Wednesday was the first day of the new legislative session in Albany. New York state lawmakers returned to get to work on legislation as they also stare down an April 1 budget deadline.

In addition to opening remarks, small talk in the hallways, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins being re-sworn into their posts, the battles for the upcoming session are taking shape.

Local officials are reacting following an announcement from Governor Kathy Hochul on renewed investment in the Hudson Valley’s rail services.

Plans include funding that would increase capacity, reduce delays, improve safety and cut travel times by up to 15 minutes.

In the aftermath of the 2024 elections, which left Democrats without a base of power in Washington, the word "affordability" has become a political yardstick for Gov. Kathy Hochul and other top Democrats in New York.

The notion of affordability has become so paramount that Hochul’s State of the State address features an aptly named “affordability agenda” which she’s begun fleshing out with her first two proposals: inflation refund checks and expanded child tax credits.

Last year was a very different one for North Country state Sen. Mark Walczyk, who as a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, deployed overseas, missing almost a full legislative session.

He has, however, returned safely, and is ready to get back to work.

This weekend, Gov. Kathy Hochul for the third time vetoed legislation known as the Grieving Families Act, which would update the state's wrongful death statute and allow families to sue for emotional damages.

"There does seem to be a philosophical difference disappointingly about the need to reform our statutes," state Senate sponsor Brad Hoylman-Sigal, D-Manhattan, said.

A joint hearing of the Government Operations Committees in the New York state Senate and Assembly took testimony in Albany Thursday to consider what to do about the state’s policy for videoconferencing by members of the Legislature, which is set to expire in July 2026.

Rooted in COVID-era changes, the rules have been extended and expanded multiple times already.

After 28 years in the New York state Senate, the dean of the Senate’s Democratic Conference is retiring.

Neil Breslin has represented the Albany area in the state Senate since 1997 and has seen both the highs of politics in Albany, including passage of gay marriage and prior approval, as well as the lows.

New York state Sen. Rob Ortt has been reelected minority leader of the state Legislature's upper chamber and will continue leading the Republican conference, he announced Monday evening.

"I am incredibly honored to once again earn the support of my colleagues in the Senate Republican Conference to serve as Minority Leader. As we approach the New Year and a new legislative session, we are energized and ready to confront the challenges created by Albany’s failed one-party rule," Ortt said in a statement. "I look forward to working with my colleagues to make New York a more affordable, safer, and healthier state for hardworking families. Again, I thank my colleagues – and the millions of New Yorkers they represent – for their continued trust in my leadership of this Conference."

Democrats have been looking to regroup following the presidential election, as the party looks for a new way forward.

Part of that responsibility will fall on the new chair of the Democratic National Committee.

In what appears to be a major change from the policy position she took last year during state budget negotiations, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s spokeswoman said the governor wants “to avoid proposals that would negatively impact school budgets, such as eliminating the hold-harmless provision of the Foundation Aid formula.”

"Hold harmless," also called "save harmless," protects school districts from funding reductions despite enrollment drops.

New York state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins has been reelected as majority leader of the New York state Legislature’s upper chamber, the conference announced Wednesday.

The first Black woman to hold the majority leader post, she is one of three people who control the agenda in Albany and negotiate the state budget along with the governor and Assembly speaker. She has led the Senate Democratic caucus since 2012 and majority leader since 2019.

New York state Sen. James Skoufis is running to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee, the lawmaker announced over the weekend.

“I’m an outsider, but I know how to win. We’re losing on politics, messaging, organizing and policy. And we’ve been running the same stale, inside-the-Beltway playbook driven by the same, tired, inside-the-Beltway voices. No more. We’re doing it differently. That changes the day I am elected,” Skoufis said in a post on X on Saturday.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The day after this month's election, more than 115,000 X users deactivated their accounts, according to social media analytics websites Similar Web.

At the same time, the site reported daily usage on Bluesky, a platform modeled on Twitter and started by its former CEO, saw a 500% surge. James Madison University professor of communications Jason Mollica believes some users have become increasingly frustrated with the content on X and its owner, Elon Musk.

Retired state Sen. Tarky Lombardi, from the Syracuse area, has died.

