this year if billions of dollars in proposed cuts come into fruition. But lawmakers are focused on several bills, including new immigration, labor and election policies, they said could undercut the effects that Trump's administration's policies could have on the state. 

“The reality is, we are all under attack,” Assemblywoman Karines Reyes said at an immigration rally in the Capitol last week. “We have seen [U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement] kidnap not just people who are undocumented, but citizens. People who have legal, regulated status in this country who are also at risk of being picked up by this rogue agency.”

Reyes, a Bronx Democrat, sponsors legislation known as the New York For All Act, which would bar state police from working with ICE or federal border patrol agents.

Trump's Department of Justice filed a lawsuit last month challenging New York City's similar sanctuary city policy.

"I want to remind folks that immigration violations are a civil penalty," Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas told Spectrum News 1. "It is not a criminal activity. These are not criminals. These are people trying to flee violence and make a life here in New York."

State lawmakers also have their eye on voting rights as Republicans in Washington propose cuts to cybersecurity protections and push voter ID laws, which critics argue disenfranchise voters.

Democrats in Albany want to streamline applying for an absentee ballot, modernize the board of elections and to pass the Democracy in Detention Act to help people vote who are held in pretrial detention facilities, but have not been convicted.

"This is not about creating new rights or new voters, it is about making sure people can lawfully exercise the rights that they already have," said Assembly Election Committee chair Latrice Walker, who sponsors the measure.

Walker said about 12,000 New Yorkers are detained awaiting trial, but have not been convicted, and can cast a ballot.

“They should be able to exercise the franchise as well and they should be granted that opportunity," she said. "It should be easy and accessible and available to them."

And dozens of workers from labor unions across the state rallied Wednesday to demand passage of the EmPIRE Act, which would give workers to tools to defend themselves against wage theft and generate over $100 million per year to help the state Department of Labor.

Lawmakers say it's needed before Trump and Elon Musk dismantle federal labor protections.

"So many of our labor rights that we have fought for for so long are being gutted and undermined," said Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, a Queens Democrat. "This will allow the Department of Labor and for workers to fight back and make sure that we stay protected in our workplaces."

And while U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pushed state efforts to ban artificial dyes and other additives in processed food — state lawmakers are advocating for three bills to take the matter into their own hands before session ends in June:

  • Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act will prohibit synthetic dyes in school foods, ban three dangerous chemicals in foods sold statewide, and require companies to disclose evidence that their ingredients are actually safe to eat 
  • Predatory Marketing Prevention Act will restrict misleading targeted food and beverage marketing aimed at children and adolescents 
  • Sodium Warning Bill will require clear sodium warning icons on chain restaurant menus to ensure transparency and help consumers make informed choices

Assemblywoman Anna Kelles, who co-sponsors the Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act, said RFK's presentations are disingenuous and focus on a list of food dyes that are no longer used in the food supply.

"That's a lie," the assemblywoman said Wednesday. "That is trying to buy all of us so that we're no longer paying attention and we no longer then try to do it at the state levels."

Gov. Hochul is scheduled to testify before Congress on June 12 about New York's immigration policies.