At least one staffer for Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith, Derrick Davis, attended the hearing – but Smith isn't offering his imprimatur. "I don't know if he has a particular position yet," spokesman Austin Shafran said this week. "The Senate hasn't convened its housing committee as of yet so we will wait until that time to comment further."
And the new housing committee chairman, Bronx Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., says the legislation is not a high priority; he and Lopez met Monday but did not discuss the package. Instead, Espada's top priority is to counteract what he says is more than $200 million in housing funding cuts sought by the governor. "My first obligation is to try to restore that and add to it," he said. Also high on his list are increasing the affordable housing stock and offering housing counseling.
The Assembly will pass the package of bills, estimated Lopez in an interview; Speaker Sheldon Silver is behind it. In fact, Silver is sponsoring one of the less controversial bills, a measure to increase penalties for tenant harassment used to vacate apartments.
The real estate lobby may not be a factor in the Assembly vote. Asked if the bills can pass the Assembly without the support of powerful lobbies RSA or the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), Lopez replied “yes.” But the Senate, with its slim 32-30 majority of Democrats, is a different matter.
“The groups that have their base in New York City really need to convince their representatives” in the senate, Lopez advised. Smith will have a voting battle ahead, he said: “Malcolm has a challenge – he needs every person to be there” on the Democratic side for a vote.
Organizer McKee is assured, however – chalking up any uncertainty to the calendar. "The senate is still getting organized. The committees aren't functional," he said Monday. Unlike in past years, "If you look at the senate Democratic conference, it is overwhelmingly on our side."
Eliminating high-rent vacancy decontrol is the most important item, McKee said. On that bill, at the very least, "I am confident we can get this through the senate."
