Good afternoon Chair Krueger, Chair Weinstein, and members of the Legislature. I’m honored to be here and thankful for the opportunity to discuss the State’s Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2024, and in particular its implications for New York City.

In many ways, the city is buzzing back to life as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Jobs are back to 98% of pre-pandemic levels. Tourism is on the upswing. Yet, the shift to remote and hybrid work is affecting offices, transit, and City revenues. The housing crisis has reached epidemic levels, and while inflation has eased measurably from its peak, costs for child care, food, and energy are straining working families. Meanwhile, the outlook for the national economy remains highly uncertain.

We are lucky to be in far better shape than we were at the peak of the pandemic, when we worried whether anyone would want to live, work, visit, or ride the subway in our city. Now, we face a new set of questions: How do we nurture a thriving and better-shared economy? What can we do to address the skyrocketing costs facing working families? How do we prepare for future crises and challenges? And, for today, how is the state Executive Budget tackling these issues?

The Governor’s proposed budget contains many positive measures, but also falls short in critical areas, where we urge the legislature to push for change. We urgently need to build more housing at all income levels, but scaling up production alone won’t protect tenants in the...

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