[ THEME MUSIC ] >> on this week's edition of "New York Now," Governor Andrew Cuomo delivers his tenth state of the state address.

We'll have details.

>> We will win the COVID war, and we will learn and grow from the experience.

>> Karen DeWitt from New York state public Radio and Jimmy Vielkind from "The Wall Street Journal" are in studio with analysis of Cuomo's remarks and the news of the week.

Then, assembly speaker Carl Heastie joins us with reaction on what democrats in the assembly have planned for this year's legislative session.

I'm Dan Clark, and this is "New York Now."

[ THEME MUSIC ] >> Welcome to this week's edition of "New York Now."

I'm Dan Clark.

Governor Cuomo's state of the state address is usually a huge event.

It's a real who's who of state politics and it's a lot like the president's state of the union.

Cuomo uses it to tell lawmakers what he wants to do that year and they hash it out behind closed doors.

But this year was different.

Cuomo delivered his tenth state of the state address virtually this week from the state Capitol, and he tried to use this year's speech as a plan forward in a post-COVID economy.

Take a look.

For Governor Andrew Cuomo, the COVID-19 pandemic is a war and New York is winning.

>> We will win the COVID war and we will learn and grow from the experience.

>> That was his message as he delivered his tenth state of the state address in Albany this week.

It was divided into four speeches over four days, and the focus of Cuomo's remarks centered on two major themes, the COVID-19 pandemic and New York's struggling economy.

>> COVID has been costly in every sense of the word.

>> Cuomo pledged a strategy to curb the pandemic in New York including a wider distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Cuomo blamed the federal government for the vaccine's rocky rollout in New York, saying the state isn't getting enough doses.

>> I believe the new federal administration will see the vaccine supply increase and we will be ready for that increase.

>> But Cuomo also called for balance between the COVID-19 pandemic and the State's economy.

New York can't afford to stay closed, he said, while the virus continues to spread.

>> The truth is we cannot stay closed until everyone is vaccinated.

The economic, psychological, emotional cost would be incredible.

>> New York is already facing a budget deficit of about $15 billion heading into this year.

That's according to the state, and there are a lot of different ideas on how to fill that gap.

Cuomo has said for months that he expects the incoming Biden administration to include aid from New York in a new stimulus package and that was still his position this week.

>> With our new president, a new Senate, and the house members, I believe they will do justice.

>> But democrats in the legislature don't feel the same way.

They're also hoping for aid from Washington, but they're seriously considering tax hikes on the wealthy as well to help fill the State's budget gap.

Senate majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said this week those conversations are ongoing.

We can't just wait for Washington.

>> Cuomo's claimed that tax hikes on the wealthy wouldn't generate enough revenue to fill the State's budget gap.

A claim that some have disputed but Republicans in the state legislature are actually onboard with Cuomo on that point, and they're worried the rich could leave New York if they're hit with higher taxes.

Here's Senate Republican leader, Rob Ortt.

>> When you want people investing here, you want people coming to New York, you want these folks hiring folks, there's a potential this could have the reverse effect.

That won't be easy.

Democrats in the legislature are still divided on how exactly the drug should be legalized.

>> This will earn revenue and end the criminalization of this product that left so many communities of color overpoliced and overincarcerated.

>> Cuomo is trying to green light mobile sports betting which would allow users to make bets from their phone.

That's something that Cuomo said was unconstitutional.

Democrats said his new position could change how they look at the issue.

>> This is new that the Governor is willing to take a look at that.

I mean, I'm sure we will be able to continue our discussions and hopefully get to a good end.

>> In the meantime, Cuomo's proposing a series of new initiatives to make New York more affordable and bolster the State's economy.

For one, he wants to cap the price of high speed internet at $15 per month for low income families.

that idea was inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many New Yorkers to work and learn online.

>> A remote economy requires high speed internet for all.

We need to ensure a level playing field.

No one can be left behind.

>> Both Republicans and democrats in the state legislature plan to make high speed internet a top issue this year.

Ortt said he will wait for details on Cuomo's proposal but the state must do more to expand both the affordability and access to broadband.

>> I still see and hear from many New Yorkers across the state that simply do not, do not have access let alone affordability.

They don't have access.

>> Looking ahead, Cuomo says he also wants the state to invest in a new green energy plan geared at boosting sustainable energy and development.

To start, he says New York will launch a $26 billion partnership with private companies to build nearly 100 renewable projects.

>> These projects will not only create power, but bring needed economic opportunity to struggling parts of our state.

>> And to top off his economic plan, Cuomo says he wants to invest $306 billion over several years in public infrastructure projects.

Like train stations and new highway renovations that will help jump start the economy, he said, after the state lost thousands of jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It's the largest, most ambitious plan of any state in the nation.

