Erik Bottcher: Policy Positions
Mental Health and Behavioral Health Services
Mental health has been a defining policy priority for Bottcher throughout his career, rooted in his personal experience with adolescent depression and hospitalization . He has authored and passed legislation requiring family homeless shelters in New York City to provide on-site mental health services and requiring the Department of Education to distribute suicide prevention resources to students . He has advocated for increasing inpatient psychiatric treatment capacity and expanding public behavioral health services . As a state senator, Bottcher has identified mental health reform as one of his top legislative priorities, emphasizing the need to reverse what he characterizes as decades of underinvestment in the mental healthcare system . He has also spoken publicly against the federal rollback of Option 3 within the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the LGBTQ-specific pathway, characterizing the elimination as an abandonment of queer youth .
Housing Affordability
Bottcher has positioned housing affordability as a central concern at both the city and state levels . During his City Council tenure, he worked to advance a pipeline of thousands of new housing units in District 3, including permanently affordable units . He backed targeted tax relief tied to affordable housing preservation, including sponsoring local action to implement a reduced shelter-rent tax for Penn South, a Mitchell-Lama cooperative in Chelsea . He supported the Midtown South Mixed-Use rezoning alongside Council Member Keith Powers, which opened parts of Midtown to residential development . At the state level, he has framed housing as one of the critical issues driving his decision to seek the Senate seat over a congressional seat .
Gun Safety
Bottcher introduced legislation at the City Council level in September 2024 requiring the 14 licensed gun stores in New York City to display graphic imagery and written warnings conveying the health dangers of firearm ownership, modeled on public health warnings used on cigarette packaging in other countries . The bill, Intro. 1016, attracted at least 31 co-sponsors on the Council . After taking office in the state Senate, Bottcher and Assembly Member Keith Powers introduced a companion bill at the state level in March 2026 that would extend the graphic warning requirement statewide . He has framed the effort as a public health measure rather than a restriction on gun ownership, emphasizing that firearms kept in the home are statistically more likely to cause harm to household members than to be used in self-defense .
LGBTQ Rights
As co-chair of the City Council's LGBTQIA+ Caucus, Bottcher championed inclusive policies supporting transgender people, nonbinary individuals, and the broader LGBTQ community . He attended and publicly defended Drag Queen Story Hour events at New York Public Library branches, maintaining that the programs promote inclusivity and freedom of expression for children and families . He has supported legislation strengthening protections for LGBTQ New Yorkers in housing, employment, and public accommodations throughout his career, beginning with his work as the Council's LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS Community Liaison in 2009 . His state Senate priorities include defending LGBTQ rights against what he has described as attacks from the Trump administration at the federal level .
Sanitation and Urban Cleanliness
Bottcher has made sanitation reform a prominent part of his legislative identity. He launched the Poop Fairy public awareness campaign in 2022 in partnership with the Department of Sanitation, deploying digital signage on LinkNYC kiosks and coordinating ticketing blitzes to enforce the city's pooper-scooper law in Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen, and Greenwich Village . He has supported the containerization of garbage, reduced usage of single-use plastics, increased corner basket service, and universal curbside composting . With Council Member Keith Powers, he passed a package of sidewalk scaffolding reform legislation in 2025 that imposed time limits on property owners to complete construction work under sidewalk sheds and established financial penalties for noncompliance .
Environmental Sustainability
Environmental policy has been a significant focus of Bottcher's legislative work. He authored and passed legislation establishing New York City's Urban Forest Master Plan, which set a goal of increasing the city's tree canopy coverage to 30 percent . He secured funding to plant hundreds of new street trees in his district, announcing in mid-2023 that over 400 new trees had been planted that year in Council District 3 . He has supported the expansion of protected bike lanes, improvements to parks and playgrounds, and is a member of the Center for Climate Integrity's Leaders Network .
Immigration
As a state senator, Bottcher has advocated for extending New York City's protections against cooperation with ICE in civil immigration matters to the state level . He has characterized these policies as a humane framework that allows undocumented residents to feel safe reporting crimes, seeking medical attention, and sending children to school, and has argued that this approach has not compromised public safety in New York City .