The Jamesville resident passed away Sunday at his home from kidney complications, according to his obituary.

A group of New York state lawmakers, who are mothers and call themselves "the Mom Squad," are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign several pieces of legislation aimed to improve access to child care, according to a letter they sent to the governor this week.

The lawmakers say they are addressing legislation that would:

Democrat Chris Ryan declared victory and Republican Salina Town Supervisor Nick Paro conceded the close race for New York's 50th state Senate District, both campaigns said Friday afternoon following more counting of absentee and affidavit ballots a week and a half after Election Day.

"I am deeply honored by the trust the people of the 50th State Senate District have placed in me. With the majority of ballots scanned and the margin greater than than the outstanding ballots remaining, I am proud to declare victory," Ryan said in a statement Friday. "Throughout the campaign, I listened to your concerns and hopes for our future. You’ve called for a senator who will fight for good-paying jobs, quality schools, health care access, safe and affordable communities, and smart economic investments for the future. Now, I am ready to get to work delivering on these issues."

While some Democrats are doing soul searching and blame-gaming this week thanks to the results of last week’s elections, there’s one New York state elected official who’s saying “let me show you how it’s done."

State Sen. James Skoufis won his Orange County-area seat by 14%, a district that Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket lost.

Despite still running the show in Albany, Democrats have lost their veto-proof supermajority in the state Senate while appearing to have maintained their supermajority in the Assembly. Gov. Kathy Hochul seems to have been relatively successful in helping to avoid a repeat of embarrassing 2022 congressional losses in New York, and Proposition 1 passed.

“Good election for the governor, status quo for the Legislature,” Blair Horner, executive director of Good Government Group NYPIRG, said about sums it up.

The race between Democratic Onondaga County Legislator Chris Ryan and Republican Salina Town Supervisor Nick Paro to fill the open seat in New York’s 50th state Senate District remained too close to call Wednesday.

Ryan, with all districts reporting, leads Paro by 548 votes.

Democrat James Meyers is challenging longtime incumbent Republican Joseph Griffo for the 53rd Senate District seat.

“And I like to ask folks, well, if things aren’t getting better, why would go with the same representation we’ve had for so long?,” said Meyers.

Two candidates — one a town supervisor, the other a county legislator, are seeking the opportunity to represent the New York state Senate District 50 of Central New York.

Democrat Chris Ryan, an Onondaga County legislator, and Republican Nick Paro, the town of Salina supervisor, have experience in the political world and say they are ready to take the next step — into Albany. The seat is open due to state Sen. John Mannion running for Congress, looking to flip New York's 22nd Congressional District seat back to the Democrats.

The 56th State Senate seat is up for grabs this election, with incumbent Democrat Jeremy Cooney being challenged by Republican and former Gates Police Chief Jim VanBrederode.

“I spent 37 years delivering public service to the community,” VanBrederode said. “I was the person delivering the services and I've heard people's complaints and I've seen programs that work and which programs don't work. We need to change the environment right now.”

While most New Yorkers aren’t seeing spirited local campaigns in their neighborhoods this election season, it’s a different story in South Brooklyn.

In State Senate District 17, freshman Democratic State Sen. Iwen Chu is facing a tough fight from Republican Steve Chan, an ex-Marine and retired police officer.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Currently, Article 1 Section 11 of the New York state Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, color, creed and religion.

Ballot Proposition 1 would amend the section to also include ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes, as well as reproductive health care and autonomy.

While every seat in the State Assembly and State Senate is up for election this November, more than three dozen Democratic incumbents in the city are running unopposed.

Although there are more than half a million Republicans in the five boroughs, GOP party leaders say they can’t mount a fight in some heavily Democratic neighborhoods.

ALBANY, N.Y. – New York's Advanced Clean Truck regulations take effect in 2025, requiring manufacturers that make vehicles 8,500 pounds and heavier to sell an increasing percentage of electric vehicles each year moving forward.

The goal, when feasible, is for all new commercial trucks by 2045 to produce zero emissions. Department of Environmental Conservation Interim Commissioner Sean Mahar said it's a critical component for meeting the state's climate goals.

