RISING FROM HIS GRAVE: Mayor Eric Adams’ State of the City address had a blaring message: I’m not just here — I’m thriving.

“Even dark moments are not burials, they’re plantings,” Adams said. “Allow your planting to happen and you'll see the fruits of your labor. Mommy did it, and that's why I'm mayor.”

The first New York City mayor in modern history to be indicted on criminal charges wants the world to know that the federal corruption indictment, the sinking poll numbers and the flurry of federal raids and mass resignations hasn’t chipped his self-belief one bit — lest there had been any doubt.

“Don't let anyone fool you,” he said. “Don't listen to the noise, don't listen to the rhetoric. New York City, the state of our city is strong.”

“The ultimate measure of a man or woman is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenges and controversy,” he also said, paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr. as he thanked the members of his staff who hadn’t resigned.

He delivered the hourlong message of defiance after a brief 54 minutes of introduction that included a Christian prayer, a Muslim prayer, a Hindu prayer, a Sikh prayer, a Buddhist prayer, a Jewish prayer, the National anthem, God Bless America, the Black national anthem, two promotional videos, a youth drum line performance and some waiting.

The address, like all State of the City speeches, highlighted accomplishments — the City of Yes housing plan, the (partial) year-over-year drop in crime, the expansion of early childhood programs and the slowing of the city’s once unrelenting migrant crisis.

He also put two priorities for the upcoming legislative session in Albany front and center.

• He wants fellow Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul to adopt his version of a bill that would allow chronically homeless individuals suffering from mental illness to be involuntarily removed from the streets. (She is set to announce her own plan on involuntary removals, but has also signaled she will work with him on it.)

• He needs the Legislature to back him in completely eliminating city income taxes for families making up to 150 percent of the federal poverty line. The “Axe the Tax” plan has the backing of Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who praised Adams in a pre-speech video. (Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie signaled Wednesday he might look to end state income taxes for lower-income New Yorkers.)

For the city, the mayor unveiled some key proposals:

• He laid out his extremely ambitious plan to build 100,000 new homes in Manhattan, though the idea so far lacks some much-needed specifics. (We wrote about it this morning in New York Playbook.) 

• He pledged $650 million to combat homelessness, including a facility to serve as a shelter and treatment center for the vulnerable population.

• He is opening schoolyards as community parks on weekends and summers for over 10,000 New Yorkers, and he’s adding more cleaning shifts to city parks.

• He’s expanding free internet for low-income homes in Upper Manhattan and all of the Bronx.

• He’s adding a financial literacy teacher in every school district by 2030.

• He’s clearing student loan debt for city employees and their families.

• He’s allowing rent payments from thousands of low-income New Yorkers to count toward building up their credit score.

And he continued to thank Hochul for their simpatico relationship — even featuring her in his promotional video.
“There were some who said, ‘Step down,’” Adams said. “I said, ‘No, I'm gonna step up. I'm gonna step up. That's what life presents you.’”

ZELLNOR-CODED: Brooklyn state senator and mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie has been tapped to lead the Senate Codes committee — a well-timed appointment.

As he prepares for the June primary and begins his seventh year in Albany, Myrie will have a key role in shaping criminal justice policy in Albany while he and his challengers attempt to prove their preparedness on the campaign trail.

An October Siena poll found likely New York City voters identified crime as their biggest concern. Adams has already signaled public safety will again be the crux of his mayoral campaign and he’s likely to call out any left-of-center opponents for prior votes he views as soft on crime.

“I'm grateful the leader has entrusted me to chair this committee, particularly at a time where public safety is on the minds of every New Yorker,” Myrie told Playbook. “As someone who is from New York City, who takes our subways and our buses, who talks to neighbors, I can say confidently this is an issue that is prominent in their minds.”

Myrie most recently helmed the Elections Committee, and his new spot leading Codes — which deals with all things criminal justice — has traditionally been viewed as the third most-powerful committee chair in the Senate. Nevertheless, Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins — who has a cool relationship with Adams — still wields near absolute power in the chamber, deciding with leadership what bills make it to the floor.

