The last few weeks of budget negotiations were tumultuous but ultimately highly productive and I am pleased – and relieved – to note a final budget deal was reached this past weekend. The Assembly passed the final budget bills on Saturday and the Senate followed on Sunday.

The Capital District is directly impacted by the budget agreement, including the $12.5 million to close Albany’s budget deficit. The comedian Larry David once said: “A good compromise is when both parties are dissatisfied,” and while there is nothing funny about a late budget, this one included many trade-offs. Despite the lack of success on some budget requests, there were a host of serious accomplishments, and am proud to be part of a high functioning state legislature, which stayed the course to get the budget completed! Below are some highlights:

Criminal Justice

• Raise the Age: The age of criminal responsibility will be changed from 16 to 18 for certain non-violent young offenders.
• Justice Equality Act/ Indigent Legal Services: The state will fully implement the Hurrell-Harring agreement, at the cost of $250 million phased in over 5 years. Modeled after a bill I sponsored last year, this will improve the quality of legal representation for poor people, reduce caseloads, and reimburse counties for providing these services

Infrastructure & Transportation

• Ride-hailing services: Uber and Lyft are coming to upstate! The services should be available starting this July and will be regulated by the DMV.
• Water Infrastructure: $2.5 billion for water infrastructure improvements, including $150 million for shared inter-municipal water/sewer improvement projects and $50 million for new green infrastructure projects.
• Empire State Trail: $200 million to fund a multi-use trail including the Erie Canal, to stretch across the state. It will be the longest, largest of its kind in the nation.
• Road Infrastructure: Local highway funding, known as CHIPS, will be increased by $65 million for a total of $503 million

K-12 and Higher Education

• K-12 Foundation Aid: An increase of over $1 billion for K-12 education aid, for a total of $25.7 billion, which is a 4.1% increase from last year’s budget, as well as a $700 million increase for foundation aid, for a total of $17.2 billion.
• Excelsior Scholarship: The state budget provides funding to establish the Excelsior Scholarship, a groundbreaking initiative that will be phased-in to make SUNY/CUNY schools tuition free for New York families who earn less than $125,000 annually (phased in from $100,000). Students who attend a private colleges and whose families earn less than $125,000 annually would be eligible for an Enhanced Tuition Scholarship award of up to $6,000.
• Libraries: Public libraries will see their aid restored by $4 million, for a total of $95.6 million. The budget provides an increase of $5 million in capital funding for a total of $24 million.

Health and Human Services

• Direct Care: Direct care workers and direct support staff working in mental health and development disabilities fields will receive a 3.25% raise starting in January 2018. Those same staffers, in addition to clinical staff, will receive another 3.25% raise in April 2018.
• Housing: $2.5 billion to combat homelessness across the state and fund programs for the creation and preservation of affordable housing, including $1 billion to construct more than 6,000 supportive housing units.
• Drug Addiction: The budget includes a $43 million increase to combat the growing heroin and opioid addiction crisis in New York, for a total of $213 million to support a variety of treatment and prevention programs.

Other Important Items

• Workers’ Comp: New worker’s compensation rules will make the system fairer to individuals and businesses and requires swift hearings for injured workers.
• Arts & Culture: $10 million will be allocated for new capital grants to non-profit arts and cultural organizations in order to improve facilities for the arts.
• Environment: $300 million will be invested in the Environmental Protection Fund, including $13 million to combat invasive species, and $36.3 million for land acquisition.
• Refugee Assistance: $2 million will be provided for refugee resettlement services, including job search and legal services.

Trade Offs – More Work Ahead

While the bulk of the budget serves as a serious marker of progress for New York, there were some disappointments as well:

• Nuclear Bailout: The multi-billion bailout of three Upstate nuclear plants over the next 12 years will be going forward, however there will be an additional legislative oversight hearing on the issue later this month.
• Local Government Consolidation: The governor’s plan for consolidation of municipal services was included in the final budget, and will not include a provision for a referendum on a final shared services agreement. It will, however, include a matching incentive.
• Foster Care: There will be a reduction in the state match in foster care, costing Upstate counties $19.3 million.
• Childcare and Upstate Pre-K: Funding allocations were woefully inadequate.
• Ethics: No reform was included.
• Oversight: No additional oversight was provided to the Comptroller of Fuller Road Management & Fort Schuyler Management.

Update on “Megadeals.” The New York Daily News published an article last month examining the disparities in Upstate and Downstate job growth under Governor Cuomo- and the effects of public spending on megadeals, which are state-funded projects where subsidies of over $50 million are given to one company.

“No state has earmarked more for so-called "megadeals" than New York, according to a database maintained by Good Jobs First of projects that received at least $50 million in public subsidies since 2000. The Empire State committed $11.8 billion for 24 megadeals, followed by Michigan ($9.9 billion) and Louisiana ($9.6 billion).”

I will be following up on a number of these issues and recommended hearings or a forum for continued discussions.

Equal Pay Day. This past week, the Assembly passed legislation to help ensure women earn equal pay for equal work. The package of bills coincides with Equal Pay Day – April 4 – which represents just how far into the year women must work to earn the same amount their male counterparts made during the previous year.

Community Updates

Historic Guilderland Cobblestone Schoolhouse to Receive Repairs. The Times Union ran an opinion piece this week on a Civil War era schoolhouse in Guilderland in need of repairs. I’m pleased to share that the school board reversed its decision to fund the repair of the schoolhouse, and I look forward to working with the board to preserve this historic gem.

Nominations Are Now Open for WERC’s 2017 Annual Awards. The Capital District Women’s & Employment Resource Center (WERC) is seeking nominees for The Harriet Rifkin Leadership Award and The WERCing Woman Achievement Award. WERC will honor community leaders who have made important contributions to the personal and professional growth of women at WERC’s 13th Annual Awards Luncheon Celebration.

Food For Thought Movie Screening at The Linda. On April 20th at 7:00 PM, the Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio, will be hosting a screening of She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry. The film follows the stories of the women who founded the modern women’s movement from 1966 to 1971.

Sincerely,

Pat