The New York state legislative session ended last week without much movement on infrastructure and housing proposals. A quick summary is below:

• MOVE NY (A9633/S8089) - the equitable tolling proposal to raise revenue for transportation made some progress, with an introduction by Assemblymember Robert Rodriguez in March and a nearly identical introduction by Senator Andrew Lanza on June 11. Both sponsors, along with the wide coalition that endorses the proposal, promised to push the bill in 2017 session. The bill would reduce tolls on less congested routes in NYC where transit is lacking, and implement new tolls for vehicles entering the most congested and transit-rich parts of Manhattan. RPA supports the proposal.
• Lifting New York City’s 12.0 floor area ratio cap (A7807/S5469) - a last-minute proposal by the de Blasio administration to remove the cap on the size of residential buildings gained support in the legislature but didn’t pass. RPA supports removal of the cap because it would give the city more control over land use and spur more affordable housing production.
• 421-a – no action was taken on this legislation. Until it expired last year, 421-a gave developers tax exemptions for new housing construction in New York City. A modified proposal approved by the legislative in 2015 relied on an agreement between the real estate industry and labor unions, which never came to pass. RPA supports the concept of targeted tax exemptions to spur both development and affordable housing where appropriate, but believes crafting a new policy from the ground up, instead of necessarily following the old 421-a model, would result in the most efficient and effective program.
• Design Build (A7590/S5887) – this proposal would reduce costs and shorten timelines for construction projects by allowing seven New York City agencies to use a more efficient project delivery process called design build. New York State already has authorization for design build; the legislation would extend those same benefits to New York City. Though this bill made some progress this year, it didn’t make it out of the Assembly Cities Committee or the Senate Rules Committee.
• New York State DOT transparency (A9872A/S7608A) – a bill to require New York State Department of Transportation to publicly release details of its capital program, a requirement already in place for the MTA, secured introduction in both houses and passage in the Senate, but later stalled in the Assembly Transportation Committee.
• MTA board - Two of Mayor de Blasio’s choices to represent New York City on the MTA board were finally approved by the state Senate and Governor Andrew Cuomo, after a year of waiting. The new representatives, Veronica Vanterpool of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and David Jones of Community Service Society will be welcome voices on the board. No action was taken by the Senate on a third appointee, City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez.
• Speed enforcement cameras (A9861/A10652) - street safety advocates were hoping for movement on a bill to protect more school kids with speed cameras implementation in New York City, but bills to increase the number of authorized cameras from 140 did not gain support in the Senate.
• Airbnb (A8704C/S6340A) - legislation to make it illegal to advertise short-term rentals that violate New York’s multiple dwelling law passed both houses. Most short-term apartment rentals which are for less than 30 days, and where the owners or tenant are away during the rental, are violations of the multiple dwelling law. Tenants or owners who advertise these rentals on Airbnb would be subject to fines of at least $1,000.

Many housing advocates believe that allowing short-term rentals contribute to increased housing prices by reducing available housing stock. RPA’s position is that New York should allow for flexibility for short-term rentals within reasonable limits, provided it does not result in nuisance for surrounding tenants or incent removing available housing stock from the long-term rental or homeownership markets.

Photo: Matt Wade, Flickr/Creative Commons