Hochul finally acknowledges NYC subway crime in ‘State of the State’ speech — but proposals slammed as largely ‘symbolic’

ALBANY, NY — She finally saw the light.

Gov. Kathy Hochul was forced to significantly acknowledge subway crime and mental illness in her policy-setting “State of the State” annual address Tuesday — but critics panned her proposals as largely “symbolic.”

The politically flailing Hochul also played to the political center by pushing a middle-class tax cut and one-time cash giveaways — which many detractors said the Empire State can’t actually afford — as she tried to address economic issues that hurt Democrats in 2024’s election.

The governor’s 57-minute speech largely kept her proposals substance-free, such as a bright idea to make the city’s subways safer with a pledge to fund LED lights for all stations.

But Hochul did announce one major plan to address subway safety — a pledge to post NYPD officers inside every overnight train.

“I want to see uniformed police on the platforms, but more importantly, we will put an officer on every single train, overnight – 9 p.m. to 5 a.m – over the next six months and the state will support these efforts financially,” she said, although she didn’t provide details on cost.

“The chaos must end.”

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, in a subsequent statement, clarified that two officers will be posted in every train.

Hochul’s forceful vow to end subway chaos came amid weeks of high-profile random attacks, including a homeless woman who was burned to death.

The governor, even though she controversially deployed the National Guard into the subway system, had posted a tweet within hours of that horrific arson attack celebrating that subway crime is “going down.”

The arguably tone-deafness Hochul displayed then was seldom in evidence during her State of the State address, in which she seemed to try to rebuild her out-of-touch public image.

Only 33% of New York voters surveyed in a recent poll said they’d vote for Hochul.

The entire speech inside the Albany landmark “The Egg,” the Empire State Plaza’s Center for the Performing Arts, often seemed more like the first salvo for Hochul’s 2026 gubernatorial campaign than a typical State of the State, said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic consultant.

He said Hochul focused on bread-and-butter economic issues, which she had dubbed her “affordability agenda” as she previewed some of the policy proposals in recent weeks.

“Democrats are not doing well now even in New York,” he said. She’s trying to address the economic issues Democrats didn’t address in the presidential election.

“She’s trying to walk to the center and take Democrats in the Legislature with her. Will it work? It remains to be seen.”

The audience largely consisting of Hochul’s fellow Democrats, who have the majority in both the state Senate and Assembly, lapping up the governor’s speech, interrupting it more than 40 times with applause.

When Hochul mentioned her support for making it easier to involuntarily commit the mentally ill, Mayor Eric Adams — who has long pushed Albany for action on the issue as a way to curb random violence in the subways and streets — was the first to spring to his feet.

But Hochul’s proposal — teased nearly two weeks ago in a vaguely worded statement — lacked details beyond expanding involuntary commitment to include people who don’t have the mental capacity to care for their food, shelter, clothing or medical care.

A briefing book released by her office only provided the barest of additional details, proposing to align the New York’s mental hygiene law with other states’ standards allowing clinicians and authorized professionals to involuntary commit people, as well as giving psychiatric nurse practitioners that ability.

The plan also includes a parallel effort to strengthen Kendra’s Law so as to help people with serious mental health issues get into long-term treatment.

Hochul’s vagueness extended through the speech, which included previously teased statewide measures ranging from a middle-class tax cut and a $500 “inflation refund” for families making $300,000 or less.

She also vowed to:

• Change state “discovery” laws so as to make it harder for criminal cases to be dismissed on technicalities.
• “Protect the identities of doctors prescribing abortion drugs,” despite New York’s existing strong abortion protections and recent passage of the Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution.
• Slow-walk a “cap-and-invest” program forcing oil companies to pay for greenhouse gases, a plan critics argue will lead to a 22-cent per gallon increase in gas prices.
• Weigh whether New York should mandate that Medicaid cover the costs of prescription diabetes and weight loss medication like Ozempic after other states, like North and South Carolina, started covering obesity treatments.
• Outline a detailed proposal on a much-hyped effort to curb or ban phone usage in public schools.

The focus on “affordability” drew criticism from Republicans such as Rep. Mike Lawler, a potential 2026 gubernatorial candidate, who found it hypocritical and cynical that Hochul would cast herself as a friend to hard-working New Yorkers, despite imposing added costs such as $9 congestion pricing on their backs.

Even the progressive Working Families Party blasted Hochul’s proposed tax cuts as lip service without any specific funding, namely taxing the rich — a position that could signal an upcoming fight in the Legislature.

“Proposed tax cuts on low and middle-income households, without raising new revenue, are not sustainable and could lead to cuts in services and programs,” a statement from the WFP read. “The good news is that we know exactly how to pay for these meaningful investments — it’s past time to raise taxes on the ultra rich in order to invest in working families.”

Another lefty group, Invest In Our New York, argued that Hochul’s planned “bare-minimum state funding” for working class-focused programs depended on federal money that soon could disappear under incoming President Donald Trump.

“If any amount of the $86 billion in federal funds that we rely on is cut –– which may happen as soon as March –– New York families already struggling to find early childhood education seats could face bigger childcare deserts; low-income New Yorkers will find themselves without health insurance, and public hospitals may close; public transportation infrastructure projects could be delayed – again – and force even more fare increases on straphangers,” said Carolyn Martinez-Class, the group’s campaign manager, in a statement.

Many of Hochul’s subway safety-related proposals — notably installing “bright LED lighting” in every station, installing barriers in 100 additional stations and adding modernized gates to deter fare evaders — drew a shrug.

The barrier proposal isn’t fully funded and would unfold some time over the next five years. The system has 472 stations, meaning only a fifth of stations would be covered.

Both are part of the MTA’s proposed, 5-year $68 billion capital plan — which Hochul on Tuesday said she supported, without outlining how she would fund the outstanding $33 billion.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins have rejected the plan, with the later admitting recently new taxes “will have to be on the table” to plug the multibillion dollar hole.

State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) on Tuesday said some of Hochul’s transit proposals, such updating fare gates in just a handful of stations, seemed “symbolic.”

Gianaris also agreed that Hochul’s proposals around affordability and crime seemed to be a reaction to the last election, though he thought the governor was right to respond this way.

“That’s how democracy works,” he said. “You hear from the people through their voices at the ballot box and we take action. I don’t fault her for that. I think that’s being responsive.”

Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Oswego) said Hochul finally appeared to be listening to New Yorkers.

“I can’t be upset with the points she raised,” he said. “These are things Republicans have been talking about – affordability, crime, the ability for people to stay in the state and live in the state.

“I wonder where she’s been two or three years.”

Whether Hochul’s apparent about-face will appeal to voters is yet to be seen.

Marist College pollster Lee Miringoff noted Hochul has been governor three years and people still don’t have a sense of what she and her administration stand for, noting her ping-ponging on both sides of the congestion pricing debate.

“She doesn’t have a well-defined political identity,” he said. “She needs to work to get ahead of the curve on some of these important matters. She needs to take a forceful stand.”

Sheinkopf said Hochul shouldn’t be counted out.

“I would not call her dead, because she has more lives than anyone — just like congestion pricing,” he said. “She’s tough as nails.”