Proposal to link rent regulation to 421a is nixed: report

A proposal by state legislators to keep the new 421a tied to rent regulation has been removed from the realm of legislative possibility, sources told Politico Thursday. The linkage was supported by a number of Assembly Democrats.

Tying the two laws together would have have meant that when rent regulations expired, such as rent stabilization and other laws, the 421a developer tax exemption would have to expire with it, unless there was a deal to renew both.

“It was just not something that could be worked out between the parties,” the Assembly’s Housing Committee chair Steven Cymbrowitz, a Brooklyn Democrat, said.

The Assembly was reported to be in private conference on Thursday afternoon. Senators left Albany on Wednesday, but could be summoned back to vote on the new 421a, dubbed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as “Affordable New York.”

Last night, Cuomo held a conference on the budget, in which he said the concept of a new 421a that could expire in 2019 when rent regulations are already set to expire just didn’t make sense. “You can’t have a program exist for only two years,” he said.

The state Legislature passed an emergency extension of the prior year’s budget on Monday and has since proceeded to pass several other revenue bills. Outstanding issues apart from 421a include the “Raise the Age” proposal and charter school funding. [Politico] — Will Parker