Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, discusses proposed Health Department regulations during a floor debate earlier this week.

State residents will still be able to petition state agencies for a public hearing under legislation passed Monday — it’s just going to take more work.

Last year, the state Legislature passed legislation stating citizens could request a public hearing from agencies, such as the state Education Department and the state Health Department, if they presented a petition with 125 signatures and be submitted by the 30th day after after comments on a policy had stopped being accepted.

The legislation was sent back to the legislature by Gov. Kathy Hochul for amendments that were approved Monday. Among the amendments is increasing the number of signatures on the petition from 125 to 450 in most circumstances, and from 125 to 750 for the Education and Health departments.

Agencies will now be allowed to create the petition signature form. The amended proposal also amends the circumstances when an agency is not required to hold a public hearing to include when a rule is adopted on an emergency basis until a formal Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is issued.

GOODELL’S ARGUMENT

Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, and several other Republicans spoke against the proposed amendments because of the increased signature requirements. Goodell noted unanimous approval for the original bill in the Assembly. The amended bill still passed, but by a 96-48 margin in a largely party line vote. Goodell noted it will take more people to sign a petition to force a public hearing than it takes to have one’s name put on the ballot to run for the state Assembly. The chapter amendment passed 61-1 in the state Senate with only Sen. Pam Helming, R-Canandaigua, voting against.

“So today we’re being asked to approve an amendment to that bill that is pushed by the governor, insisted on by the governor, that would increase the hearing threshold by four times for most agencies, more than four times more people and six times more people if the regulation involved the Health Department or the Education Department. So we’re going backward with this amendment in a big, big way,” Goodell said.

The same day the floor debate was held, new state Health Department regulations were approved through an administrative rulemaking that spell out new isolation and quarantine procedures. Isolation and quarantine orders would include home isolation or other residential or temporary housing location that the public health authority issuing the order deems appropriate, including a hospital if necessary but including apartments, hotels or motels. Specifically, an isolation or quarantine order would be required to specify the basis for the order, the location the person is to isolate or quarantine unless travel is authorized — such as for medical care; the length of the order; and instructions to prevent transmission to people living or working at the isolation or quarantine location. The new guidance includes the right to request the public health authority issuing the order inform a reasonable number of people of the order, a statement the person has the right to seek judicial review of the order and a statement that the person has the right to legal counsel, including public defense.

Goodell referenced those regulations while arguing that a Republican proposal to that prohibits state agencies from requiring children to wear a mask if children are not exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms should be attached to the signature requirement legislation. The bill also prohibits requiring masks during sports or recreational activities. The amendment proposal failed in both the Assembly and Senate.

“It’s particularly relevant that this chapter amendment is coming up today along with this proposed amendment,” Goodell said. “Because the Health Department as we meet here today is considering permanent amendments that deal with masking requirements, isolation and a raft of other changes. The bill in chief provides that you can have a public hearing upon the request of 125 individuals and the chapter amendment changes that from 125 to 500. It increases the threshold for the petition process by 400% just before these regulations dealing with COVID and masking and quarantines are to be considered and approved on a permanent basis. There’s no doubt that this legislation, this chapter amendment, it is designed specifically, to make it four times harder for the public to demand a hearing.”

‘HOLD AGENCIES ACCOUNTABLE’

Assemblyman Zohran Kwame Mamdani, D-Astoria, sponsored the chapter amendment legislation. He didn’t believe increasing the signature requirements was enough reason to reject the legislation while also chastising Republicans — though not Goodell — who said during their comments that the legislation amounts to tyranny.

“The raising of a threshold by 375 signatures is not what should be understood as tyranny,” Mamdani said. “I believe words should still have meaning and I don’t think that is in keeping with what these changes really are. I am very proud of the opportunity, I hope, to pass this bill and I believe that even with these changes, even though they are different from the initially proposed version, residents of my neighborhood in Astoria, Queens, as well as New Yorkers across this entire beautiful state will have an opportunity they did not have before to hold agencies accountable and to get direct access to agency representatives they have thus far been denied.”

Mamdani said Republicans raised an interesting issue when they argued state government has been too closed to the public and said he understands why some state residents feel their voice is not being heard. Mamdani said the increased signature requirement isn’t so burdensome that it makes the legislation too difficult for the public to use.

“I am sympathetic to a lot of the concerns that have been raised from the other side today as to the amount of anguish many New Yorkers are feeling in their inability to get direct answers from government to feel that their voice is being heard,” he said. “And while I think that is true of this moment right now in the pandemic I think it has also been true many times before. My hope for this bill when it is enacted and in the pilot program, that it be successful and that it lead to New Yorkers feeling they have a place in this government, that their voices are heard.”

Goodell, on the other hand, argued that increasing the signature requirements to force a public hearing is just the latest step the state has taken in recent months to shut the public out of state government. The Jamestown Republican has been critical of many of the changes as they have been made, including limits on the length of time and number of Assembly members who can speak on each piece of legislation considered in the chamber. He was also critical of committee meetings that aren’t held with video, which makes it difficult for the public to know is speaking by listening only to audio recordings, and legislation passed earlier this year that gives local governments the ability to hold meetings entirely remotely with no requirement that the public be allowed to attend.

“I’m frustrated with the fact that this legislative body this year keeps passing one bill after another to reduce or restrict or prohibit public input and involvement,” Goodell said. “Unlike the rest of the state of New York we don’t allow the public in the chamber. The public can’t come here. They can go anywhere else they want in the state of New York but they can’t come here to the Assembly chamber and watch us in session. They can’t come here to our legislative office building. We have armed State Troopers to make sure the public can’t come into our legislative office buildings and meet with us. … Now we’re increasing the petition requirement dramatically. It’s a step in the wrong direction.”