Fact Sheet

2023-2024 New York State Legislative Platform

January 6, 2023

The disruption to the social fabric caused by COVID-19, exacerbated by a failed government response that left over 1 million people dead and a social service safety net in even worse shape than before, has only intensified the intersecting crises faced by VOCAL-NY members. This social dislocation has also impacted the political environment, turning back the clock so narratives of criminalization, punishment and stigma that contradict our demands for compassion and care.

While we welcomed Governor Cuomo’s fall from power, his successor Kathy Hochul has taken up many of Cuomo’s policies of criminalization, incarceration and austerity. Governor Hochul has also done little to stem the tide of the historic numbers of New Yorkers dying from preventable overdoses and record-high rates of homelessness. We are calling on our elected officials to take the only moral and practical approach: double down on a politics of compassion and care, which will both meet the material needs of their most vulnerable constituents, and support the growth of the progressive political power necessary for a better future for all New Yorkers.

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