New York may soon go up in smoke.
Gov. Cuomo on Monday said it’s time to legalize marijuana “once and for all” during a speech previewing his major policy initiatives for 2019.
“Let’s legalize the adult use of recreational marijuana once and for all,” Cuomo said at the New York City Bar Association in Midtown.
He also urged support for other policies that are part of the progressive agenda, from a ban on corporate campaign contributions to making Election Day a state holiday to continuing the state’s “millionaires’ tax” on the wealthy.
One insider said Cuomo was trying to get ahead of the political curve — a state Legislature which for the first time in nearly a decade will be entirely controlled by Democrats.
“Cuomo is entering a third term. He’s terrified of being ignored. He gave a speech to address the Legislature without any legislators there,” the insider said.
No legislators were spotted in the audience of hundreds that listened to Cuomo for 50 minutes.
Marijuana legalization represented a major shift for the governor, who claimed as recently as February 2017 that pot is a “gateway drug.”
But three months after Cynthia Nixon, Cuomo’s Democratic primary challenger, urged its legalization the state Health Department issued a report saying the upsides of outweighed the downsides.
In his speech, Cuomo also laid out his 20-point “justice” agenda that repeatedly invoked the 44th governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
It’s the 90th anniversary of Roosevelt’s inauguration as governor and Cuomo said he wanted to follow FDR’s progressive example.
“What would FDR do today? He was a champion for the common man and woman. When they were hurting he demanded the government re-respond… and he wanted it done today,” Cuomo said.
“He believed that big problems required big solutions. His ability was to make those changes happen, to make the government work . . . We are dreamers. we are also doers.”
The carefully-staged event was not without some drama.
Protesters opposed to the $2.8 billion incentive package to lure Amazon briefly heckled the governor, with chants of “Hey, hey, ho, ho. Amazon has got to.”
They were quickly removed.
The governor also:
- Vowed to eliminate vacancy decontrol for rent-stabilized apartments, which allows landlords to increase rents when they become vacant. At a certain point, they can move to market rates.
- Called for a ban on corporate donations — after taking in millions from companies for his re-election.
- Recommended designating Election Day an official holiday.
- Says he will extend the millionaires’ tax on the wealthy, worth $4.5 billion a year, as well as the 2 percent cap on property taxes.
- Vowed to prod the Legislature to pass congestion pricing.
- Called for extending the waiting period for background checks to buy a weapon from 3 to 10 days, while banning bump stocks and enacting a “Red Flag” safety bill that would allow the courts to seize firearms from dangerous individuals.
- Recommended eliminating cash bail for criminal defendants
- After years of stalemate, suggested passing a bill to allow adult survivors of childhood sex abuse to sue for negligence.
- Promoted the Dream Act to provide tuition assistance to illegal residents.
- With ObamaCare teetering, proposed a state law to preserve the health exchange while barring insurers from deny coverage to consumers with pre-existing conditions.
- Proposed a “Green Deal” to eliminate carbon emissions by 2040.