Third-term Democratic state Sen. Pete Harckham of New York's 40th state Senate District is facing a rematch against Republican Gina Arena, a Westchester County Department of Public Works employee who has a compelling personal story and has created several foundations to support children with serious illnesses.

The district includes northern Westchester County and parts of Putnam and Rockland counties.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is stepping down from the office that he’s held for almost 20 years to become the president and CEO of Western New York Regional Off-Track Betting.

One of the reasons OTB said that it was interested in hiring Brown was for his relationships with lawmakers in Albany.

There’s a rematch taking place in New York's 40th state Senate District, which includes parts of Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties.

It pits Democratic incumbent Pete Harkham, who chairs the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, with Republican Gina Arena, who works for the Westchester Department of Public Works, and who Harckham defeated in 2022.

Since Roe v. Wade was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2022, over 20 states have banned or restricted abortion care. Similarly, there have been legislative attacks on the rights of trans people across the country.

This was the context in which New York’s Proposal 1, colloquially called the “Equal Rights Amendment," was passed twice by two consecutive versions of the New York State Legislature.

As climate week convenes in New York City, Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering a bill to reconvene the state’s sea level rise task force. The task force would be in charge of updating data and making recommendations for how to best address the issue.

The task force was last convened back in 2007 and presented its report in 2010. Those pushing the bill stress that our understanding of climate change and the data available have changed drastically since, and so should the state's strategy.

Child care is so expensive that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called it a “broken market” in 2021 because when you pay for it, “the price does not account for all the positive things it confers on society.”

Part of the problem is that one individual can only care for a limited number of children, and those costs are passed on to families. Because those costs are higher than what they may earn in wages, many mothers with college degrees are opting to stay home with their children.

Republican New York state Sen. Jake Ashby and a group of other Senate GOP colleagues sent a letter to state Legislature leaders calling for a bipartisan commission to generate recommendations and solutions to security lapses after a former aide to two New York governors was charged with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government.

Linda Sun, who held numerous posts in New York state government, including deputy chief of staff for Gov. Kathy Hochul and deputy diversity officer for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was arrested last week along with her husband at their $4 million home on Long Island.

As first reported by The New York Times, an outside investigation ordered by the New York state Senate into whether Democratic state Sen. John Mannion created a toxic work environment in his Senate office has concluded that he did not violate Senate rules.

Spectrum News 1 first reported about those anonymous allegations from a group of former staffers back in June. Just days before Mannion won the June rimary for New York’s 22nd Congressional District against Sarah Klee Hood, those former staffers accused him in an anonymous letter of mistreatment, harassment and retaliation.

The state’s HALT Act, which restricts the use of solitary confinement in prisons, has been in the news a lot lately.

It was signed into law by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2021. But over the past few months, prison guards have blamed the HALT Act for violence in prisons. Most recently, they point to an incident at Collins’ Correctional facility in western New York where 11 guards and a nurse were sent to the hospital after a prisoner’s suspected suicide attempt.

With heat indexes going over 100 degrees in parts of upstate New York, there is a renewed focus on the impact that heat has on people who have to live and work in these conditions.

One of those places are New York’s prisons where workers and incarcerated people have to deal with these temperatures in older buildings.

Voters from around Central New York went to the polls Tuesday for primary elections for several offices, including two state Senate seats.

As of early Wednesday morning, the Associated Press had called winners in two of the contests.

In politics, a last-minute bombshell that drops before a November election is known as an "October surprise."

Here in Albany, just days before the end of the legislative session, Gov. Kathy Hochul dropped what one could call a June surprise as she announced an “indefinite pause” of the congestion pricing policy which was set to go into effect at the end of June in New York City.

It is typically an uphill climb for Republican candidates in some state office races in Central New York. However, two Republican hopefuls have stepped up and are hoping to buck that trend.

“I love this place,” state Senate District 48 GOP candidate Fanny Villarreal said.

Chris Ryan and Tom Drumm are seeking the Democratic nomination in the race for New York's 50th state Senate District.

At just 22 years old, Tom Drumm was elected to the Oswego County Legislature. Now at 31, he’s proud of the three terms he served, having ascended in that time to minority leader, and the work he’s done in labor relations.

