Fourteen labor unions on Friday joined a push by clergy leaders and some Democratic lawmakers to press the Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul to support the Unemployment Bridge Program that would allow nontraditional workers like freelancers and undocumented New Yorkers to get unemployment if they lose their jobs.

The issue will likely be one of the key sticking points as the sides begin to deliberate the budget in earnest in the coming weeks ahead of the March 31 deadline to have an on-time deal.

“The program would be life-changing for more than 750,000 New Yorkers who are shut out from traditional unemployment support, including freelance workers, self-employed workers, and those who are not eligible for UI because of their immigration status or for serving time,” the unions, including AFSCME District Council 37; the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union and the Construction & General Building Laborers’ Local 79 wrote in a letter obtained by POLITICO.

The Unemployment Bridge Program would be a $500 million fund to cover unemployment for nontraditional workers, but efforts to include a similar program in recent budgets have failed.

The state under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo included a $2 billion Excluded Worker Fund in the early years of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the money was spent — and Hochul and lawmakers have not replenished it.

Whether they will change course this year is uncertain. Hochul didn’t include money for it in her budget plan last month.

Supporters of the bill (A.4821/ S.3192) sponsored by Sen. Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Karines Reyes said the program is particularly necessary to address racial inequities in the state’s unemployment system and deal with the changing landscape of the workforce.

The proposal would provide $1,200 in monthly aid to the workers, who the Immigration Research Initiative estimated in a report are left behind by the current unemployment insurance system. The group estimated that 73 percent of the workers eligible for the Unemployment Bridge Program would be workers of color.

“It’s time to update our safety net for the 21st century. We are calling on you to support the Unemployment Bridge Program and to make sure that all workers in New York can access essential labor protections on the job, no matter where they’re from or what kind of work they do,” the letter from the unions reads.

IT’S FRIDAY: Stay with us each afternoon as we keep you updated on the latest New York news in Albany, City Hall and beyond. Have a great weekend!

HOCHUL VOWS ABORTION PROTECTIONS: After joining Attorney General Tish James o n Thursday to urge pharmacy chains to continue to offer the abortion drug mifepristone in New York, Hochul vowed Friday on CNN that the state won’t sit idly by as companies and other states look to strip abortion rights.

“We want to make sure we send a preemptive message that despite the threats that you are receiving from Republican attorneys general, in New York these rights are protected,” she told host Don Lemon. “We will protect them every inch of the way. If they try to suspend the distribution of this morning drug to women in the state of New York, there will be consequences.”

In their letter, Hochul and James asked the CEOs of Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS to confirm in writing that the chains will offer the abortion drug in their stores and in the mail to patients who have a doctor’s prescription.

While California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that the state would not renew a $54 million contract with Walgreens, New York doesn’t seem to have any similar contracts, records show. — Joseph Spector

MTA AUDIT SOUGHT: As state budget negotiations center in part on who should pay to help bail out the Metropolitan Transportation Authority once again, Senate Republicans sent a letter to Comptroller Tom DiNapoli to do a new audit of the nation’s largest transit system.

The MTA has a $600 million annual budget shortfall, and one of Hochul’s proposals is to have New York City chip in $500 million to help with ongoing operations – which has drawn the ire of Mayor Eric Adams.

Senate Republicans said it would be important to first figure out where the MTA is spending its money before hitting up taxpayers with more bills, such as addressing toll evasion.

“It is vitally important to ensure that there is complete transparency and openness pertaining to this issue,” the GOP senators wrote. — Joseph Spector

SHELLING OUT FOR SHELTERS: The city has been picking up an increasing share of homeless shelter costs in recent years as the state and federal governments have quietly shrunk their commitments, a new analysis by the Independent Budget Office showed. The retrenchment comes as the cost of providing lodging for asylum seekers has driven overall costs skyward. In 2018, for example, the city paid for 42 percent of family shelter costs compared to 76 percent in 2022. For individual shelters, the state has kept its contribution flat at $69 million since 2012 despite ever rising costs for the city. — Joe Anuta

JOBS MILESTONE: The city has regained 99 percent of the jobs lost during the pandemic, the mayor said Friday, citing state Department of Labor statistics. “That’s prosperity in the city that we’re talking about,” he told reporters at an unrelated press briefing.

