UPDATED: CONGESTION TOLLING AIN'T DEAD YET—CALL YOUR STATE SENATOR NOW
LEGISLATURE REJECTS GOV. KATHY HOCHUL ‘S LAST-MINUTE BID TO KILL CONGESTION PRICING. VOWS TO DO IT ANYWAY.
Gov. Kathy Hochul speaking in support on congestion tolling in 2023. Photo credit: NY Governor’s office via Flickr.
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This is a developing report. Check back for breaking news.
LAST UPDATED: 12:03 am, June 8, 2024.
Congestion tolling in New York City ain't dead yet. Now's the time to call your state senator and let them know where you stand.
"I have directed the MTA to indefinitely pause the program," Gov. Kathy Hochul announced in a hostage video released only to select news publications on Wednesday. "Implementing the planned congestion pricing system risks too many unintended consequences at this time.”
Congesting tolling is supposed to take effect June 30, under a plan already-approved by the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The first-in-nation plan charges drivers $15 to enter Manhattan below 60th street—except if they stay on the FDR Drive or West Side Highway. It was enacted in 2019, passed by the state legislature and signed into law by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Congestion tolling is intended to not only reduce traffic and increase air quality. It's also intended to produce $15 billion to fund much-needed modernization of subways in New York City, as well as upgrades to the commuter railroads that bring workers who live in the suburbs into and out of the city.
After years of review and public hearings, after more than $500 million was spent on tolling gantries and other infrastructure needed to implement the plan, Gov. Hochul declared she was unilaterally canceling it.
She claimed blowing up congestion pricing is necessary to protect "everyday New Yorkers. Like our small business people, police officers, fire-fighters, teachers, health-care workers, truck drivers and not add to their financial burdens."
But Politico reported the real reason for the last-minute move was politics.
Specifically, that it would hurt suburban Democrats in tight races for the House of Representatives in Nov. House minority leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, leaned on Gov. Hochul to kill the plan.
She released the video a day after returning from a trip to Washington, D.C. There she stood beside Pres. Joe Biden in the White House while he announced new restrictions on immigration.
One problem: the law does not allow Gov. Hochul to not follow the law—and congestion tolling is the law.
Gov. Hochul's last-minute move caught MTA leaders by surprise. Some have threatened to resign. Others said they would stay and fight the governor's interference. As they see it, the law and their legal fiduciary responsibility to the MTA requires them to implement the plan.
Gov. Hochul presented her decision as a fait accompli, but it was not. For congestion tolling to be killed, the state legislature has to enact another law that repeals the congestion tolling law it enacted mandating it in 2019.
Not only that, the legislature also has to figure out how it's going to fund $15 billion worth of public transit modernization congesting tolls were supposed to pay for.
Albany is used to chaotic, last-minute budget negotiations, but the congestion tolling crisis is next-level anarchy.
At least since yesterday, Gov. Hochul's people have been pressuring lawmakers to help her get out the bad jam she put herself in.
First, she proposed a new tax on working New Yorkers, in flat contradiction of the reason she said she canceled congestion tolling for in the first place: to help cash-strapped workers. Her proposal was dead-on-arrival.
Now she's proposed taking $1 billion from the state's general fund to plug the $15 billion hole in the MTA's budget. Basically it's a $1 billion IOU. They’d figure out how to permanently fund it later.
As of Friday morning, it is not clear there are enough votes in the State Senate to enact this plan and kill congestion pricing, according to reporting.
The legislature is scheduled to adjourn until January Friday evening.
What all this means is congestion tolling is still alive.
If the state legislature votes to kill congestion tolling and implement a new plan it'll likely happen tonight.
If you want your elected representatives to vote the way you want them to, now is the time to give them a jingle and express yourself.
Carl Heastie (D-13), Speaker of the Assembly, emerged from behind closed-doors at the Captial to update reporters on the status of negotiations Friday afternoon. “Conversations are still ongoing,” Heastie said.
"I'm one I've been one of the longest champions of congestion pricing even when this came up with Bloomberg,” Speaker Heastie added, “but for the governor, she has her own sense of where she thinks our polling actually hasn't gone well on congestion pricing and she made a call."
“The plan is to be here late into tonight,” he said.
It didn’t even take that long.
"I don't see that at this point today,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told a gaggle of journalists shortly after 5:30 pm.
What about tomorrow?
“I will not be back tomorrow,” Stewart-Counsins answered.
“I am committed to mitigating congestion,” she said. “I don’t think anybody’s talking about repealing the law.”
Gov. Hochul held a news conference an hour-and-a-half later. She threw down the gauntlet.
The MTA was going to “pause” congestion tolling anyway—notwithstanding the legislature’s refusal to approve her plan. She would order MTA agency officials to do it—without a vote by the MTA board approving it.
"The MTA will be taking necessary action to reflect pause in this program."
Hours later, MTA Chief Financial Officer Kevin Willens and General Counsel Paige Graves issued a joint statement saying the MTA had to comply with Gov. Hochul’s order. According to Willens and Graves, federal law and regulations require the MTA to have the “state’s consent” before congestion tolling can be implemented and “we no longer have the State’s consent.”
The MTA would begin cutting programs immediately, they said. It had to “deprioritize” modernization and shift to “basic operation and functionailty of this 100+ year old system.”
Contradicting Gov. Hochul, the MTA officials suggested the MTA board would have to vote on the changes: “The MTA board will be evaluating what changes need to be made to the captial program in the lead-up to this month’s Board meeting.”
30 or so minutes later, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY 15th) accused Willens and Graves of being “intellectually dishonest.”
“Congestion pricing is required by an Act of the State Legislature. A state law, by definition, is an expression of the State’s consent.”
Even Mayor Adams' chief climate officer jumped into the escalating fight. Rit Aggarwala called it “"the worst policy decision in NYS in ages."
“I know what climate leadership looks like,” he added. “This is the opposite.”
The stage is now set for a raucus MTA Board meeting in two weeks as well as an epic legal battle. Pro-toll advocates are expected to sue Hochul and the MTA to force them to implement congestion tolling.
If you have first-hand knowledge about discussions among any government officials, MTA, New York State, New York City, Federal government, regarding congestion pricing or tolling, please contact me. Confidentiality guaranteed.
jasonbnicholas@gmail.com thefreelancenews@proton.me
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