LAWMAKERS OK BUDGET
Assembly passes final bills of $153 billion package; Senate set for today
Members of the state Assembly passed the final bills of the new $153 billion budget in a marathon session Saturday, with the state Senate ready to complete the process today.
Lawmakers have been at work for almost two weeks trying to close down a budget, including the final push that saw them at the Capitol for more than 34 straight hours as the final bill was passed shortly after 5 p.m. The strain showed, with a number of lawmakers hurling invective at Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his budget plan.
“This is perhaps the biggest and the ugliest (bill) of all,” said Assembly member Fred Thiele of Long Island, referring to an everything-but-the-kitchen sink revenue omnibus bill nicknamed “The Big Ugly” by lawmakers.
The bill passed easily and the criticism rolled off Cuomo’s back. In a late night press conference Friday, Cuomo told reporters that he was considering composing his own funeral eulogy to praise his accomplishments.
“Marriage equality, minimum wage, ‘Raise the Age’ are going to be three of the really great lasting legacies,” Cuomo said.
In a move certain to encourage speculation about Cuomo and the 2020 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton took to Twitter Saturday to praise Cuomo’s plan to expand SUNY student aid that was adopted as part of the new budget.
“Let’s celebrate New York State getting something important done that we wanted to do nationally,” Clinton posted on Twitter in response to Cuomo’s touting the higher education plan. “A great step for progressives.”
The final version of the
spending plan proposed by Cuomo back in January includes both the hike in financial aid at SUNY, which he characterized as “free tuition,” and three annual $200 SUNY tuition increases. The program is aimed at middle-class students from families earning less than $125,000 and enrollees would have to meet academic goals to collect the aid. They would also be required to live and work in New York for a time after graduation, or the aid would have to be repaid.
The biggest impact is expected to be felt at SUNY community colleges, which are open admission and now have an excess capacity. Many four-year SUNY colleges and universities have become very selective in admissions because more qualified students are going to public college to avoid the huge cost of tuition at many private institutions.
Private college students would be eligible for a new $3,000 state grant, but only if that amount was matched by the college.
The plan also provides a 4 percent, $1.1 billion hike in state aid to local school districts, and ends the practice of prosecuting 16- and 17-year-old violent offenders as adults — the so-called “Raise The
Age” bill.
The plan also legalizes app-based riding hailing services Uber and Lyft, and delivers $420 million in annual tax breaks to film and TV productions done in New York. The plan also creates new tax breaks for the music and video game industries.
The New York Racing Association, the private group that runs thoroughbred racing in New York, would be privatized once again under the plan. Cuomo took over the reins of the organization a few years ago, citing concerns about the group’s finances.
Clean water projects would get an infusion of $2.5 billion for such things as improved sewer lines and replacement of septic systems that are polluting ground water.
The Legislature rejected Cuomo’s proposal for yet another hike in Department of Motor Vehicle fees, a reliable cash cow for Albany voracious appetite for new sources of revenue. And they rejected Cuomo’s bid to start collecting sales taxes for online purchases on such sites as Ebay.
Lawmakers turned aside local government objections to a new push for mergers and passed a new “shared services” mandate requiring hearings and a vote by county leaders. Cuomo described it as “political accountability on steroids.”
That drew a rebuke from Assemblymember Steve McLaughlin (R-Melrose).
“It isn’t even political accountability on the Flintstone vitamin,” McLaughlin said. “And not even like Fred and Barney -- (it’s) like Bam-Bam.”
Sleep-deprived legislators voted in many instances without understanding what they were voting for in other than general terms.
“A lot of pretty big new $$$ in final #nybudget,” the Empire Center’s E.J. McMahon posted on Twitter, referring to billions in new spending. “But as usual, Legislature (and
public) won’t see financial plan update before bills pass.”
Assembly Ways and Means Chair Denny Farrell (D-Manhattan) said the new budget totals $163 billion when all funds are counted. When federal aid for Obamacare and Hurricane Sandy relief is subtracted, the budget totals $153 billion.
Farrell also said the budget includes state government debt totaling $53.5 billion.
The Senate is due back in Albany on Sunday at 5 p.m. to provide final passage of the budget bills. The budget was due April 1, making this year the latest ever of Cuomo’s seven years as governor.