Sen. Jessica Ramos, another mayoral candidate, will remain chair of the Labor Committee. Zohran Mamdani, the other state lawmaker vying to lead City Hall, was not assigned a leadership position in the Assembly.

“We're at a time where people are going to be using public safety as a political conversation, and I think that there needs to be a seriousness and sobriety in how we talk about actual solutions to this problem,” Myrie added, saying the committee will “be squarely focused on having actual solutions to city problems.” — Jason Beeferman

COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS ARE IN: Beyond Myrie, the Senate and Assembly announced all the other new committee leadership positions today, and that came with a host of changes, our colleague Bill Mahoney reported earlier in POLITICO Pro.

The Assembly

• Gary Pretlow will replace the retired Helene Weinstein as chair of the Ways and Means Committee.
• Carrie Woerner replaces Pretlow to lead the Racing and Wagering Committee.
• Marianne Buttenschon succeeds Woerner as chair of the Small Business Committee.
• Ron Kim will succeed the retired Daniel O’Donnell as Tourism chair. 
• Rebecca Seawright will take Kim’s place as chair of the Aging Committee. 
• Angelo Santabarbara will succeed Seawright on the People With Disabilities Committee.
• Bobby Carroll will become chair of Libraries and Education Technology, replacing Santabarbara.
• Pamela Hunter is succeeding Jeff Aubry as speaker pro tempore. 
• Clyde Vanel will replace Hunter as chair of the Banks Committee.
• Jonathan Jacobson will replace Vanel on Oversight, Analysis and Investigations.
• Ed Braunstein will become chair of Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, replacing the retired Ken Zebrowski. 
• Pat Burke will take over the Cities Committee, succeeding Braunstein.
• Jo Anne Simon will become Mental Health chair, following the retirement of Aileen Gunther. 
• Karen McMahon will take Simon’s place on Ethics & Guidance.
• Billy Jones will replace the retired Fred Thiele on Local Governments. 
• Steve Stern will succeed the retired Kimberly Jean-Pierre on Veterans Affairs. 
• Alicia Hyndman will become chair of Higher Education, after previous chair Pat Fahy was elected to the Senate.

The Senate

• Jamaal Bailey will take over retired Neil Breslin’s leadership of the Insurance Committee
• Zellnor Myrie will replace Bailey on the Codes Committee 
• Kristen Gonzalez will take over for Myrie on the Elections Committee and remain chair of the Internet and Technology Committee.
• Rachel May will lead the Consumer Protection Committee, which was vacated by Kevin Thomas. 
• Freshman Christopher Ryan will succeed May as chair of Cities II, a recently added committee that deals with cities north of the Bronx.
• Freshman Pat Fahy will chair Disabilities, formerly helmed by John Mannion.
• Freshman Siela Bynoe will lead Libraries, which had been chaired by Iwen Chu.

THE WINNOWING: GOP leaders in the North Country House seat being vacated by Rep. Elise Stefanik will narrow the field of potential candidates by the end of the weekend, state party spokesperson David Laska said.

As Playbook reported this morning, Republican county chairs in the sprawling district met over Zoom with a dozen possible nominees. GOP officials expect to winnow that field of some 12 people to less than 10. Those preferred candidates will then advance to another round of vetting by Republican leaders.

