Uncertainty fills end of session

After weeks of heated debate over rent regulations, the state legislature failed to meet a Monday deadline to vote on extending or modifying the rules. A number of articles noted that left landlords free to impose unchecked rent hikes, but with Albany poised to pass some form of rent regulations over the coming days, that seemed unlikely.

The legislature, which was scheduled to go into summer recess on Wednesday, also postponed a number of other hot button items, like extending mayoral control of schools, to the last minute. Mayor Bill de Blasio publicly fumed over inaction on issues like the 421-a program linking tax benefits to affordable housing development; Senate Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins chided Republicans for ignoring measures like campaign finance reform; and an overall tense atmosphere appeared to permeate the state capitol. But northwest Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz seemed to take the situation in stride.

“Like so many areas in life, whether it’s labor management negotiations, whether it’s Congress or whether it’s people getting their term papers done, all too often, things don’t happen until they absolutely must happen,” he said in a Monday night phone interview. He predicted the legislature will work past Wednesday to get as much as possible done.

In the event, both the Senate and the Assembly passed bills on Monday to extend rent regulations, which determine how much landlords can raise rates in New York City, by several days. But the lawmakers could not agree to one version of the legislation.

Mr. Dinowitz pointed to one package of bills as a victory. He said the Assembly passed legislation to extend a tax abatement for co-ops — previously demanded by the Association of Riverdale Co-ops and Condominiums — among other measures. It was not immediately clear how the law would fare in the Senate. Bronx state Sen. Jeff Klein, widely seen as helping set the Senate’s agenda, declined to comment for this article.