Where is Hochul taking NY in 2023? She'll outline priorities in State of State address

Last year, Gov. Kathy Hochul was picking up the pieces of a state government that had been battered by COVID-19 and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s sudden resignation.

Now, with the election behind her, Hochul’s true time to shine has come.

The governor will deliver her second State of the State address at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Assembly Chamber in Albany’s Capitol Building, where she will outline her priorities for the legislative session, which began Jan. 4 and runs until June.

A major task for the state government in the coming months will be to hammer out the next state budget, to be finalized by April 1 (although the state’s been known to blow past that deadline as debates over spending and policy come down to the wire.)

Hochul, a Buffalo native, will start her term knowing that a large swath of residents, especially in many upstate regions, didn’t pick her to govern. Republican Lee Zeldin, her opponent for governor in November, put up a stiff challenge, coming within five percentage points of Hochul when all votes were tallied.

And while Democrats still hold a supermajority in the state Legislature this year, Republicans saw surprising victories in the state’s Congressional delegation, where four seats were flipped from Democrat to Republican across the traditionally deep blue state.

Hochul's 2023 hurdles5 challenges Kathy Hochul faces in 2023 as she starts first full term as NY governor

What does Hochul plan to tackle in 2023?

Republicans made gains statewide, and nationally, on the platform that Democratic leaders weren’t doing enough to tackle crime and the economy.

Judging from her inaugural address on Jan. 1, Hochul’s out to change that.

“First, we must — and will — make our state safer,” she said. “Secondly, we have to make our state more affordable. Our people are hurting. We're going to fight for them.”

As the first woman in history to be elected to lead the Empire state, Hochul, 64, will have to contend with these and other complex issues like housing, mental health and workforce shortages, particularly in health care industries, in the wake of the pandemic.

And while on election night she celebrated her win as a step forward for women in New York, she quickly pivoted the focus on the work at hand.

“I’m not here to make history,” she told the crowd at her election watch party in Manhattan in November. “I’m here to make a difference.”

In New York, a large chunk of the crime conversation centers on bail reform, and whether the controversial policy that took effect in 2020 played a role in increased crime in some areas.

Hochul made tweaks to the policy during last year’s budget debate, allowing judges more discretion in setting bail when it came to a person’s criminal history or gun offenses.

But it’s likely the topic will emerge again in this year’s session, as officials like Robert Duffy, former lieutenant governor and current head of the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce, make pleading arguments to take bail reform back to the drawing board.

Additionally, Hochul’s expected to announce more details about a housing proposal with the goal of 800,000 units of new housing statewide in the next decade.

Other potential agenda items include affordable child care and finding ways to implement the state’s ambitious climate goals.

You can stream the Governor’s State of State speech on Tuesday at Governor.ny.gov.

This article originally appeared on New York State Team: NY State of State address: Here are Hochul's 2023 priorities