Jockeying to replace Stefanik, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to serve as United Nations ambassador, has been underway for the past two months. A Republican candidate is expected to be heavily favored in a special election — likely to be scheduled for mid-April — given the party’s enrollment advantage in the largely rural seat. — Nick Reisman 

— SALT SLOWDOWN: Members of New York’s GOP delegation, once promising a full repeal of the cap on State and Local Tax Deductions, are now tempering expectations as they signal a full repeal is unlikely. (NY1)

— THE WHEELS ON THE TRAIN GO ROUND AND ROUND … EXCRUCIATINGLY: There’s a mysterious defect on the subway tracks of lettered train lines that’s causing subway wheels to be worn down more quickly than ever. (Daily News)

— TOP NY COURT BUCKS TRUMP: The Court of Appeals denied a request to delay Trump’s sentencing in the “hush money” case. (Times Union)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

With help from Shawn Ness

THEY DON’T HAVE THE VOTES: Gov. Kathy Hochul is still MIA since her last-minute decision to suspend congestion pricing Wednesday morning via video message. And a legislative leader’s transatlantic vacation threatens to ensure New Yorkers are left without a solution to the $1 billion hole for the country’s largest transit system as legislators head home for the year.

Lawmakers continue to scramble in Albany during the final hours of this year’s legislative session after the governor’s congestion pricing reversal forced them to find $1 billion worth of the revenue they have lost from the nixed toll plan.

The problem is that they have just hours — not days — to resolve this funding emergency. And an even bigger problem is that many of them don’t want to.

“The governor is pointing an unloaded gun at us and asking us to give her the ammunition to shoot us and our constituents,” state Sen. Julia Salazar said in a statement.

At least two solutions to fix the funding gap have already failed to meet the mark so far. An eleventh-hour plan to increase a tax on New York City businesses died Thursday after lawmakers immediately nixed it. Another proposal was panned this morning after it became clear there wasn’t enough support. Prominent Democrats, including Manhattan Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Queens Sen. Jessica Ramos, said they would not vote for the second idea of dipping into the state’s general fund to provide $1 billion a year as a guarantee against a bond.

Now Democratic legislative leaders are trying to devise a third solution they can gin up support for before heading home. Legislators are firm on leaving Albany by sunup tomorrow — and they’re not coming back up until January. (Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is said to have booked a ticket on a jet plane to Europe tomorrow.)

When asked repeatedly about his trip abroad — which makes it all but certain that the lower chamber won’t have any time tomorrow to fix the issue — Heastie didn’t deny his trip to reporters. He then turned to your Playbook reporter and snapped, “Where are you going tomorrow?”

And in the midst of it all, the governor has sequestered herself behind closed doors — declining to answer questions or face the public after making one of the most consequential policy decisions of her tenure.

But she can’t hide forever. She’s scheduled to make a fundraising appearance at a brunch sponsored by the Saratoga County Democrats on Saturday ahead of the Belmont Stakes.

“She’s wrong to not take questions,” Ramos said. “It'd be really disappointing if she's avoiding the public unless people are donating.”

Another lawmaker offered a similar take: “If [Hochul] actually believed her congestion pricing betrayal was popular, you’d think she’d be out there bragging about it. Instead she’s hiding,” Assemblymember Emily Gallagher posted on X.

Hochul’s political and government communications teams did not respond to Playbook’s requests for comment.  — Jason Beeferman

A PURRFECT END TO SESSION? Both houses of the Legislature are advancing a bill to ban the surgical devocalization of cats and dogs.

“It is a horrific practice to literally rip the vocal cords out of an animal because you don’t like the sound they make,” Senate sponsor Mike Gianaris said. “Anyone who’s willing to do that to their pets doesn’t deserve to have a pet.”

The bill passed the Senate this afternoon. A version in the Assembly sponsored by Ken Zebrowski has been moving through committee in recent days; Zebrowski says he “hopes to get it done” before the chamber wraps up in the coming hours.

