ICYMI: New York Daily News Urges Speaker Heastie to Bring PRRIA to a Vote

NEW YORK (06/04/2026) (readMedia)-- This morning, the New York Daily News published a powerful editorial calling on Assembly Speaker Heastie to bring the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act this year (PRRIA - S1464A Harckham/A1749A Glick) to the floor for a vote. The editorial board writes:

"The state Senate passed the legislation last year and the year before by wide margins. In those years, we urged a floor vote in the Assembly, but Heastie, who controls the agenda, wouldn't allow it. Now, for the third year in a row, he is refusing.

His excuse is flimsy as plastic wrap, saying "You need 76 yeses to pass a bill, and we don't have that." He may be a better vote counter than us, but unless some of those 78 sponsors are actual liars, passage is assured."

Read the full editorial here and below.

Heastie's no on plastics, but yes to gerrymandering

By New York Daily News Editorial Board

PUBLISHED: June 4, 2026

State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie says he supports a bill to limit how much plastic packaging is used on consumer items, but there's not enough other votes in the 150-member chamber to pass it. Give it a try, Mr. Speaker; there's nothing to lose if it fails, which we don't think it will.

The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act has 78 sponsors and Heastie says "I'm a yes on the bill." That makes for 79, a majority.

More likely is that Heastie doesn't want the bill to pass and instead he is using the final hours of this year's Albany legislative session to advance an amendment to the state Constitution to remove the strict prohibition on political gerrymandering and allow revised mapmaking before the next census, in 2030.

Ah, yes, partisan gerrymandering, where Democrats carve up the map of congressional districts to disenfranchise Republicans and violate the will of the voters. Heastie and his Democratic pals tried this in 2022 and the state courts rejected the ploy.

Rewriting the New York Constitution for political gain is a fool's errand. Unlike other states that have engaged in this race to the bottom, starting with Texas Republicans egged on by Donald Trump, New York's Constitution can't be changed quickly and the current districts, drawn fairly and squarely by an apolitical expert from Carnegie Mellon University, can't be altered for this year's midterms.

The whole objective of the redistricting mad dash is to gain an advantage for this November and New York cannot be a factor. Indiana Republicans showed backbone and refused to alter their maps, which caused Trump to target several of them in primaries (successfully).

Under New York's rules, the same amendment would have to be passed again next year, in 2027, by a new Legislature. And after that, it is then put on the statewide ballot in November 2027. Public approval is doubtful as New Yorkers ratified this structure in 2014 and rejected an attempt to change it in 2021.

As for the plastics bill, the state Senate passed the legislation last year and the year before by wide margins. In those years, we urged a floor vote in the Assembly, but Heastie, who controls the agenda, wouldn't allow it. Now, for the third year in a row, he is refusing.

His excuse is flimsy as plastic wrap, saying "You need 76 yeses to pass a bill, and we don't have that." He may be a better vote counter than us, but unless some of those 78 sponsors are actual liars, passage is assured.

Put the bill up and watch the big electronic tally board on the wall with each member's name on it. There's no shame in a bill being defeated, but there would be serious questions if any sponsor voted no. What is Heastie hiding from?

A bill that fails still lets the public know how their representatives in government voted. Maybe some New Yorkers would be more likely to support the reelection of an Assembly member who voted no and others may like a member who casts a yes vote. That information is owed to the electorate. It's their government after all, the 150 people in the big chairs in the chamber are working for 20 million New Yorkers.

That's how this republic is supposed to work. The citizens are the ones in charge, not the politicians, be they fooling with maps or ducking on legislation.