The New York Senate confirmed two former state lawmakers Wednesday to lead the Department of State and the state's public finance and construction authority.

Senators confirmed Walter T. Mosley as secretary of state and former Secretary of State Robert J. Rodriguez as president and chief executive officer of the Dormitory Authority of the state of New York. Both are former assemblymen.

New York City’s housing crisis has been covered for years, so it’s easy to forget that upstate New York cities face similar challenges.

But Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and Binghamton saw a major victory in the recently passed state budget. Parts of New York state Sen. Sean Ryan’s four-part housing plan received funding, including $40 million to build one and two family homes.

The New York state Senate on Tuesday passed a series of legislation aimed to protect animals and the sale and treatment of pets.

If enacted into law, the bills would:

The two architects behind New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act have amended added additional safeguards to the legislation in the hope it can soon become law.

The act would allow terminally ill, mentally capable adults who have been given six months or less to live to take their own lives with a cocktail of pharmaceutical drugs.

The New York state Senate on Thursday confirmed Acting State Police Superintendent Steven James to serve fully in that role.

James has served with the State Police for more than 32 years, including more than two decades in a leadership role, serving in positions as deputy superintendent for employee relations, assistant deputy superintendent, staff inspector, major, captain, lieutenant, senior investigator, sergeant, investigator and trooper. He holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University at Albany and a master’s in public administration from Marist College.

In 1920, New Yorkers elected a group of declared socialists to the state Assembly who were promptly expelled from the Legislature simply for being socialists. Fast forward more than a century, you’ll find a vocal and growing coalition of socialists working to implement their agenda in a state Legislature with Democratic supermajorities in both houses.

State Sen. Jabari Brisport, a member of the Socialist Caucus in the state Legislature, told Capital Tonight that the socialists are trying to “uplift working class New Yorkers, regardless of political affiliations” and that they are looking out “for the people and not the uber rich.”

While a deal on a new 421a tax abatement is looking remote thanks to an impasse between several of the construction trade unions and the real estate lobby, New York state Senate Republicans are proposing their own package of housing bills, including a straight 421a extension.

State Sen. Pam Helming, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development, joined Capital Tonight host Susan Arbetter on Wednesday to discuss the package of bills.

The New York state Senate Republican Conference Antisemitism Working Group unveiled a report and recommendations Wednesday to Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic lawmakers to address and combat antisemitism in communities.

The group, formed last year, held multiple meetings and roundtable hearings in Rockland and Nassau counties. They are urging for the Legislature to act on five bills to be a part of the state budget, which include:

The New York state Senate on Tuesday passed legislation that would require the disclosure of information relating to lobbying for the nomination or confirmation of individuals to state office positions.

It aims to close a loophole that allows lobbyists to work in secret when promoting or opposing candidates for judgeships and other state offices. The bill, which passed the Senate 44-17, would require lobbyists to disclose their activities related to appointments that require Senate confirmation, just as they already disclose activities related to promoting or opposing legislation.

New York state Sen. Pete Harckham, the chairman of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, has proposed legislation that would create a new limit of tax credits for New Yorkers to go solar.

The proposal, which is currently in committee, would give New Yorkers who transition their residence to rooftop solar a maximum per-household tax credit of $10,000. Harckham joined Capital Tonight to discuss how the proposal would work.

The New York state Senate on Tuesday passed legislation aimed to make utility bills easier to pay for ratepayers, including the NY Heat Act, which aligns utility regulation with state climate justice and emission reduction targets.

The NY HEAT Act, which passed 40-22, had been approved by the state Senate last year but the Assembly and Gov. Kathy Hochul have yet to find agreement on all variables of the legislation. Hochul included key provisions in her 2025 state budget, but not the entire piece of legislation.

A housing expert in the city remains optimistic about tackling ongoing housing issues despite the City Council's decision on Tuesday to extend the city’s housing emergency declaration, keeping the Rent Stabilization Law in effect until April 2027.

The declaration, renewed every three years when the vacancy rate dips below 5%, was prompted by the current vacancy rate of 1.4%, the lowest since 1968.

New York state budget negotiations kicked off in earnest on Monday with the landing of what is known as the "mothership."

