Dear Neighbor:

As your elected representative to the New York State Assembly, I am your voice in State Government. I have a responsibility to represent my constituents to the best of my ability and feel confident that I have done so for the last eighteen years. That being said, 2010 has been another tough year for our community and I am working hard to see that the most vulnerable in our neighborhoods remain insulated from the effects of our downtrodden economy. However, there is a major obstacle in getting this done and that is the lack of an agreement on the 2010-2011 Fiscal Year State Budget, which as I write this, is over two months late.

Both the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate passed budget resolutions which protect healthcare, education, housing, employment programs and State Parks. Unfortunately, we are still a ways off from an agreement on the “austerity budget” proposed by Governor Paterson. To prevent the State from being shut down due to a lack of allocated funding, the Assembly and Senate have been passing budget extenders to keep our State functioning. While these have been serving as temporary substitutes for the State budget, it is an untenable strategy which has and will continue to result in major cuts to many of the programs that our community relies upon.

I, along with my colleagues in the State Assembly, have been working hard towards an agreement on the State budget. The longer it takes to pass this budget, the harder things will become for the residents of Harlem. Already we have seen delays in payments to school districts and not-for-profit organizations. To put it simply, in any budget or budget extender that we are likely to pass, there will be cuts and the cuts will be deep and painful, but these are cuts that must be made to keep our State afloat. As I have stated in the past and continue to assert, I would rather pass a difficult budget than no budget at all.

Not all is doom and gloom in New York State, nevertheless we in Harlem need to be prepared for serious cutbacks on many of the State funded programs on which we rely. Our community not-for-profits will likely bear the brunt of the cuts and they need to take steps to rein in their already stretched budgets in anticipation of the impending cutbacks. This is not the message I want to deliver at a time when most Harlem residents are feeling the pinch of this recession, but in my role as your representative, I must convey the reality which is faced by our State and by my constituency.

As always, I look forward to your input on this and every issue important to our community. I anxiously await the day when I can deliver some genuinely good news about the State budgetary process and I am working day-in and day-out to ensure that positive outcome.

During an all-night legislative session, the New York State Assembly voted to restore funding for New York State Parks throughout the 2010-2011 Fiscal Year. The next day, the bill was passed by the State Senate and signed by the Governor thereby ensuring that Riverbank State Park will avoid any further service reductions and/or closure during the upcoming Summer and Fall seasons. Assemblyman Wright, along with Assemblyman Herman “Denny” Farrell, Jr. and Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, joined the majority of New York State Assemblymembers who voted to ensure that our Park remains a vital resource to the Harlem community and the Greater New York Metropolitan area. By a vote of 86-47 the New York State Assembly affirmed our continued commitment to Riverbank State Park and the constituencies that rely upon this bastion of peace, tranquility, open space and recreation.

When the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation created their budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, a proposal was made to close forty-one state parks and reduce services at twenty-three more. Riverbank State Park was among those slated for a reduction of hours and programmatic funding, but we took steps to mitigate this reduction. Apart from submitting budgetary requests to the leadership of the State legislature asking for the restoration of this funding to the State budget, both the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate have passed annual budget resolutions which exclude park closures and service reductions. Unfortunately, the Governor rejected our resolutions, which is why we saw the service reductions occurring at Riverbank and 54 other State Parks throughout New York.

“As we all know, the construction of Riverbank State Park was an appeasement to the Harlem community, at the cost of a sewage treatment plant in a neighborhood already beset with environmental health concerns. It has become a tremendous asset to the people of Harlem, both as a health resource and as a community destination, an asset I helped bring to the community in my freshman legislative year and one which I have continually supported with over $1 million in State funding. Riverbank remains the only State Park on the island of Manhattan and I am proud to have ensured that it remains open and fully operational throughout this fiscal crisis,” said Assemblyman Keith Wright.

After the New York State Assembly passed Assemblyman Wright’s version of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in 2009, the New York State Senate was unable to do the same as that house dealt with infighting and a damaging leadership transfer. The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights was among many valuable pieces of legislation lost in the shuffle. However, due to hard work by the Senate sponsor of the bill, Senator Diane Savino, The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights recently had its day in the sun and was passed by the State Senate on June 1st, 2010.

The initiative, which was originally drafted and sponsored by Assemblyman Wright in 2004, brings much needed protections to what may be the most vulnerable workforce in New York State. Approximately 200,000 domestic employees work in New York, taking care of children and the infirmed, working to make the later years of the elderly more pleasurable, maintaining households and serving as surrogates to many a busy family. This legislation would extend to them rights guaranteed to every other employee in New York State, save farm workers.

In the Assembly version, the bill removes exemptions from the minimum wage law, which now means that all domestic workers will be paid at least the State minimum wage, with the associated overtime. The bill also calls for a day of rest each week, something never before given to hard working domestic employees. Additionally, this bill offers basic labor protections, such as disability insurance to part-time workers, protection under the anti-discrimination law, protection under the labor law for wage and hour abuses and very importantly, allows domestic workers to collectively bargain.

The Senate version includes the same provisions, but also calls for paid vacation and sick days. “While my original bill included additional rights for domestic workers and even a provision for a ‘living wage’, I faced the difficult task of actually getting the bill passed in the State Assembly after five years of it dying in committee. As the grandson of domestic workers, I know firsthand the difficult and sometimes abusive working conditions of this employment, and I stand by this legislation to give these hard working men and women the same protections offered to the majority of other workforces across the State. I look forward to the reconciliation process with the State Senate and the ultimate signing of this legislation by the Governor,” said Assemblyman Keith Wright.

In 2009, Governor Paterson indicated that he would sign the bill if it was delivered to his desk.

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