BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — There were some of the major bills Hochul made into law and some that were left out.
Here is a closer look Governor Kathy Hochul's last-minute blitz to sign legislation before the end of last year.
According to LegiScan, Gov. Hochul vetoed dozens of bills between December 22 and the end of the year.
Among them are a bill to set up a temporary in REM foreclosure moratorium, a bill to change certain campaign financing provisions and perhaps the biggest a bill that would change how wrongful death damages are awarded.
7 News' Pheben Kassahun circled back with the grandmother of 2-year-old Raelynn Huber.
She spoke with her last January about her rallying for her granddaughter and hoping this bill would honor her wrongful death.
Smith said she furious with Governor Hochul's delayed signing of the bill.
"She should be here right now. She was just a happy-go-lucky, whimsical, sweet little girl who had her entire life in front of her and it was completely taken away," Raelynn's grandmother Bernadette Smith said.
It is the sound of joy Bernadette Smith and her family were craving this holiday season, and sadly will never get to hear in real time again.
Two-year-old Raelynn Huber, who was killed in a reckless driving accident in May 2022, would have been 4 years old on December 26.
"We participated this year in a toy drive for children's hospital. We did not organize this one in December. Someone else did, but we helped participate in that in her honor," Smith said. "We've tried to take each one of them momentous days and turn them around and take control of them, instead of letting them control us."
While another year without her precious granddaughter has passed, Bernadette shared that the family received another kick to the stomach, saying New York State does not care for families without financial status who have lost loved ones in a wrongful death.
"I am furious. I can't understand how the governor or any other sensible individual could look at the merits of the bill, especially the revised bill," Smith shared.
This is the second year in a row Hochul has vetoed Senate Bill S74A, also known as "Grieving Families Act", a bill that would have changed the state's nearly 200-year-old wrongful death statute.
In the memo, Hochul said she supports the bill in principle but that it had the "potential for significant unintended consequences".
The state's existing law calculates how much families are paid based on the potential earning power of the person who died from a wrongful death.
One of her concerns was the increased insurance premiums for consumers and a risk to the financial well-being of public hospitals.
New York is one of just a few states that account only for economic loss in wrongful death lawsuits.
The other states include Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah.
The state's existing law calculates how much families are paid based on the potential earning power of the person who died from a wrongful death.
"I wish there was a way she could take her pen back. I am also imploring my local representatives, Norris and Ortt to start the override process. I believe there is enough support within both of the houses to override her veto and I think that this is a time that they should do that," she added.
7 News reached out to Representative Mike Norris and New York State Senator Rob Ortt for comment and have yet to hear back.
In the meantime, Smith said she will continue to do everything she can to implore the governor to sign this bill into law.
