This was the week that we didn’t think would ever end and as
of Friday afternoon (right now 2:58 pm) the Assembly is STILL in session only
now taking up the education, labor, housing, and family assistance budget bill. The Senate, following a grueling all night
session, adjourned at 9:37 am today. One has to feel disheartened that
legislators had to endure no sleep and an inability to read what the Governor
called “a remarkable budget” and “the best plan produced in decades”. This budget process has been the most
secretive process in several years. At one point, negotiations were taken off
the Capitol Campus to the Governor’s private residence where it is impossible
for reporters to go.
Monday started with several press events including a press
conference outside the Senate where the good government community discussed the
lack of ethics and transparency in the budget, including lump sum discretionary
funds. After our press conference we taped a segment with Susan Arbetter and
the local television stations. In the afternoon we pulled Assembly members off
the floor reinforcing our opposition to the Education Tax Credit and support
for increasing Foundation Aid. Late afternoon, early evening was spent
exchanging intel with coalition members for any leaks of information from the
second floor (the Governor’s office).
Tuesday rumors circulated that the Senate was planning to
trade minimum wage for the Education Investment Tax Credit. The League quickly
issued a memo restating our opposition to the EITC and asking that members stay
strong in their opposition. That ended a long day and long evening.
On Wednesday we went up to the Capitol late in the day, amid
rumors that the charter school increases were now attached to minimum wage by
the Senate and the Governor’s office. Does anyone see a theme here? We sent
some time speaking with the Education Chair and other legislators to again
reiterate our support for public education.
Much of Thursday was spent waiting for the republican Senate
conference to end and the budget debate to actually start. The Assembly took up
bills unrelated to the budget while waiting for final negotiations to be
hammered out. The Senate finally began debating budget bills at 4:30 pm. The
debate started contentiously with Senator Gianaris and Senator Young raising
their voices. Senator Gianaris was particularly disturbed and vocal about the
lack of transparency and the fact that bills would be debated without any
opportunity to first read the language. The same complaints were being echoed
by the Assembly republicans during their debates.
Thursday night debate of the budget dragged on in the
Assembly until approximately 2:00 am when they stood at ease so the legislators
could actually read the budget bills on their computer. The Assembly came back
in at 2:50pm to continue their debates. The interesting thing to note is that
the Assembly democrats do not debate these budget bills. The Chair of the Ways
and Means Committee, Denny Farrell, stands on his feet throughout the debate to
answer the questions of the Assembly minority. The debate is all one sided for
a reason, because the Assembly is so large if every democrat in the majority
rose to debate, the session would go on endlessly so democrats are told to rise
to explains their votes only when absolutely necessary.
Although this has been a secretive process, which we have
repeatedly criticized for a lack of transparency, and insufficient time for
legislators to thoroughly review budget language, the League and our allies
were successful during this process in
preventing the EITC from being included in the final budget. We were also
pleased to see the legislature pass the Governor’s minimum wage and paid family
leave proposals, both of which we supported. We continue to be disappointed
with the lack of process on comprehensive ethics reforms and we will continue
to advocate post budget for these common sense reforms.
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