JAIL STABBINGS DOWN: Department of Correction commissioner Louis Molina said during a weekly briefing with Deputy Mayor Phil Banks that stabbings and slashings in the city’s jails are down 13 percent fiscal year-to-date. He also said the numbers for February were down a third from February last year. While he didn’t give specific figures, he attributed the decline to infrastructure improvements, including new doors with better locks and putting coverings over plexiglass windows.

“As you know, at the beginning of January 2022 we walked into a situation where violence was skyrocketing in the department for a number of issues that were neglected,” he said.

According to Molina, February saw the lowest number of slashings and stabbings in the city’s jails going back to January 2021. Data obtained by THE CITY in January showed a major increase in such crimes over the last several years — 477 in 2022 and 420 in 2021 — with just 121 in 2020. — Zachary Schermele

RAISING TAXES: Hochul has vowed to not raise income taxes on the wealthy, but that hasn’t stopped left-leaning groups and progressive lawmakers from still wanting to.

The union-backed Fiscal Policy Institute in a report Friday that New York could raise $2.2 billion a year with a 1 percent income tax increase on those earning more than $1 million a year. “New York is known as a high tax state, but most high earners pay average state income taxes,” Nathan Gusdorf, the group’s executive director, said in a statement.

New York last added new income tax brackets for high earners in 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, raising its top level to 10.9 percent for those earning more than $25 million a year. Some Democratic lawmakers have a bill to add new brackets for those earning above $450,000 a year.

The flipside: Just 200 taxpayers in New York pay nearly 10 percent of all the state’s income tax, according to state records. So any move by just a few of the richest residents could significantly impact the state’s finances.

As Hochul put it during her budget address Feb. 1: “We will not be raising income taxes after we just expedited middle class tax cuts a year ago. Because it’s not a news flash that New Yorkers already believe they pay too much.” — Joseph Spector

JACOBS ON JACOBS: State Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs continued Friday to rebut calls for his ouster after a lackluster election performance that was highlighted by Republicans sweeping four House seats on Long Island, his home turf.

Jacobs said his detractors, mainly the left wing of the party, aren’t giving him credit for the party’s successes: It won all statewide seats again, a streak that stretches to 2002, and won supermajorities in the state Senate and Assembly.

“I don’t have anything to do with any of the wins, I’m only fully responsible for the four losses. So, c’mon,” he deadpanned to Brian Lehrer on WNYC radio, adding the state party spent $6 million to help candidates last November. — Joseph Spector

EDUCATION: The Department of Education has extended the deadline for families to apply to 3K to Monday. Nathaniel Styer, the DOE’s press secretary, said they received feedback from parents that they needed some more time and that applications are up compared to last year, and that application numbers will be available once applications close.

“We’re getting also feedback from parents that the site is not parent-friendly and some of these people are tech savvy and they’re like, ‘Council member, we still have a hard time navigating this,’” City Council education chair Rita Joseph said, referring to the site to the enrollment site for 3K. “So for them to expand it for more people to apply, that’s a good sign, that’s an excellent sign.”

She added that if the need is there and they have the numbers, they will “have to redirect funds to the program.” Styer said they do have the funds for the seats. In November, the Adams administration said the city would reallocate $568 million in federal stimulus funding earmarked for 3K expansion. At the time, a DOE official said current 3K funding levels would stay constant. — Madina Touré

RENT BOARD: Adams has appointed Nestor Davidson, a housing and land use professor at Fordham Law School, to be the new chair of the city’s Rent Guidelines Board. The board determines annually whether and by how much to raise rents on the city’s nearly 1 million rent-regulated apartments.

Adams, in a statement, said Davidson “brings the experience and expertise New Yorkers deserve in a leader at the Rent Guidelines Board. I am confident he will be a faithful steward of our city’s rent stabilized housing stock while rooting his decisions in facts and data.” Last year, in the first board vote under Adams, the body approved the highest increase in nearly a decade. — Janaki Chadha

— From raccoons eating lasagna to stories about aliens and ghosts, read some of New York City’s wildest 311 calls. (THE CITY)

— The superintendent of a Delaware County school resigned after harassment complaints received by the school board and the education department. (Times Union)

— Pay attention, New Yorker. A recent study found that NYC rats tested positive to Covid-19 and its variants. (USNews)

— A retired NYPD officer has been convicted of felony and misdemeanor charges involving her role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. (New York Daily News)