>> The big question is whether Cuomo can do everything he wants this year while balancing the State's finances, and that's a question he's expected to answer next week when he'll release his plan for the state budget, which is due at the end of march.

And we're hoping to take Cuomo's budget address live here on PBS next week.

Stay tuned for details on that.

But let's bring in our panel for the week for analysis, Jimmy Vielkind is a reporter with "The Wall Street Journal" and Karen DeWitt is from New York state public Radio.

Thank you both for being here.

>> Sure thing!

>> Thank you.

>> It was a very fun week with four states of the state, four addresses.

Let's start wide and narrow in.

Karen what was your big takeaways from the long-expected speech to focus on the budget?

>> Fun and exhausting, I think.

>> Yeah.

>> because it was many, many days that we had to cover.

One thing I guess I would say off the top, I thought the Governor doing it in the war room actually looked visually really nice.

>> It was beautiful.

I really liked that.

>> Yeah.

I actually think in a way it was better without all of the applause because it-- he kind of connected with people a little bit.

That said, it seemed like it was four days of good news.

He highlighted all the programs that he wants to do all in preparation for coming up next week when there's going to be one day of very bad news, which is the state budget and the deficit, and I don't think there's any way you can spin that into good news.

I think he knows that and having four days where he could control the stage and kind of, you know, highlight what he wanted to, I think it really worked well for the Governor, honestly.

We don't know how much, but that may be some help for the Governor.

>> I agree with Karen.

I did think it was striking the way the speech was sort of more narrowly tailored.

They were shorter than his normal speeches and thank you.

[LAUGHTER] I think it was great and that goes to your point that this was not the normal sort of celebration or homecoming for state government that the state of the state often is where people from around the state, mayors, et cetera, come into all Albany.

They have a nice lunch, they see everybody, HO, HO, and it really did allow the general public to engage more.

I was struck by-- I think he has a very-- pretty narrow focus in what he's doing, which is we need to Rebound from the pandemic.

There are calls for the Governor to perhaps enact big, bold, progressive policies.

There are calls for him to raise taxes and make massive increases in social programs and spending.

He made clear, at least to my ears, he's not going to go that direction, but at the same time, we saw some of the same Cuomo troops from the last ten years, namely sort of talking about what has already been accomplished, you know, sort of packaging and rolling together things that are already in motion with the news so that you get these big, big numbers of promises, but I thought that-- my big takeaway was that he clearly is very mission-driven about the Coronavirus and I don't think he's going to spend a lot of time and oxygen on other things.

>> Well, yeah.

I don't see how you can in a year like this.

I mean, that is what people really want him to do, and so he's doing it with mixed results and I think we will be discussing a little bit later in the show >> In the past, the Governor's state of the state is almost overwhelming to us reporters.

We're in the room.

We typically get these books that people don't know about, but we get these books full of all of his proposals and it's almost tough to take that hour and focus on what's going to be the big story.

Big story, this year, as we said-- >> And running around and getting reaction.

>> Yeah.

>> That part I do miss.

The interaction, as Jimmy mentioned.

The celebratory part was missing where you get to see everybody in person and talk to them in a crowded room.

Imagine.

>> Yes.

In the next few weeks, lawmakers that we will get reaction from is starting on state budget negotiations.

The Governor said we have a $15 billion budget deficit.

Jim, you tried to explain to me before that we may not have a $15 billion deficit.

what is the deal?

>> So the $15 billion is not really a deficit.

It's the amount of revenue that the state has lost from its sort of peak projections before the pandemic hit.

It's really a shortfall is the best word for it.

The actual stated projected deficit is $8.7 billion for next year's budget.

But this year's budget is balanced with a big asterisk in it.

It's sort of an $8 billion hole.

So there's a lot of discussion and some disagreement among fiscal experts and watch dogs.

The state comptroller, Tom DiNapoli, says tax collections have been better than expected and better than the Governor's projections which were released at the end of October, say.

>> That's good news >> It's a little bit less.

There's $4 billion for schools that was included in the December stimulus package approved by the federal government.

We don't know how that's going to play in financially.

But I think for next year, you're looking at something around $10 billion and again, as you said, Dan, there is the likelihood, possibility, take your pick, of more federal aid coming and unlike previous stimulus packages that we've seen since the onset of this pandemic, it's possible that with all democrats in control of the federal government, they will just cut a check to New York and have unrestricted state and local aid.

Whereas, to this point, the stimulus funding that has come New York's way has been sort of diverted through schools, through enhanced Fmap, which is Medicaid funding and other pots >> I don't think we can role totally rely on the federal government just bailing New York out.

