Dear Neighbor,

Yesterday, the State Senate passed our One-House Budget Resolution, our legislative response to the Governor's Executive Budget Proposal. The Assembly also passed their resolution, and now the process of three-way negotiations between the two legislative houses and the Governor's office will begin in earnest. These negotiations will culminate in the final budget, which will be voted on around April 1st.

Below is a brief outline of some of the highlights in the Senate one-house. You can read the resolution yourself by clicking here.

I am proud that once again the Senate Majority Conference has worked collaboratively to propose a one-house budget that delivers desperately needed action on affordability, economic stability, and the climate crisis. This proposal is, as always, thoughtful, fact-based, and driven by the needs of our constituents.

Of course there are some sections that did not turn out the way I would have preferred, but that's the nature of small "d" democracy. On the plus side, our one-house proposal provides more money for regular New Yorkers, and less on needless corporate giveaways, with critical investments in mass transit, education, healthcare, and public safety. The proposal lays out a blueprint for a more prosperous and equitable state, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Legislature and the Governor’s office to deliver the best possible final budget.

Best,

Liz Krueger

State Senator

The Senate Democratic Majority advanced a one-house budget resolution that prioritizes affordability, economic stability and greater opportunities. The budget resolution proposes transformative investments in k-12 public education including fully funding Foundation Aid for the first time in New York’s history, making school meals free for all public school students and increasing funding to further support universal pre-k expansion across the state. The budget resolution prioritizes economic support for working families by rejecting tuition hikes for SUNY and CUNY students, rejecting proposed fare hikes for MTA commuters, increasing funding to expand eligibility to affordable childcare, putting forth an 8.5 percent cost of living adjustment for many healthcare workers and raising the floor of the state’s minimum wage and then indexing it to the annual cost of living so more working New Yorkers can truly make a living wage.

The Senate Majority One-House Budget Resolution also accepts the Governor's proposed cap-and-invest program to address climate pollution and makes significant investments to build the foundation for a cleaner and more sustainable environment. The One-House Budget restores critical funding to local municipalities and prioritizes investments in critical infrastructure and transportation. The Senate Majority makes historic investments in the MTA by allocating new sources of dedicated funding by raising revenue from the ultra-wealthy to help address the system’s fiscal deficit, improve frequency and reliability of service, and ensure the system’s long-term future as a public good that moves New York’s economy forward.

The One-House makes critical investments in a range of efforts to address homelessness and expand housing supply across New York while expanding tenant protections to help New Yorkers stay in their homes. It prioritizes keeping New Yorkers safe by increasing funding to community violence reduction and crime fighting interventions, and allocating additional resources to better support the implementation of discovery reform as well as increasing support for pretrial services.

The Senate Majority proposes significant investments to expand healthcare access to uninsured New Yorkers and bolster the accessibility of behavioral health services and mental health treatment. It also provides new investments in economic development including robust funding for new grant programs to boost small businesses and increase access to capital for minority and women owned businesses.

Last year's budget made historic investments in public education to build a well resourced cradle to college to career pipeline and support the next generation through every step of their schooling. In this year’s One-House Budget Resolution, the Senate Majority proposes to continue building on these efforts to strengthen and improve our public schools by increasing investment in key areas including:

●     Fully funding Foundation Aid, for the first time in the state’s history.

• Rejecting the carve out for high impact tutoring.

●     Rejecting lifting the charter school cap

●     Investing $280 million for universal school meals.

●     Adding $125 million for Universal Pre-K (UPK) reimbursement increases for early adopting schools.

●     Increasing library operating aid by $7 million and added $25 million in capital funding.

SUNY & CUNY:

●     Rejecting SUNY and CUNY tuition hikes.

●     Increasing the maximum family income cap for TAP eligibility from $80,000 to $110,000.

●     Increasing CUNY funding:

• $149 million for general operating aid.
• $333 million for a CUNY matching endowment.
• $435 million for CUNY capital funding



●     Increasing SUNY funding:

• $151 million for operating aid.
• $68 Million for SUNY hospital debt service.
• $350 million for SUNY capital funding

Under the Senate One-House Budget Resolution, New York continues to lead the way in advancing impactful policies to combat climate change and protect the environment as part of the implementation of the landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, including:

●     Directing the Department of Environmental Conservation and NYSERDA to establish a cap-and-invest program to implement emissions reduction requirements under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and adding specific programmatic details regarding issuance and allocation of allowances, labor standards and protections, prevention of market manipulation, and protections for disadvantaged communities, as well as by setting up the Climate and Community Protection Fund to ensure all benefits and rebates from the program are equitably distributed (S.5360).

