De Blasio & Johnson Fund the Police + Absentee Ballots Delayed

Local News:

• After City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and other members of the Council announced their intention to seek $1 billion in NYPD budget cuts in June, the budget passed last week relied on bookkeeping “gimmicks” that did not, even according to Johnson, reach that goal. The main “cut” to the NYPD was supposed to be moving 5,511 school safety officers from the police department to the Department of Education, but they will remain NYPD employees for at least a year. Protesters and activists, who had occupied City Hall prior to the Council vote on the budget, called the compromise a betrayal. 
• In addition to the fight to defund the NYPD, the Council’s budget process was historically divided. The City faces major cuts due to the coronavirus crisis, including big cuts to affordable housing plans in the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams tried to block the budget at the last minute by threatening to withhold property tax collections unless the NYPD instituted a hiring freeze, but his threat was ignored by both the Mayor and the Council.
• Today New York City enters ‘Phase 3’ of COVID-19 reopening – but without indoor dining, as originally planned. The reversal comes as cases continue to rise in other parts of the country, with reopened indoor bars and restaurants thought to be a significant risk.
• New York’s Housing Courts have gradually begun reopening, even as Governor Cuomo signed a bill allowing financial hardship due to COVID-19 to be used as a defense in eviction proceedings.
• The rollbacks to last year’s bail reforms, passed in April after lobbying from law enforcement organizations, went into effect last week.
• The Civilian Complaint Review Board, the oversight agency for NYPD misconduct, has an “untenable” backlog of cases after disputes over sharing body camera footage.
• In addition to using last month’s curfew as a pretext for mass arrests, the NYPD also worked with the FBI to monitor protesters, possibly in violation of court guidelines, according to The Intercept. 
• New York City businesses say they are being ripped off by the insurance industry, as COVID-19 related business closure claims continue to be denied. Assemblymember Robert Carroll (District 44 - Park Slope) introduced a bill to compel insurance companies to pay out in late March, but it has since stalled in committee.

Elections: 

• The Board of Elections still has not begun counting absentee ballots for last month’s primary. While counting was scheduled to begin July 1st, the unprecedented number of mail-in ballots delayed the process by at least a week.
• The New York Times highlighted the apparent leftward shift in New York politics, indicated by sweeping victories of progressive congress members and state legislators in the June primary.
• Assembly Member Michael Blake and several other candidates in the race for the 15th Congressional District have alleged voting irregularities in the Bronx, both with in-person and absentee ballots.
• Former Bloomberg HPD Commissioner and Obama HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan has hired a number of high profile political operatives to run his 2021 mayoral campaign.