State Lawmakers Argue that Hochul Was Not Given Definitive Power to Pause Congestion Pricing
A group of current and past New York State lawmakers that were in office when the 2019 creation of congestion pricing was approved by Legislature filed a brief on Wednesday, August 21 in support of the City Club of New York’s lawsuit against the June 5th decision by Governor Hochul to indefinitely pause the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Congestion Pricing Program slated to launch on June 30, 2024. It was stated within the court papers that “if Legislature had wanted to give such a power it would have explicitly done so in the 2019 law;” and it would have been a decision by the then Governor Andrew Cuomo to request such changes or amendments prior to the law being put on his desk for signing. While the “governor already exerts great influence over the MTA’s board by appointing 6 of its 14 votes, including its chair and chief executive,” a 2009 state law enables members on the board to “exercise independent judgement in their decision-making, and to do so with their fiduciary duty to the authority in mind. ”It was further pointed out that although the Legislature can give the governor the power to supervise public agencies, it was argued that “the state Assembly and Senate ‘deliberately exclude[d] any implied gubernatorial power’ to alter decisions by the MTA’s board” because public authorities, such as the MTA’s board, “are ultimately independent and ‘insulated from political pressure or partisan politics.’” While the article notes only four signees on the filed court papers, two of them stated that “they can’t speak to why other lawmakers” did not sign on to the brief, considering the public ire that was provoked among other state lawmakers who have publicly expressed similar views. One consideration hinted at was the “concern of making an enemy of the governor” — just another example of leadership failure as self-serving political strategizing once again prevails when it’s strong leaders who will “stand for something greater then themselves are needed,” as previously stated in the June 10th article by Crain’s New York when Governor Hochul opted to “cater to suburban discontent at the expense of the city’s needs.”