AN OP-ED: The governor on the DREAM Act and ed tax credit.

The state budget in the modern era has come to serve two main purposes. First, it addresses expenses and revenues, and their relation to state policy initiatives. But it also has become a general statement by the governor of his priorities for that legislative session.

This week, we announced that two of the priorities I included in the budget, the DREAM Act and the Education Investment Tax Credit, will likely not be passed with this year’s budget. I proposed the initiatives linked together, believing that was the best chance to get both through a divided Legislature. But I support the Legislature passing them either together or separately.

The DREAM Act allows undocumented immigrants to apply for college tuition assistance from the state, opening the doors to higher education.

The EITC would expand options for families seeking additional choices in the grades before college by allowing up to $100 million in tax credits for contributions to public and private schools. Half of that money would be used to fund scholarships for low- and middleincome children to attend public schools outside their district or private and parochial schools.

I am disappointed, but not surprised, that we cannot arrive at an agreement on either of these crucial pieces of legislation at this point in the session. As important as they are, they are very controversial issues in both houses for their own reasons.

Despite the legislature’s unwillingness to pass them in this year’s budget, I fervently support both the DREAM Act and the EITC on their own merits because they will open up educational opportunities for New Yorkers who need them the most.

I also strongly believe that both houses have an obligation to take votes on these issues so the public will know where their elected senators and assemblymen stand.

On the DREAM Act, which the Senate Republicans don’t favor, I believe the Democratic Senate Conference and the Independent Democratic Conference should introduce a bill, have every member sign it, and ask that Sen. Dean Skelos put it up for a vote. That’s democracy. Likewise in the Assembly, on the EITC we should have clarity on where members stand. Absent a vote, it’s too easy for legislators to tell their constituents what they want to hear.

Many Assembly members have proclaimed their support for the EITC. In fact, if those who claim to support it actually do support it, the EITC would pass overwhelmingly.

This year, we have a new speaker in the Assembly, who is laudably calling for a new era of openness and inclusion in the way the Assembly works. One way for him to usher in a new era of openness would be by putting the Education Investment Tax Credit on the floor for a vote. We must move past the days when members of the Assembly could say they support a bill which never comes to the floor for a vote. It’s time to demand that legislators take a stand, one way or another.

Let me be clear when I say that even though the DREAM Act and EITC are not part of the budget, we have not given up on either initiative.

I urge Timothy Cardinal Dolan and other religious leaders in New York to personally advocate for passage of the EITC and the DREAM Act, both of which provide educational opportunities. They should insist that elected officials publicly proclaim their positions and call for legislative leaders to put the bills on the floor.

I understand there are legitimate differences of opinion on these difficult issues. I don’t understand or accept efforts to undermine them by keeping legislation from a public vote.

I will do my part to get both of these measures enacted. After the budget, there will be three months of legislative session. That is plenty of time to pass the DREAM Act and the EITC, as well as other legislation worthy of our support.

The Senate and Assembly can no longer dodge the DREAM Act or education tax credit