Known officially as the General Conference Committee, the panel of legislative leaders will drive the process of negotiations toward a deal with Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The New York state Senate and Assembly’s one-house budgets released this week deliver good news for an array of interests from school districts to hospitals, to cannabis growers. They do this by raising $2.2 billion in new taxes on the state’s corporations as well as the state’s very highest earners, something Gov. Kathy Hochul has said is “a non-starter."

According to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the tax increases are important because the needs in the state are so great.

Democratic state lawmakers are letting Gov. Kathy Hochul know where their priorities are in what’s known as their “one-house” budget proposals that were released earlier Tuesday.

The plans will serve as roadmaps for the next couple of weeks in negotiations leading up to the state’s April 1 budget deadline.

The New York state Senate’s housing plan is both broad in that it leaves many details to the negotiation process, and specific in that it proposes bill language covering an array of new ideas.

“We’re proposing that the state invest very substantially in constructing new housing on a large scale and rapidly,” state Sen. Brian Kavanagh, the Senate’s chair of the Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development, told Capital Tonight.

A New York state lawmaker is introducing legislation to allow for absentee voting in instances where personal religious observation conflicts with elections.

State Sen. Iwen Chu, a Democrat from Brooklyn, said in a release Tuesday that a Jewish constituent contacted her office saying a polling location for a neighbor of their's was located at a site where her own personal faith prohibited her to step foot into — a non-Jewish house of worship.

The next phase of Albany’s budget negotiations kicked off Monday night, as both Democratic state Senate and Assembly conferences were poised to release their “one house” budget proposals.

Only the state Senate’s document was released online late Monday night as R1952. The documents establish the Legislature’s stance on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2024 $233 billion budget proposal released in January.

New state legislation is looking to "clear the air" of underaged vaping.

A new bill is intended to ban the sale of e-cigarette products that resemble school supplies, toys, or are packaged in a way to appeal to minors.

New York Republican lawmakers are once again calling for changes and outright rollbacks of the state’s bail laws, pointing to recent incidents in the state as why the law is problematic.

First passed in 2019, Democrats, who hold supermajorities in both chambers of the state Legislature, have amended the law three times since then, the most recent being last year.

There is currently no language in New York state law that clarifies frozen embryos created for in vitro fertilization procedures are not classified as people.

State Sen. Jack Martins, R-Old Westbury, has introduced legislation to do that.

In 1989, a gallon of gas cost around a buck, and a ticket to the movies took less than $5 out of your pocket.

That year was also the last year that the wage replacement benefit in New York was increased. Now, state lawmakers, including Democratic state Sen. Jeremy Cooney, of the Rochester area, is looking to increase that benefit from $170 per week to $1,100. Cooney joined Capital Tonight to break it down.

New York state Sen. Brian Kavanagh is among lawmakers in Albany pushing for a dramatic increase in housing construction across New York City and the state amid ongoing budget deliberations.

During an appearance on "Mornings On 1" Thursday, Kavanagh, who represents Lower Manhattan and chairs the State Senate Housing Committee, also emphasized the need for bolstered tenant protection laws alongside housing expansion efforts.

New York’s redistricting saga continues.

Democratic state lawmakers introduced legislation Monday night creating their own congressional map after they voted down a map created by the Independent Redistricting Commission. The question remains when the Legislature will vote on it.

The New York state Legislature’s newly introduced congressional maps don’t appear to be the blatant power grab that Republicans have been fearing, but they could serve to put an additional Democratic seat in the win column for New York.

According to redistricting expert Jeff Wice, an adjunct professor of law and senior fellow at the New York Census and Redistricting Institute, the new lines may put first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro, of the 19th District, in jeopardy.

New York state lawmakers for years have considered the possibility of imposing term limits on themselves but so far none of those proposals or campaign promises have come to fruition.

"Hope springs eternal but I know it's an uphill battle," said state Assemblymember Monica Wallace, D-Lancaster.

New York's Democratic-controlled state Legislature rejected new congressional maps drawn by the state's Independent Redistricting Commission.

The proposal slightly altered the maps drawn by a special master for the 2022 elections.

Bringing high-speed rail to New York has been a goal for some state lawmakers for years and now one feels that the state should act sooner rather than later.

