'Do I Intend To Harass You?': Reporter Wearing Mask Presses Gov. Kathy Hochul On Proposed Mask Ban

4 days ago

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) is asked about a proposed mask ban by a reporter wearing a mask.

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Transcript

00:00Over the next week, I'm curious, Governor, as you're negotiating with the legislative

00:04leaders, what do you see as the top one or two things that you think are going to be

00:07most difficult to negotiate, where you might be farthest apart, or just most difficult?

00:12And are you comfortable going past April 1st, as we have in the past couple of years?

00:16I've never done that before.

00:25I was joking, okay?

00:27You guys, so cynical.

00:31Anybody see Shucks?

00:32The play?

00:33All right.

00:34You need to get down to Schenectady.

00:35Go for a laugh once in a while, lighten up.

00:39It's good therapy.

00:42I'm not aiming for a late budget.

00:45We always strive for on-time budget.

00:46I've been trying to drive the conversations countless hours over the last week, the weekend,

00:53today, tonight.

00:54So we are in overdrive in terms of trying to push this forward.

01:01The challenge is that the leaders take everything we've talked about, they now have to go back

01:06to their conferences.

01:07That's just the natural state of play.

01:09And then they'll bring back what the conferences say about what we thought we were getting

01:13close on, and then they'll end up in this direction.

01:16And then we're going to get back together, and we're going to go back in this direction

01:19again.

01:20So that's just the rhythm of it.

01:21It doesn't mean things aren't going to happen.

01:23Watch the history of a lot of my initiatives in the past that were declared dead on arrival

01:28by people here, people in the press, and look at the ones that got through.

01:33So I don't stop negotiating at any point.

01:37We'll get it done.

01:38And the priorities I think you've seen outlined were my top priorities legislatively, which

01:43cell phones, no-brainer, everybody, should not be complicated.

01:50Our discovery changes, which you heard here, are so important.

01:54Something that about 80% of the public wants, which is a change in our mental health laws

01:58that allow us to take care of people who are sick instead of leaving them on the streets,

02:03which is cruel.

02:06And we're going to look at a plan to try to get through a mass intimidation offense, where

02:13people that are using masks to intimidate others is not allowed.

02:16So those are areas that I've identified in the budget as priorities, but I'd say those

02:21are tier one.

02:22We've got about 150 in tier two.

02:25But a lot of these also can break loose and be dealt with in the legislative session.

02:29Not my top four, but the other ones.

02:31All right.

02:32We've got the last one.

02:33Which one of you raised your hand first?

02:34I did.

02:35All right.

02:36We'll take two.

02:37We'll take two.

02:38Jimmy, you can start.

02:39That's easy for you to say.

02:40Sorry.

02:41I thought I was getting out of here with just one of these characters.

02:42OK.

02:43Governor, I'm just wondering.

02:44Right now, do I intend to harass you?

02:49We also have exceptions for medical reasons.

02:51I'm not asking for medical reasons.

02:52Do I intend to harass you?

02:55Yes.

02:56OK.

02:57How would you know that?

02:58And how would a law enforcement officer know that?

03:02There's a way to define this that'll be worked on in the legislation if this goes forward

03:06for this language.

03:07But medical and religious reasons.

03:10Are you telling me you're not wearing it for medical reason?

03:12Why are you wearing it, Jimmy?

03:13I'd rather not say.

03:14You don't?

03:15You're not wearing it for a medical reason.

03:16I'd rather not say why.

03:17OK.

03:18I don't know the answer whether you're using it for a medical reason or not based on what

03:21you're saying.

03:22Well, you're providing a proposal that would make it an arrestable offense if my intent

03:25was to harass.

03:26So I'm wondering, how would you discern my intent?

03:29Or how would one discern my intent?

03:30We'll have criteria.

03:32All legislation has criteria that clearly spells out what must be factored in determining

03:37whether an offense.

03:38It's not going to be broad-based.

03:39It's not just going to be one sentence.

03:41It'll clearly be defined in the legislation.

03:44That's how legislation happens.

03:46You have to give clear criteria so anyone knows what the expectations are.

03:50Backing up on the masks.

03:54Why haven't you been out pushing for this publicly, like cell phones, like the discovery

03:59changes and the other parts of the budget that you want?

04:03I have talked about it since last June, which is earlier than I started talking about some

04:07of these other initiatives.

04:08So I have.

04:10Whether or not the press covers it is up to the press.

04:12But it wasn't in your executive budget.

04:14No, this is one I decided to wait.

04:17I have different strategies.

04:19You can look at past years on other issues that have come up later and have been successful.

04:24Any relation to your conversation with the president?

04:26Oh no, that didn't come up.

04:28I didn't talk about masks with him.

04:31Unless they're telling you I did, but if they're telling you that, that's not true.

'Do I Intend To Harass You?': Reporter Wearing Mask Presses Gov. Kathy Hochul On Proposed Mask Ban

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