“Devocalization is a convenience surgery that can cause long-term harm to the animals affected by it, and it doesn’t address the root cause of the barking,” said the Humane Society of the United States’ Brian Shapiro. “It’s an animal in distress, and this type of convenience surgery is not in the best interest of the animal.” — Bill Mahoney

— FOLLOW THE UNEXPECTED LEADER: State legislators want to import drugs from Canada in bulk, a move that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis implemented in his home state earlier this year. The state is looking to import drugs to treat diseases like HIV and AIDS, various mental illnesses and prostate cancer. (POLITICO Pro)

— NY HEAT ON ICE?: Lawmakers in the Assembly are still looking to pass the NY HEAT Act, which could wind up in a “Big Ugly” omnibus bill. Many lawmakers are cautiously optimistic that the bill will pass but have come to terms that it will be nowhere close to what it looked like when originally proposed. (State of Politics)

— TRACKING AMMO: Keeping up with Hochul’s emphasis on public safety, lawmakers are looking to advance a bill that would allow credit card companies to track gun and ammunition purchases. But it is still unclear if Hochul will sign the bill if it passes the Assembly today. (Times Union)

With help from Shawn Ness

MTA SURPRISE: The MTA board will likely have to vote on whether to implement congestion pricing. But those tasked with formalizing Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to indefinitely pause the tolling plan got no advance notice.

“I was not consulted, and other board members were caught off guard,” Midori Valdivia, a member of the MTA board appointed by the mayor, told Playbook.

Another board member, who agreed to speak on background due to the sensitivity of the situation, put it more bluntly.

“We have no idea what the fuck’s going on,” the person said. “We haven’t since this all started.”

The problem for Hochul is that the Legislature has signaled it will not implement a last minute payroll tax on the last day of the legislative session, leaving the state in a $1 billion hole if it moves through with Hochul’s call to suspend congestion pricing.

"I believe the governor did misjudge this," State Senate Finance Chair Liz Krueger said. Regarding the willingness of Senate Democrats to support a tax, she added, "I do not believe we have an appetite for that."

There is still speculation about how and if the governor can unilaterally implement her last-minute decision to shut down the congestion pricing program. Rachael Fauss, a senior policy advisor with Reinvent Albany, said that if the Legislature doesn’t act, the move will go to the MTA board, putting intense scrutiny on the 23-person board.

“She hires and fires the MTA board,” Fauss said of the governor. “But there's a whole section of state law that requires MTA board members to fill out an oath and to essentially say that they are going to be fiduciarily responsible for the MTA. That is in complete conflict with the governor's plan because they would have to vote to defend themselves. I think that that opens the MTA to lawsuits.”

The board is made up of 14 votes, but one vacancy on the board (a Cuomo appointee) leaves it at 13 votes. Five gubernatorial appointees, four mayoral picks and one each from Suffolk, Nassau and Westchester counties comprise the body.

Representatives from Rockland, Dutchess, Orange and Putnam counties each get one-fourth of a vote, totaling up to one vote from the upstate counties. MTA Chair Janno Lieber, a champion of congestion pricing, can break a tie.

This all means that pro-congestion pricing advocates would need to convince seven members of the board to kill the governor’s new anti-congestion pricing plan to have a majority should a vote come before the body.

“If this doesn’t come to a board vote, then I am confused as to our role as a board,” Valdivia said. She also pointed out the board had already voted on the issue twice.

Since the governor’s announcement, two top city officials and mayoral appointees to the board, Meera Joshi and Daniel Garodnick, have come out against the governor’s move. Fellow board members David Jones, Valdivia and Samuel Chu also support congestion pricing.

That’s five board members who want the tolling plan, meaning they would only need two more to undo Hochul’s reversal.

In a March MTA board meeting, almost all board members spoke in strong support of congestion pricing.

Mayor Eric Adams gently endorsed the governor’s anti-congestion pricing move.

"I think that if she's looking at analyzing what other ways we can do it and how we do it correctly, I'm all for it,” Adams said. “We have to get it right. This is a major shift in our city and it must be done correctly.”

Fauss anticipated this “will not be an easy fight for the governor at the board level if the Legislature washes their hands of this and says it's your problem, governor.”

As the Legislature scrambles to consider other options to make up the $1 billion, and MTA board members continue to piece together what happened, the governor who started this all remains behind closed doors.

She hasn’t spoken once with reporters since making the consequential decision, and nothing’s on her public schedule today either. — Jason Beeferman

CLOSING REMARKS: Hospital lobbyists made an unsuccessful, last-ditch effort Thursday to stop the Assembly from passing legislation to reform the state’s regulatory process for hospital closures.