I don't know if they can really give the whole $8 billion.

I think there's going to be pressure to do some things.

I think the Governor's under a lot of pressure.

I think the Governor will be understand are a lot of pressure to raise income taxes as the progressive advocates say, the 118 billionaires that they've counted in New York as well as multimillionaires.

>> Remember, the last time New York raised taxes was in 2009 in the aftermath of the great recession in sort of-- as unemployment was spiking.

You're absolutely right.

There is a lot of political pressure.

There's a pretty decent fiscal case to do it.

What we'd have as a variable is every signal that the Governor has said is that he is very loathe to do this.

>> He's worried that wealthy people will leave the state and some of them did.

In the last recession you that mentioned, Tom Golisano, big name in upstate New York, changed his residence to Florida so he didn't have to pay the taxes.

>> Before we run out of time we have a few minutes left.

I want to touch on other things.

We buried the lead that the president was impeached this week >> Again?

[LAUGHTER] >> Republicans in Congress from New York, I believe, all of them voted except for Katko against impeachment.

>> Right.

>> Karen, what's going on here?

Elise Stefanik is sticking by the president after the events January 6th.

I don't know if it works for her politically.

Her district is a Trump district.

Has she said anything?

>> If you remember a long, long time ago the last impeachment a year ago, she stuck with Trump and he made her a star in the Republican party.

I think she's stuck >> She was his champion at the time >> It would look hypocritical if she said she's not sticking with him.

She is getting blowback and she won re-election by a pretty healthy margin.

I guess she feels like that's her base and she doesn't want to offend them.

>> It will be interesting to see in the next few years as redistricting happens if that district becomes a little bit more blue and she'll have more of a challenge in two years >> that's a good point >> It might blow back on her.

That district as it is right now, she's pretty safe in that position.

>> With democrats in the legislature, that's a good point.

They may cut away some of her support.

I think at this point, she's in too deep.

>> I think so too.

If she went back, it would look very hypocritical for her.

But politicians never surprise any of us.

We'll see.

The vaccine rollout, I want to touch on.

We have to touch on this before we go.

Everybody can agree with that.

The Cuomo administration is defending it saying the federal government is only sending the state 300,000 doses a week.

Jimmy, what's going on here?

is it the federal government?

Is it the state?

Is it a mix of the two?

>> This week marked a big change for New York.

Previously, the governor had set very strict eligibility criteria.

He was reluctant to let county leaders and public health officials on the local level take an active role in distributing the vaccine as they expected to do and as of Monday he sort of said, okay, we're going into tranche 1B.

We're expanding the universe of people who are eligible by about four-fold, and then the federal government increased that even further when it said New Yorkers over 65 can get the vaccine.

So now what we have is a massive distribution network and a very limited supply, and we're starting to see competition among the distributed points be the state run state site like the Javits center, local doctor's office and local hospital system and the result for New Yorkers is confusion.

>> Yes.

>> Because do I call my doctor?

Do I call the state hotline?

Do I have to go on the website?

The website is crashing.

The hotline is racking down.

For those who are older and less computer savvy, this has caused problems already.

I think it's going to continue to do so for the next few days and weeks.

>> Even the computer savvy older people spending hours with the website crashing repeatedly.

Now all of the state sites that are en0en, they're booked through April and the hotline, you are on the line for hours and people are extremely, extremely frustrated.

I think there's going to be blowback for the state.

>> I think so.

>> For state leaders.

>> It's frustrating for everybody.

You are trying to get this life-saving vaccine and there's no avenue for it for three months, four months, who knows?

I guess we'll see.

>> It's discouraging news.

It really is.

>> Exactly.

Karen DeWitt from the pub Radio and Jimmy Vielkind, thank you both.

With Cuomo's state of the state now over, democrats in the state legislature are starting to form their own agenda for the year but like Cuomo, a lot of it depends on the State's budget gap and whether Congress comes through with a new stimulus package.

I spoke this week with assembly speaker Carl Heastie about the State's budget deficit and what democrats have planned for the year.

Assembly speaker hasty, thanks so much for being here.

>> Thank you, Dan.

Thank you for having me >> Anytime.

We're talking on Tuesday, which means that as we're talking, the Governor has two more state of the states to do by Thursday.

Tell me your reaction to what he said so far in the state of the state addresses.

Trying to make sure that people are safe, but we have to get this state moving back.

How do we get access to broadband for students, for businesses?

I think it's all part of a message of survival and revival while we continue to fight this pandemic.

>> So we've heard from the Governor about his top priorities this week.

Tell me about the top priorities in the assembly this year as democrats continue to stay in the majority.

Obviously, you have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it.

Tell me what's at the top of your list.

>> Well, we always say that our agenda's always a families first agenda.

