Kathy Hochul’s NYC agenda in 2025

There’s a lot potentially on the table for New York City contained in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s legislative priorities for this year.

While cost-of-living issues are at the heart of Hochul’s plan for 2025, a significant portion of 

of the governor’s fourth State of the City speech centered on combatting crime and mental illness – particularly in the New York City subway where a string of recent high-profile violent incidents have stoked concerns about public safety. Throughout her Tuesday remarks and nearly 150-page agenda book, Hochul laid out a number of proposals and commitments specific to the city – many of which New York City Mayor Eric Adams appeared to welcome with open arms. 

“I’m just really inspired by the governor's State of the State address. You just see that we value the same things,” Adams told reporters following the conclusion of Hochul’s remarks. 

Eliminating personal income tax for lower-income New Yorkers and making it easier to involuntarily hospitalize people experiencing mental health crises are among Adams’ priorities for 2025 as another legislative session in Albany begins. But while much of his and Hochul’s priorities align – particularly when it comes to affordability and public safety – Adams’ poor political standing could make lawmakers more reluctant to green light his priorities. Between low polling, his amicable reception of President-elect Donald Trump that’s ruffled some lawmakers’ feathers, and the fact that he’s set to stand trial on corruption charges in April – the middle of his reelection campaign – the governor’s support for Adams’ priorities will be particularly important. 

While some of Hochul’s statewide initiatives certainly also have the potential to bring resources to the five boroughs – such as expanding free school lunch, slashing taxes for the middle class, and giving millions of New Yorkers rebates up to $500 – here are some of the proposals that specifically impact New York City.

Expanding involuntary commitment 

Hochul proposed a change to state law intended to make it easier for New York City and other localities to involuntarily hospitalize people who need mental health care. This has been a big focus for both her and Adams as they look to address New Yorkers' concerns about random violence perpetrated by people with severe, untreated mental illness. Hochul also wants to strengthen Kendra’s Law, which allows a court to assign psychiatric treatment for people who are suffering from mental illness.

Hochul acknowledged the negative connotation associated with the term “involuntary commitment,” but said times have changed, claiming the mental health system has embraced a more compassionate attitude toward care. 

“Now critics will say this criminalizes poverty or homelessness. I say that is flat out wrong,” she said of expanding involuntary commitment, echoing Adams’ rhetoric on the issue. “This is about having the humanity and the compassion to help people incapable of helping themselves – fellow human beings who are suffering from mental illness, putting their lives and possibly the lives of others in danger.”

Subway safety

Hochul is looking to build on the plan she unveiled last March to improve the safety vibes on the subway with state resources like deploying national guard troops to check bags. Under her new plan for 2025, Hochul proposes partnering with the city to add police protocols on every overnight train for the next six months and to increase police presence on platforms and trains by temporarily surging patrol levels. “To make the physical infrastructure safer,” she also plans to provide funding to install LED lighting in all subway stations and to build protective platform edges in over 100 stations by the end of 2025. It was not immediately clear how these proposals would be funded.

Hochul will also push legislation to ban people who’ve been convicted of assaulting passengers and MTA staff from the subway system, establish heightened penalties for repeat criminal transit offenders, and expand criminal trespass to include transit facilities, according to her State of the State book. Lawmakers have rejected past attempts to ban certain people with convictions from public transit. 

“This is the game plan: More police where they’re needed, safety infrastructure, and critical interventions to help the homeless and mentally ill get the help they need instead of languishing on trains and frightening commuters,” Hochul said. “Enough is enough.”

Transportation and support for the MTA 

As the state grapples with how to plug a multimillion-dollar funding hole for public transit infrastructure improvements, Hochul voiced her strong support for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed 2025-2029 capital plan. She proposed funding the plan through a mix of federal, state, local and MTA-based avenues.

“We must end decades of failure to make the hard but necessary investments in this critical infrastructure,” Hochul said. “If we come up short, the future of our transit system and the economic strength of our state could be jeopardized.”

She also announced a plan to finish stretching the Second Avenue Subway from the Upper East Side to East Harlem, to install modern signal systems on the A/C and B/D/F/M subway lines, to add accessibility improvements to over 20 stations, and add hundreds of new electric buses. In the Bronx, she said the Department of Transportation will conduct a study to look at potentially capping portions of the Cross Bronx Expressway. 

Free tuition for CUNY (and SUNY) students

Hochul proposed offering free tuition to students between the ages of 25 and 55 who enroll in associate degree programs in high-demand fields at schools operated by the City University of New York and the State University of New York. Eligible programs include nursing, teaching, technology, advanced manufacturing, engineering and more. 

“These are real savings for New Yorkers pursuing new careers and puts money back in their pockets while helping us fill these jobs in these essential industries,” Hochul said.

Street safety 

Hoping to bolster pedestrian safety for young children, Hochul is also proposing a change to state law that would prohibit parking within 20 feet of crosswalks in elementary school zones throughout New York City. While the rest of the state already prohibits this, the city has a carveout in the law that allows it to make many of its own rules when it comes to parking. Currently, city rules only bar parking in a crosswalk – not beside one. 

Also related to the subject of street safety, Hochul proposed that the city should be given “express statutory authority” to lower maximum speed limits in bike lanes.