●     Putting forth language to align the Public Service Law with the emission reduction mandates of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, to ensure an equitable transition from the gas distribution system to a renewable system for heating and hot water, eliminate entitlement for new gas connections, and cap the energy burden of low income households at 6 percent of their income (S.2016).

●     Increasing funding for the Environmental Protection Fund by $100 million, to a total of $500 million.

●     Increasing clean water infrastructure funding by $100 million to a total of $600 million.

●     Advancing language to establish a Climate Change Superfund to require the biggest multinational fossil fuel companies that have contributed significantly to the buildup of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere to compensate the State based on such companies' greenhouse gas contributions, and directs the proceeds to be used for climate change-related expenditures in a manner similar to S.2129, but with proceeds directed to the Climate and Community Protection Fund.

●     Advancing language that municipalities may only issue a permit for new construction under seven stories that is an all-electric building by 2025, and may only issue a permit for new construction seven stories or more that is an all-electric building by 2028.

●     Modifying the Producer Responsibility Program to be replaced with language similar to the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S.4246).

●     Including language to create the Safe Water Infrastructure Action Program, which is modeled on the CHIPS program for local roads and bridges (S.4350).

●     Putting forth language to expand the Bottle Bill (S.237).

The Senate Majority One-House Resolution puts forward a range of initiatives to address the housing shortage by providing investments to incentivize municipalities across the state to build new affordable housing while retaining community input in development and strengthening tenant protections statewide. The housing initiatives advanced in the One-House Budget Resolution include:

●     Establishes the Housing Access Voucher Program to create a statewide rental subsidy program for low-income New Yorkers who are homeless, facing eviction, or at risk of losing their housing because of domestic violence or other hazardous living conditions and provides $250 million in funding. (S.568-A)

●     Adding $389 million for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to provide help for tenants who have already applied and been found eligible but were denied assistance because they reside in public or subsidized housing.

●     Adding $5 million for legal representation for eviction outside of New York City for a total of $40 million.



●     Supporting the advancement of tenant protections that align with the core principles of Good Cause Eviction.

●     Adding $350 million in capital funding for NYCHA and $50 million for capital funding for public housing outside of NY.

●     Adding $40 million for the Homeowner Protection Program

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed glaring gaps in our healthcare systems and exacerbated persistent inequities in access to mental health treatment and behavioral health services. The Senate One-House Budget Resolution makes critical investments to expand healthcare access to the uninsured, and bolsters the accessibility of mental health treatment and social services for the most vulnerable New Yorkers, as well as shoring up the healthcare system as a whole - from which all New Yorkers will benefit. The Senate One-House Budget Resolution includes:

●     Adding an 8.5 percent COLA increase for all workers at OMH, OASAS, OCFS and OPWDD.

●     Increasing the Medicaid reimbursement rate for hospitals and nursing homes by 10 percent.

●     Adding $1 billion in State funding for financially distressed and safety-net hospitals.

●     Modifying Essential Plan eligibility and delaying the expansion of coverage for undocumented people over 64 years of age by accepting the proposed expansion of the Essential Plan but rejecting the delay in coverage for undocumented immigrants over 64 years old, and including coverage for undocumented immigrants regardless of age through the Essential Plan (Part of S.2237).

●     Adding $10 million to support doula services and provide reimbursement rates for providers.

●     Providing $10 million for a pilot of Daniel’s Law to support increasing access to emergency mental health crisis counselors.

●     Adding $187 million to support safe staffing for nursing homes.

●     Adding $1 million to support Native American Health Clinics.

The Senate Majority Conference believes that criminal justice reform and public safety go hand-in-hand. In this year’s One-House Budget Resolution, the Senate prioritized funding to bolster public safety initiatives including:

●     Increasing funding for Public Safety Initiatives:

• $20 million to support Operation SNUG.
• $20 million to support pretrial services.
• $14 million for local law enforcement to support funding related to enforcement of Extreme Risk Protection Orders.

●     Adding $10 million to support legislative grants for community safety and restorative justice grant programs that include:

• Investing in gun violence prevention programs, gang and crime reduction strategies managed by local governments, and community-based not-for profit service providers.
• Aiding survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.
• Supporting criminal and civil legal services, alternatives to incarceration, community supervision and re-entry initiatives.

