Legal
Last updated: July 2026
Section 1
Disclaimer
No Official Affiliation
ReviewHochul.com is an independent civic accountability project published by The Civic Pulse. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Governor Kathy Hochul, the New York State Executive Chamber, the New York State Legislature, any political party, or any candidate or campaign committee. The site is nonpartisan — equal scrutiny applies regardless of political alignment.
ReviewHochul.com is also unaffiliated with any challenger or opposition campaign. Content regarding elections is provided solely for civic-information purposes and does not constitute an endorsement of any candidate.
Accuracy & Completeness
We strive for factual accuracy and cite primary sources — government records, official transcripts, published journalism from named outlets — for every substantive claim. All promise statuses, budget figures, executive order summaries, and fact-check verdicts are based on publicly available evidence as of the cited date.
No warranty is made regarding completeness or timeliness. Data should be independently verified before citation in formal, legal, or academic contexts. Corrections are welcomed at reviewhochul.com/contact.
No Legal or Political Advice
Nothing on this site constitutes legal, financial, or political advice. Budget figures and policy analyses are provided for informational purposes only. Users rely on this site at their own discretion.
AI-Assisted Reporting
Some content is generated or summarized with the assistance of AI tools (Anthropic Claude). All AI-generated content is reviewed editorially before publication and is sourced to primary documents. AI is a production tool, not a publisher — The Civic Pulse editorial team bears responsibility for all content on this site.
Last updated: July 2026
Section 2
Privacy Policy
ReviewHochul.com is designed to be privacy-respecting. We do not sell data, run third-party advertising trackers, or use cookies for cross-site tracking. The usage tools we do run are configured to show us patterns, not people — each is described plainly below.
Analytics — Plausible (cookieless)
Aggregate traffic analysis is provided by Plausible Analytics under a site-specific ID for reviewhochul.com. Plausible is cookieless: it does not set any browser cookie, does not collect personal data, does not track individuals across sessions or websites, and is fully GDPR/CCPA compliant. No IP address or user fingerprint is stored.
Heatmaps — Microsoft Clarity
To understand how the site is actually used — which sections get read, how far readers scroll, what gets clicked and what gets missed — we use Microsoft Clarity. Clarity shows us anonymized interaction patterns: aggregate heatmaps and page-interaction recordings. It gives us no information about who you are — we see no name, no email address, and no identity of any kind, and sensitive form input is masked before it is recorded. We use this data for exactly one purpose: improving the site’s layout, readability, and navigation. Clarity sets cookies on this domain (_clck, _clsk) to distinguish one browsing session from another on this site only; the underlying data is processed by Microsoft under the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
Product Analytics — PostHog
We use PostHog to measure page views and navigation paths. Requests are proxied through this domain, and PostHog is configured with “identified-only” profiles: anonymous visitors stay anonymous, and no individual profile is created for browsing the site. The single exception is supporters — if you donate, the first name you provide at checkout is associated with a random visitor ID so the site can recognize returning supporters (the Civic Guardian badge). No email address, payment detail, or postal address ever reaches PostHog. PostHog stores a small cookie / local-storage entry (prefixed ph_) to keep your session consistent on this site; see the PostHog privacy policy.
First-Party Cookies
Beyond the analytics cookies described above, ReviewHochul.com sets a small number of functional, first-party cookies directly in your browser. These cookies are strictly functional — they are never shared with third parties, never used for advertising, and contain no personally identifiable information.
| Cookie name | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| rh_splash_seen | Records that you have seen the full-screen entry splash, so it shows only on your first visit and is suppressed on all return visits. Contains no personal data — value is the string “1”. Read server-side to prevent a flash on repeat visits. | 1 year |
| rh_visitor | Non-PII visitor segmentation. Distinguishes a new visitor from a returning one and stores an integer visit count. Used to tailor on-site messaging. No name, email address, or device fingerprint is collected or stored. | 1 year |
| rh_donor | Set after a successful donation to The Civic Pulse. Displays a Civic Guardian badge in the header and permanently suppresses all donation-related popups for the life of the cookie. Contains no financial or payment data — value is the string “1”. | 1 year |
| rh_popup_* | One or more cookies prefixed rh_popup_ track how many times you have seen a given popup (newsletter invitation, support prompt). Used purely to frequency-cap popups so they do not re-appear after the configured impression limit. No content of your interaction beyond the impression count is stored. | 30 days |
You may clear all of these cookies at any time through your browser’s cookie management settings. Doing so will reset the splash, visitor, donor, and popup states described above. It will not affect your ability to access any content on this site.
Contact Form & Feedback
If you submit a message via the contact form, your name (optional), email address, and message are transmitted via Resend (transactional email delivery) and stored in our database solely to enable a response. We do not sell, share, or use this data for any other purpose. Deletion requests are honored within 72 hours — email privacy@thecivicpulse.com.
Newsletter — The Civic Pulse (Beehiiv)
The Civic Pulse newsletter is operated on the Beehiiv platform. If you subscribe, your email address is processed by Beehiiv under their privacy policy. We share no other data with Beehiiv. Unsubscribe at any time via the link in any newsletter email.
Donations — Stripe
Donation payment processing is handled by Stripe. ReviewHochul.com does not store card numbers or bank details. Stripe’s privacy policy governs their handling of payment data. Your name and email may be stored in our own database to associate the rh_donor cookie and send a receipt. We do not sell donor information.
Infrastructure Services
The site runs on the following infrastructure providers, each with their own privacy policy:
- Vercel — hosting and edge network
- Supabase — PostgreSQL database (dedicated ReviewHochul project, no data shared with other sites)
- Anthropic Claude — AI-assisted content pipeline (editorial review required before publication)
Your Rights
You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of any personal data you have submitted. Contact us at privacy@thecivicpulse.com or via the contact form. We will respond within 72 hours. You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully.
Last updated: July 2026
Section 3
Terms of Use
Use of Content
Content on ReviewHochul.com — including articles, promise assessments, fact-check verdicts, budget analyses, and executive order summaries — may be freely shared for noncommercial civic, educational, or journalistic purposes with attribution to ReviewHochul.com / The Civic Pulse. A hyperlink to the original page is required when republishing digitally.
Commercial use, bulk data extraction, or redistribution of structured datasets requires written permission. Contact hello@thecivicpulse.com.
Prohibited Use
You may not use this site or its content to:
- Harass, threaten, or target any individual
- Create or spread disinformation
- Impersonate official government communications or any candidate
- Engage in automated scraping that impairs site performance
- Use AI-generated summaries from this site as training data without written permission
No Warranty
ReviewHochul.com is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, express or implied. The Civic Pulse makes no representation that the site will be error-free, uninterrupted, or free from security vulnerabilities. We are not liable for any loss or damage arising from your use of the site.
External Links
This site links to external sources — government documents, news articles, court records, and official filings — for evidence and context. We are not responsible for the content, accuracy, or privacy practices of external sites. Links do not constitute endorsement.
Changes to These Terms
These terms may be updated at any time. Continued use of the site after an update constitutes acceptance. Material changes will be noted by updating the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. For questions, contact hello@thecivicpulse.com.
Governing Law
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York. Any dispute arising under these terms shall be resolved in a court of competent jurisdiction in New York County, New York.
Last updated: July 2026
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