Hours after the Healthcare Association of New York State circulated a four-page opposition memorandum criticizing the bill as imposing “proscriptive and duplicative” requirements on hospitals, the Assembly passed the bill by a vote of 106-38.

The bill, which was sponsored by Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon and state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, would institute new public engagement and regulatory requirements for hospitals that seek the state’s approval to either close entirely or significantly reduce services. Currently hospitals must obtain the Department of Health’s signoff on a closure plan, but local health advocates have criticized the process as opaque.

The longtime legislative proposal was inspired by the 2014 closure of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn but gained momentum this session amid debate over the potential closure of SUNY Downstate Medical Center, also in Brooklyn.

“This week’s action in the state Legislature to give final passage to the LICH bill is a major step forward in ensuring that affected communities get a say when their hospitals are proposing to close entirely or eliminate such vital services as maternity, emergency and mental health care," Lois Uttley, co-founder of Community Voices for Health System Accountability, a statewide health advocacy network, said in a statement.

More than 40 hospitals across the state have closed in the last decade. — Maya Kaufman

‘LASALLE LAW’ MOVING AGAIN: Lawmakers are taking another crack at a bill that arose from the fallout over last year’s blocked nomination of Hector LaSalle to the Court of Appeals. Following a pro-LaSalle effort from unidentified donors, legislators passed a bill that would subject lobbying efforts for or against gubernatorial nominations to the same disclosure rules as regular lobbying.

Hochul vetoed that bill, pointing to concerns that the retroactive rules would subject groups to requirements they weren’t prepared for. It has since been rewritten to make it only proactive in an attempt to avoid another veto. The Senate passed a version by Deputy Leader Mike Gianaris a few months ago, and a version from Assemblymember John McDonald has been moving through committee this week.

“The bottom line is when anybody’s being considered for nomination before the Senate, whether it’s for an agency head or the Court of Appeals, those individuals should be under the same rules for transparency,” McDonald said. — Bill Mahoney

CITY WORKER CHARGED BY FEDS: Tommy Lin, a longtime aide to Mayor Bill de Blasio and donor to Eric Adams, was arrested today on federal charges, and accused of scheming to defraud banks out of at least $10 million by filing false claim reports.

Lin is accused of providing names and birthdays of potential targets to two other defendants and running background checks on them to make sure they weren’t under investigation. Lin is also accused of arranging a $20,000 bribe with an federal immigration officer to arrest somebody who has been scheming with them, but became disgruntled.

Lin was a constituent services director in de Blasio’s Community Affairs Unit, and was a senior advisor to the NYPD’s Asian Advisory Council. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams accused him of “leveraging his connection in law enforcement” to further the scheme in 2019 and 2020.

Lin gave a max-out $2,000 donation to Adams after he won the mayoral primary in 2021. Lin now works in the Adams administration as a community relations specialist in the Department of Environment Preservation. The Adams administration didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Those in municipal offices are expected to conduct themselves with rectitude and obedience to the law, not engage in the purposeful manipulation of our economic infrastructure,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith said in a press release. — Jeff Coltin

— NEW YORK TO CONFORM: New York and Nevada are the only two states in the country that do not follow the CDC’s guidelines on HIV screenings. Lawmakers want that to change. The new bill would require notification that an HIV test will be performed and provide information on pre and post-exposure medications. (State of Politics)

— RACEHORSES DYING AT ALARMING RATES: A Newsday investigation found that Belmonte racehorses are dying at rates higher than at other racetracks, despite Belmont and the state’s efforts to reduce horse racing deaths. (Newsday)

— IT’S A POST-DOBBS WORLD: A bill that would protect New Yorkers’ health data that is not usually included under the purview of federal health privacy protections is all set to pass the state Legislature, despite tech companies attempts to stall it for the last year. (POLITICO Pro)