RIP congestion pricing, we hardly new ye ... unless Hochul saves it

N.Y. will sue the Trump administration to keep the controversial toll.

Good afternoon — it’s Wednesday and Prevent Plagiarism Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• The Trump administration said it’s rescinding federal approval for congestion pricing. Hochul said she’s still fighting to keep it.

• Strikes at state prisons continued for a third day Wednesday but we learned new information about the incident that incited them in the first place.

• On The Bill: New York offers several tax incentives for businesses. But how would anyone know if they’re working or not?

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(New York Governor’s Office)

🚗 New York is suing to save congestion pricing after Trump administration rescinds approval

We all knew this day was probably coming: the Trump administration rescinded its approval Wednesday for the controversial congestion pricing toll in New York City.

That decision came in the form of a letter from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to Gov. Kathy Hochul but President Donald J. Trump announced it his own way on Truth Social.

“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD,” Trump wrote. “Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”

That prompted Hochul to put out her own statement announcing that the state had already filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in defense of the toll.

“We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king,” Hochul said. “The MTA has initiated legal proceedings in the Southern District of New York to preserve this critical program. We’ll see you in court.”

We don’t know if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that manages mass transit in and around New York City, got a heads up on that decision. But we do know that the MTA has been preparing for that litigation for quite some time.

Part of that is because they’ve hired their own legal team. The MTA is not represented by the attorney general’s office in the lawsuit. They’ve contracted attorneys from Kaplan Martin LLP, including Roberta Kaplan, and Sive, Paget & Riesel, P.C.