State Sen. Jeremy Cooney, of the Rochester area, joined Capital Tonight Thursday to discuss the topic.

Seventeen New York hospitals and health systems sued 1,600 patients, collecting $9 million in medical debts since 2022, according to a USA Today report released last July. One woman's husband was sued for more than $10,000 by SUNY Upstate Medical University before he passed away from pancreatic cancer.

“I couldn’t understand why they would sue a terminally ill man – and neither could he," said Linda Koberna.

In a wide-ranging conversation with Capital Tonight on Friday, New York state Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger discussed health care, raising revenue, housing and the new congressional maps approved Thursday by the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC).

According to Krueger, the full Senate Democratic conference has yet to review the maps, but she wasn’t impressed by what she saw.

Under a new state law, starting in 2025, local elections outside of New York City, with some exceptions including offices like judges, sheriffs and district attorneys, will move from odd years to even years to line up with state and federal elections.

The bill's sponsor, state Sen. James Skoufis, D-Cornwall, said it's all about turnout.

New York state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt was less critical of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget proposal than he has been about her position on the influx of migrants.

“There were things in [the governor’s executive budget] that I think dovetail with priorities of ours,” Ortt said, meaning the Senate Minority Conference. “She talked a lot about affordability.”

New York Republican leaders in the state Legislature are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to deploy the state's National Guard to Texas and New York's northern border to assist in the flow of migrants coming into the U.S., according to a letter they sent Thursday.

"More than 8 million border encounters have occurred since President Biden took office. In 2023, over 2.5 million migrants entered the country through the southern border. In December alone, 302,034 encounters were reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. On New York’s Northern Border, 91,640 illegal crossings were reported in the past year," the letter states, signed by state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt and Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay.

Gov. Kathy Hochul this week approved a plan for the state to hire migrants to fill 4,000 open entry-level state positions in roles including food service and equipment repair. The plan would help to cut down on the current 10,000 estimated vacant positions the state is seeking to fill.

Under Hochul’s proposal, the migrants would not need to take the state’s civil service exam. The Civil Service Commission voted to approve the measure on Jan. 18.

New York state Sen. Neil Breslin, the current most tenured member of the Legislature's upper chamber, won't run for reelection this year, state Assemblyman John McDonald told Spectrum News 1 Wednesday evening.

The Democrat has represented parts of the Capital Region for more than 25 years, currently holding the Senate's 46th District, which consists of parts of Albany, Schenectady and Montgomery counties.

Commercial real estate worker and political advocate Caleb Slater officially began his campaign Thursday for a state Senate seat in Central New York.

Slater is running for the Republican and Conservative Party nomination for the 48th state Senate District seat, currently held by Democrat Rachel May, who has been in office since 2019.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $233 billion spending plan is a roughly $6 billion increase from her proposed budget last year.

The plan includes new spending on education, health care and the ongoing influx of migrants.

The New York state Senate Republican Conference on Wednesday unveiled “A New Hope For The Empire State,” their legislative agenda for 2024.

They say they are gearing their agenda toward issues that impact “everyday New Yorkers” while blasting Democratic policies they say have created safety and quality of life issues for the state.

Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled a $233 billion spending plan for the state, including funding for asylum seekers without raising taxes.

Hochul's proposal sets in motion the budget negotiations with the state legislature.

YWCA of Syracuse and Onondaga County Executive Director Fanny Villarreal announced her candidacy Thursday for a state Senate seat in Central New York.

Villarreal, a Republican, will seek the 48th state Senate District seat, currently held by Democrat Rachel May, who has been in office since 2019.

As New York Gov. Kathy Hochul outlined her legislative priorities for 2024 in her State of the State address on Tuesday, Republican leaders criticized her for what she did not discuss and framed some of her ideas as solutions to problems self-inflicted by years of Democratic control in Albany.

“With a $4 billion budget gap, there was no commitment to keep state spending in check. Illegal migrants are crossing the southern border in droves, but New York has yet to figure out how to properly handle the ongoing influx,” state Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay said in a statement. “Despite New York owning the nation’s worst outmigration numbers, there is no concrete plan to ease financial pressures on families and businesses. And after years of pro-criminal policies that undermine public safety, there is still no interest in increasing accountability or fixing glaring problems in the state’s criminal justice center.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed several notable bills late in the year, including the Grieving Families Act.

