{"id":26436,"date":"2017-04-10T04:56:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-10T04:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=26436"},"modified":"2017-04-10T04:56:25","modified_gmt":"2017-04-10T04:56:25","slug":"new-york-state-senate-passes-153-1b-budget-nine-days-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/new-york-state-senate-passes-153-1b-budget-nine-days-deadline.html","title":{"rendered":"New York State Senate passes $153.1B budget nine days after deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNew York State Senate passes $153.1B budget nine days after deadline<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span>
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\n\tNew York State Senate passes $153.1B budget nine days after deadline:- The Senate gave final passage Sunday night to a $153.1 billion budget that was nine days late.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the budget adopted, legislators, who could not get paid until a new spending plan was in place, will now get their paychecks.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter a long-sought after deal was struck between Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature on Friday night, the Assembly finished passing the budget bills on Saturday.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Senate returned for a rare Palm Sunday session and finished its work at around 10:30 p.m.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe state since the April 1 start of the fiscal year had been operating a two-month extension of last year’s budget that was passed April 3.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDemocrats and Republicans during the budget debate Sunday had criticisms of the final product.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSenate Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco (R—Syracuse) complained that Gov. Cuomo–like other governors before him–stuffed the new spending plan with controversial policy issues that held up completion of the negotiations.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDeFrancisco suggested that the Legislature move a constitutional amendment that would go before voters that would outlaw anything other than spending from being put into the budget.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“Then we can truly say we’re working on budget, not on the policy of the state of New York,” DeFrancisco said.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe biggest policy difference had to do with a push to raise the age from 16 to 18 so juveniles won’t be charged as adults.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe mainline Senate Democrats complained the final deal doesn’t go far enough.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Senate Democrats are fractured with eight breakaway Dems who are in a leadership coalition with the Republicans and other, Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), who actually caucuses with the GOP.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWith Cuomo touting the new budget as progressive, Senate Democratic Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins disagreed.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tShe said the deals on raise the age, school funding, and other issues “may show some progress, but let’s be clear, it is not progressive.”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSenate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-Suffolk County) said “I want to be progressive by creating jobs, by creating an economic development structure.”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“Progressive means creating jobs that generate revenue so when people want to fund programs, they have the opportunity to do so,” Flanagan said.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite the contentiousness in the chamber on both sides of the aisle, Flanagan noted that the budget bills passed overwhelmingly.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“That must mean we’re doing something right,” he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSenate Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeffrey Klein (D-Bronx) called the $153.1 billion package “budget we can be proud of.”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“I think the coalition with the IDC and the Republicans proved once again we can come together, we can negotiate, we can compromise, and come up with a budget that is first rate,” Klein said.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the seventh straight year, state taxpayer-supported spending will be capped at 2% even while statewide education spending will grow by 4.4%, or $1.1 billion — including $386 million for New York City.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe budget includes the release of $2.5 billion for affordable and supportive housing, including $700 million for repairs at the New York City Housing Authority.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition, the budget revives for five years an expired tax credit for developers who create affordable housing. Multiple Assembly Democrats decried the tax credit as a lucrative giveaway to well-heeled developers while supporters say it will lead to the much needed construction of affordable housing in the city.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tCuomo won his push for a free tuition for public college students from households with incomes of up to $125,000 — even as CUNY and SUNY were granted permission to raise their tuitions by $200. The budget also increases state tuition assistance funding for public and private college students, though not those who are the children of undocumented immigrants.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tCharter schools will also see more money though a cap limiting how many of the institutions there can be was left in place despite a push by Senate Republicans to lift it.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe budget deal extends a tax on millionaires and funds the first-year of a middle class tax cut approved last year. It provides $200 million to fight the heroin and opioid epidemic.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThere’s also money for access projects to Kennedy Airport and the Bruckner Sheridan Interchange reconstruction and $1.4 billion for Cuomo’s “Vital Brooklyn” initiative that will fund wellness and economic development in one of the city’s poorest areas.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, bracing for potential federal cuts, the new deal specifies that if Congress cuts funding to New York by at least $850 million, the governor’s budget director will develop a plan to make spending cuts that will automatically go into effect unless the Legislature imposes its own reductions within 90 days.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe budget also has its share of pork-barrel spending, included another $385 million for the controversial State and Municipal Facilities Program used by Cuomo and lawmakers to fund pet projects throughout New York.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSource:- http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/news\/politics\/new-york-state-senate-passes-153-1b-budget-days-late-article-1.3038116<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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