Assembly Completes Passage Of Fair, Balanced, On-Time Budget

Bipartisan Plan Restores Governor's Harmful Health Care Cuts,
Protects Property Taxpayers And Invests In Our Children's Future

Speaker Sheldon Silver today announced that the New York State Assembly has completed passage of a fair, balanced and on-time budget and commended the work of rank-and-file members of the Legislature whose open and public deliberations produced the $105 billion spending plan.

The budget agreement negotiated by the Assembly and Senate ensures quality health care, eases the burden on local taxpayers and enhances the state's investment in education. According to Silver, the agreement increases state aid to local schools by more than $848 million over last year and provides approximately $354 million more than proposed by Governor George Pataki in his original budget.

"The agreement reached by the Legislature has been achieved in a spirit of bipartisan cooperation that is in the best interest of the people of New York State. Not only have members of the Senate and Assembly crafted a fair and responsible budget that restores the governor's cuts to health care, increases funding for schools and caps Medicaid costs to local governments, we have done so in an open manner and brought in a complete and balanced budget on time," said Silver

"Our work is a testament to the rank-and-file members, from both houses, who came together to reject Governor George Pataki's damaging cuts in order to restore much-needed funding for critical areas and programs, including health care, education and property tax relief," Silver added.

"I am extraordinarily proud to have been part of this historic team effort that has produced a fiscally sound state budget that truly responds to the needs of New Yorkers," said Ways and Means Committee Chair, Herman D. Farrell, Jr. "In coming together, we have successfully fought back the governor's budget cuts that would have resulted in tremendous hardships on working families throughout the state."

"This package balances the need to provide the quality health care New Yorkers depend on with the need to improve and modernize the delivery of these services. With this new plan we are making our health care system better and more efficient," said Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried.

"The limitations on the Legislature's ability to respond to the governor's inadequate funding of education in this state made reaching this compromise agreement a real challenge," said Education Committee Chair Steve Sanders. "What we have produced allows us to respond to the needs of school districts throughout the state, not only in terms of operating aid, but also with significant increases in capital funds."

Caring for Sick and Elderly New Yorkers, While Protecting Property Taxpayers

According to Silver, the Legislative budget agreement will help ensure New Yorkers' access to quality, affordable health care while easing the burden on local taxpayers.

"While I certainly would have preferred the Assembly's proposed hard cap on Medicaid growth, which would have provided more savings for local taxpayers, this compromise is an important step toward easing the burden Medicaid places on property taxpayers," said Silver.

Other steps included in the budget aimed at providing quality health care while protecting taxpayers include:

• Rejecting the governor's "sick tax" on nursing homes and cutting his tax on hospitals in half;
• Increasing efforts to collect $20 million in rebates owed the state by pharmaceutical companies; and
• Creating a preferred drug list that protects consumers by giving physicians the final say in prescribing medicine.

The agreement also rejects dramatically higher co-payments that the governor sought to impose on Family Health Plus, as well as his attempts to cut basic benefits such as vision, dental and hospice care. The governor's attempt to make it more difficult to enroll in the program was also rejected by the Legislature.

In addition, the Legislature has reached an agreement in principal to create a commission to determine the best way to protect services by eliminating costly excess capacity in the state's health-care facilities.

The Legislative budget compromise, which will save counties approximately $803 million in health-care related costs in the 2006 county fiscal year, and $3.4 billion in 2008, includes a soft cap on the growth of local Medicaid costs and will accelerate the state takeover of the Family Health Plus program costs.

Providing a Quality Education for New York's Children
(Click here to view School Aid Runs)

Under the budget agreement, New York City will receive $327 million more than last year in state education aid. The plan also adds hundreds of millions of dollars to the city's education budget and addresses inequities in the state's building aid formula that have shortchanged the city, leaving its schools with far less building aid than they are entitled to for ensuring students have an opportunity to learn in a modern, safe learning environment. Specifically, certain expenses that drive school construction costs in New York City higher than the rest of the state, including land acquisition, environmental remediation and demolition, will now qualify for state reimbursement.

It also increases building aid reimbursement ratios by five percent for high-needs school districts throughout the state. Included in this increase will be Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester and Schenectady, which will now qualify for state reimbursement rates of more than 95 percent.

The bipartisan budget agreement also restores the governor's cuts to various statewide expense-based aids, funds that local schools already have spent and are entitled to state reimbursement, including programs such as educating students with disabilities.

The Legislative budget also includes $4.5 million in additional aid to local libraries vetoed by Governor Pataki last year.