●     Support for Discovery Reform Statewide:

• $40 million for Discovery Reform funding for criminal defenders.
• $50 million for New York City District Attorneys to support discovery reform implementation.
• Supporting criminal and civil legal services, alternatives to incarceration, community supervision and re-entry initiatives.

The Senate One-House Budget Resolution makes historic investments in the MTA by allocating new sources of dedicated funding including raising revenue from the wealthiest New Yorkers and corporations. The resolution advances measures to address the system’s fiscal deficit, and transform the MTA frequency and reliability of service across the board to ensure the viability of the system in the short- and long-term. The proposal also provides critical funding for highway and transit infrastructure across the state.

The Senate One-House Budget Resolution includes:

●     Rejecting the biennial fare hikes.

●     Rejecting the Governor's proposed requirement for New York City to fully cover the net paratransit operating expenses of the MTA, to fully cover the MTA’s net fare revenue difference from providing reduced MetroCard rates for K-12 students within the City, and to fully cover forgone revenue related to Payroll Mobility Tax exemptions.

●     Implementing a pilot program to test providing two free bus lines in each borough.

The Senate proposes to fully fund the MTA by:

●     Increasing the Corporate Franchise Tax surcharge in the MTA region from 30 percent to 45 percent.

●     Establishing a 50-cent surcharge on transportation network company (Uber, Lyft, etc) rides that occur in New York City to be dedicated to the MTA, and establishing a 50-cent surcharge on transportation network company rides that occur outside of New York City which will be dedicated to non-MTA transit funding outside the City.

●     Establishing a parking permit system for residential neighborhoods in New York City. Revenues from the parking permit system will be dedicated to the MTA.

●     Repealing the Madison Square Garden tax exemption and sending all future revenues generated from property taxes on such property to the MTA.

The Senate Majority One-House Resolution prioritizes investments in key sectors of the economy to better support working families and the middle class and provide relief from inflation. Our budget proposal includes critical funding to support workforce development and boost New Yorkers' bottom lines, including:

●     Raising the minimum wage and then indexing the minimum wage to inflation after a sufficient increase to ensure that New Yorkers earn a living wage to support their basic needs and the needs of their families.

●     Expanding the Empire State Child Credit by allowing it to be claimed for children under four.

●     Adding $16 million to provide an allowance for the cost of diapers.

Increasing funding for and access to child care by:

●     $623 million to expand child care eligibility up to 103 percent of the State median income level in 2023. The Senate also proposes to increase child care eligibility to 129 percent of the State median income level in 2024.  

●     $500 million for the Workforce Retention Grant program, providing up to $12,000 in salary enhancements to child care workers. Eligible child care workers must be employed at a childcare facility that serves families receiving subsidized child care. Employees will receive a proportional share of the $12,000 based upon the percentage of an employer's enrolled children that are receiving subsidized child care.

The Senate Democratic Conference is committed to strengthening our small business owners and entrepreneurs, who are the bedrock of our economy and anchors of our communities. This year we are continuing to help their bottom line in the wake of COVID, and investing in their success for years to come.

The Senate One-House Budget Proposal includes:

●     Investing $100 million to establish a Small Business Development Grants Program.

●     The Senate supports exploring the use of conduit financing to provide unemployment insurance premium relief to business owners across the State.

●     Adding $7.5 million to establish theNew York State Entrepreneurial Training Grants program.

●     $2.4 million in additional support for the Minority and Women-Owned Business Development and Lending Program, for a total of $3 million.

The Senate One-House Budget Proposal restored a significant amount of funding that the Governor proposed cutting from arts and cultural institutions, including:

●     More than $100 million statewide through the Council on the Arts:

• $40 million for competitive grants
• $10 million in operating funding for Regional Arts Councils outside NYC
• $40 million in capital for Arts and Cultural Facilities Improvements
• $10 million in capital for Regional Arts Councils outside NYC

The One-House contains several important proposals to increase government accountability and tackle wasteful, opaque corporate giveaways, including:

Accountable Government:

●     Including staggered terms for the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government

●     Repealing 2019 changes to the Public Authorities Control Board

●     Rejecting higher Dormitory Authority bonding cap for medical care facilities

Freezing Corporate Giveaways:

●     Ending NY’s Opportunity Zone tax break

●     Rejecting the Governor's proposal to extend the deadline to complete construction of buildings applying for the 421-a tax break by four years

●     Rejecting the resurrection of the failed “Start-Up NY” as “EPIC”

●     Establishing a local “database of deals”

●     Requiring a monitor for Orange County IDA

●     Ending the Madison Square Garden tax break