But one vetoed bill that hasn’t received much attention is the Tropical Deforestation-Free Procurement Act, sponsored by state Sen. Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Pat Fahy.

This New York legislative session will differ from the last two under Gov. Kathy Hochul in a couple of ways. It’s an election year, which means lawmakers may not be willing to cut spending; and ironically, instead of surpluses (thanks to federal spending and tax revenue), the state faces a $4.3 billion budget gap.

But state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins says she has a positive outlook, even on the contentious issue of affordable housing.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- As time was running out for the governor to sign legislation banning non-compete agreements in New York state, the bill's sponsor felt they had reached a compromise to alleviate some of her concerns.

State Sen. Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, said lawmakers were willing to allow the clauses for employees making $250,000 a year or more but the deal fell apart.

Lawmakers will be returning to the Capitol Wednesday for the first day of the state Legislative session.

The start of the session comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul has vetoed a number of high-profile bills that the legislature passed last year.

New York state Assemblymember Al Stirpe says he is ending his campaign for a state Senate seat in Central New York and will instead seek reelection to the state's lower chamber, the Democratic lawmaker told Spectrum News 1 on Wednesday.

Stirpe launched his campaign for the 50th state Senate District in October and had been endorsed by independent Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh.

Salina Town Supervisor Nick Paro is joining the race for a state Senate seat in Central New York in 2024.

The Republican announced Thursday he will seek the seat representing New York’s 50th state Senate District, which includes Syracuse’s northern, western and eastern suburbs, as well as Central Square and the cities of Fulton and Oswego. The seat is being vacated by Democratic state Sen. John Mannion, who is running for Congress.

On Tuesday, advocates made their way to the state Capitol to call for Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign legislation that would ban so-called non-compete clauses for employees.

The bill’s Senate sponsor, Democratic state Sen. Sean Ryan, joined Capital Tonight to discuss the bill, respond to criticisms, and the latest on the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins.

New York state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris is introducing a bill aimed to increase the transparency of New York's criminal courts following a report that shows a very small percentage of criminal court decisions are published, the senator announced Monday.

The report, from Reinvent Albany, and co-authored by Scrutinize, said at least 94% of written criminal court decisions in New York are not published and calls for decisions to be published online to improve public accountability.

A state senator is pushing for legislation to install changing tables in public places for adults with special needs.

Betty Williams must consider whether there will be access to changing tables each time she’s invited to an event.

A state lawmaker from Brooklyn has been accused in a lawsuit of raping a woman early in his legislative career when he went to her home to discuss disaster relief efforts for Haiti.

The lawsuit, filed Friday, accuses Sen. Kevin Parker of assaulting her in 2004, during his first term. The woman said she had been working with Parker to coordinate the delivery of items and donations to Haiti after a devastating flood that affected the country and other neighboring Caribbean Islands.

New York state Sen. Jim Tedisco, a Republican from the Capital Region, joined Capital Tonight to discuss his call for a renewal of the Stretch Limousine Passenger Safety Task Force, which was created after the 2018 Schoharie limo crash which claimed 20 lives.

New York state Senate Health Committee Chair Gustavo Rivera joined Capital Tonight on Thursday to discuss his recent statewide tour with elected officials and stakeholders on the health care work force in the Empire State.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- New York state Senate Banking Committee Chair James Sanders says it's time for the state to get ahead of the curve when it comes to the emerging industries of digital currency, cryptocurrency and blockchain.

"Is it a good thing? Is it a bad thing? Is it something that New York state should push? Should we get to the head of this? Is this something that needs more regulations?" said Sanders, a Democrat from Queens.

Former Oswego County Legislature Minority Leader Tom Drumm will run for a state Senate seat in Central New York in 2024.

The Democrat announced Wednesday he will seek the seat representing New York’s 50th state Senate District, which includes Syracuse’s northern, western and eastern suburbs, as well as Central Square and the cities of Fulton and Oswego. The seat is being vacated by Democratic state Sen. John Mannion, who is running for Congress.