As I outlined in my opening comments last year, we're very concerned about the health disparities.

We're very concerned that there's still billions of dollars in rent arrears.

Small landlords are hurting.

So we just want-- people need child care.

We want to make sure people are vaccinated and we want to make sure that the economy is able to, let's say, Rebound and then also we want the federal government to step up because there are so many things, you know, I feel as a national pandemic, it is the federal government's responsibility.

I am hopeful with the president Biden and vice president Kamala Harris and speaker Pelosi and our own senior Senator, Chuck Schumer, being the majority leader, that a lot of the things that we were hoping to happen that didn't happen or slow to happen, I think we'll see more-- more action coming from this administration and this-- and this Congress.

>> Last month, you were in Albany and you mentioned to reporters that you would really like to see some tax raises on the wealthy to help fill the State's budget gap.

At the time, the Governor was against that.

He really pushed back on it.

He seems to be continuing that theme this year.

Can you give us an update on how negotiations stand on some potential tax hikes on the wealthy?

>> Well, we have haven't negotiated anything.

Again, my only concern and you know, perhaps the Governor could be right was I was concerned about retroactivity of taxes and that was the main reason, but I guess I was kind of just-- excuse me the pun, hedging my bets about making sure that there was the potential to have revenue and I just felt more secure that if we had done a tax increase beforehand.

>> Do you think even if they come through without aid for New York that you will still push for tax increases on the wealthy?

Of course, the federal government may not provide enough to fill our budget gap.

>> I think this goes--- Dan, you know I'm a financial person.

I think supply will have to meet demand.

I think if the federal government doesn't give us enough supply for our demand, then that's when I think we will have to really start to look at the different revenue raises.

I really think that it's a supply and demand question.

>> There are two revenue raisers on the table in the news this week and last week.

Marijuana legalization and online sports betting.

I know the assembly is in favor of marijuana legalization.

There's some different-- differences to work out between the Senate assembly and the Governor's version of the bill.

Where do you see that conversation going?

Do you see marijuana being legalized in New York this year?

>> I see there's the possibility.

It is a revenue raiser, but one of the areas of concern that I would say steering the discussion is we want to make sure that the communities that were heavily impacted from the criminalization of marijuana, we want to make sure that those communities are made whole and not just have this as a total revenue raiser for the state of New York.

So I think that there needs to be some kind of set-aside for those communities that were affected, people went to jail for marijuana, all those things that we feel need to be rectified.

And on, you know, sports betting, you know, again, it's one of the options that's on the table.

>> Do you think there's anything non-budget related that you would like to see accomplished this year?

Honestly, I think everything is centering around the budget for an obvious reason.

We have a huge deficit.

If you took that off the table, are there any other issues that you are looking forward to in these next few months?

>> There's still probably more policy issues that we probably still need to look at, you know, depending on where the world is.

I always think criminal justice reform, police and community reforms always something for us to look at, but I would say other criminal justice reform issues, but most things right now particular particularly through this pandemic are really tied to the budget.

I'd say 95% of I'd say the major issues right now whether it's having people having access to child care, getting people back to work.

Businesses having to deal with the higher uninsurance-- unemployment insurance premiums that I'm hoping that the federal government will take that burden off of us as well or having the state to pay it back.

I'd say most of the things right now are very, I'd say, money-driven but there's always the ability for us to deal with policy changes.

>> You know, there's a lot of new members at the assembly and some of them primaried, veteran members and they're considered to be more to the left than the members you had last year.

You had a few conferences with your members.

How do you think the ideology of the conference has changed?

Do you see it influencing your different priorities for the year?

>> Well, I would just say this.

I don't know if the new members are more to-- I'd say more to the left than the other members because, you know, the last five years, we've done some magnificent, progressive items, but as I like to say, and I always love to give sports analogies that the players may change but the assembly's game plan always remain the same.

The new members are energetic.

They are engaged.

They're excited to get to work, you know, coming in at a challenging time allows you to raise your level of service and ability to problem solve.

So I'm excited to have the new members.

They're bringing great energy.

They're all coming in as wonderful parts of the team.

Everybody understands, you know, the one voice of 107 and they've been excellent members and excellent members of the team.

I think their new energy is going to be great.

I think the excitement of wanting to help us get out of this challenge is a wonderful thing.

>> All right.

We will be watching to see what the federal government comes through with once the new administration is in place.

Assembly speaker Carl Heastie, thanks so much for being here Stay safe.

>> We'll have more details on the state budget on next week's show and we'll also hear from freshman Senator Mike Martucci, one of only two Republicans to flip a seat from democrats last year.

Until then,thanks for watching this week's "New York now."

have a great week and be well.