Bill approved to strip Cuomo’s pandemic-era powers

The New York Senate on Friday approved a bill to repeal pandemic-era emergency powers afforded to the scandal-plagued Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The bill, which passed along party lines, 43-20, and was being debated in the Assembly, will revoke temporary powers given to Cuomo in March that allowed him to supersede the legislature, as well as local laws, to issue hundreds of sweeping emergency directives on everything from closing businesses and schools to mandating the use of masks. The governor is expected to sign the measure after saying he helped negotiate it.

The rebuke from lawmakers, where Democrats hold a supermajority in both chambers, follows public outcry over sexualharassment claims by three women against Cuomo and allegations that his administration deliberately covered up COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents. In the latest twist, Cuomo’s administration said Thursday that officials had altered a July report of data on the deaths to exclude those who had died outside the facilities. The administration was responding to a New York Times report that said these changes show that the state had a fuller accounting of the deaths at the time, despite resisting requests for that data.

A growing list of state lawmakers, including in his own Democratic party, have called for Cuomo’s resignation.

Earlier this week, Cuomo said he had brokered the emergency-power deal with lawmakers to focus just on curbing new directives. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a fellow Democrat, disputed Cuomo, saying lawmakers didn’t work with the governor to cut a deal.

Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, during a floor vote to revoke Cuomo’s executive powers, said the governor lied to the public and was not involved in negotiations. Asked if he was bothered by the lie, Gianaris said: “There is so much that this governor has done that I’m bothered by.”