Public campaign financing supporters are planning events around the state next week to keep the pressure on lawmakers in the last few weeks of the legislative session. The issue has been debated for years, but it gained new momentum after Governor Cuomo mentioned in his state of the state address this year. And advocates were quick to recommend campaign finance reform as a solution to the ethics scandals that have popped up over the past couple months. Citizen Action executive director Karen Scharff and across Mike Kink, the executive director of Strong Economy for All, explain what the next step is.

Scharff and Kink Interview>> (TWC ID required)

The Tax-Free zones Governor Cuomo introduced this week are already getting praise from some in the business community, which has long complained about high operating costs in New York. Business Council president Heather Briccetti discusses how this proposal could help the upstate economy.

Heather Briccetti Interview>> (TWC ID required)

The push for publicly finance campaigns is bringing together advocates for several other causes. Wednesday, anti-fracking groups and affordable housing activists held a joint press conference to call for getting money out of politics, arguing that the current system gives corporations and wealthy individuals too much power. Jaron Benjamin of Real Rent Reform talks about the real estate industry’s influence, and what’s known as the “LLC Loophole.”

Jaron Benjamin Interview>> (TWC ID required)

County clerks officers have been flooded with requests from pistol permit holders asking their information be made private. The SAFE Act made permit information accessible under the Freedom of Information Act. But permit holders can opt out, and thousands are choosing to do just that. Now Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola says his office can handle all the requests- so they will keep all records private. Merola explains the problem.

Frank Merola Interview>> (TWC ID required)

Pro-life groups are taking a new approach with their latest ad opposing the governor’s women’s equality agenda, the details of which we still have not seen. But it is expected to include an abortion rights measure. And the new ad argues that should not even be on the table right now while the economy continues to struggle. Kirsten Smith of New Yorkers for Life and New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms’ Jason McGuire explain.

McGuire and Smith Interview>> (TWC ID required)