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GOTHAMIST
July 25, 2024
BY STEPHEN NESSEN
"Congestion pricing proponents want to see New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in court.
A group of local advocates filed a pair of lawsuits against the governor on Thursday, claiming she lacked the legal authority to order the MTA to pause the Manhattan tolling program last month. It was originally scheduled to launch on June 30 until Hochul made an eleventh-hour declaration that it would not move forward.
One lawsuit was filed by the City Club of New York, along with two Hell’s Kitchen residents. The suit argues that Hochul’s move to stop the tolls violates the 2019 state law that first authorized congestion pricing.
'Gov. Hochul’s purported ‘pause’ of the [congestion pricing program] is, quite literally, lawless: It lacks any basis in the law as democratically enacted,' the filing states..."