N.Y. State Passes Emergency Budget Extender To Avoid Government Shutdown
ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the passage Monday night of an emergency budget extender that he proposed to avoid a looming government shutdown.
The state Senate earlier Monday approved the dual bills for the extender 46-15 that would extend the current state budget for two months or until an agreement is reached.
The stopgap measure will fund state operations through May 31, though lawmakers say it shouldn't take them that long to come to an agreement on a one-year budget. Lawmakers won't be paid until that happens, giving them one more reason to reach a consensus.
Cuomo's office outlined some of the specific provisions in the budget extender. Among them are protections from the high costs of prescription drugs, increased direct care professional salaries, higher education investments, and funds for clean drinking water, among others.
The budget extender also continues funding the state's Environmental Protection Fund with $300 million, and allocates $120 million to the NY Parks 2020 Initiative for transformation of the state's flagship parks.
Funds are also set aside for the Downtown Revitalization Initiative to transform housing, economic development, transportation and community projects in downtowns throughout the state's municipalities. Another $300 million is allocated to a world-class life science research cluster in New York state.
Among New York City projects, the budget extender invests $564 million to the reconstruction of the Kew Gardens Interchange and expanding the capacity of the Van Wyck Expressway as part of a greater plan to upgrade John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The extender also directs funds toward the construction of the Bruckner-Sheridan Interchange in the South Bronx, more space in Grand central Station to accommodate Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak riders, the replacement of the Kosciusko Bridge between Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Maspeth, Queens, and $700 million for the Vital Brooklyn community-based healthcare initiative.
Upstate, the bill hands $400 million to the Buffalo Billion Phase II project to benefit western New York, provides $70 million to continue modernizing the New York State Fair in Syracuse, and $10 million for a Photonics Venture Challenge for technology businesses in Rochester.
Funds are also set aside for reconstruction of the Nassau Expressway on Long Island.
But few lawmakers expressed enthusiasm for the short-term bill, known as a budget `extender,' which Cuomo introduced after he and lawmakers blew through a Saturday budget deadline.
``Passing this extender isn't a punt of our duties,'' Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, told reporters. ``I'm just trying to make sure that government isn't shut down.''
A new budget was due by Saturday, the first day of the new fiscal year. But lawmakers and Cuomo couldn't agree on issues including juvenile justice reform, education spending and an affordable housing tax credit in New York City.
One key sticking point remains a proposal known as "raise the age,'' which would end the state's practice of prosecuting and incarcerating 16- and 17-year-old offenders as adults. Lawmakers in North Carolina, the only other state where 16- and 17-year-old offenders are prosecuted as adults, also are considering legislation to raise the age.
Negotiations in Albany were also bogged down over how to divide increased education funding, the details of an affordable housing and development tax credit in New York City and whether to increase the number of authorized charter schools.
``I believe we can get there,'' Republican Senate Leader John Flanagan, R-Long Island, said of the work to craft the more than $150 billion spending plan.
Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, said the $40 billion extender will allow government workers to be paid while lawmakers continue to wrangle out agreements, including on an effort to raise the age of adult criminal responsibility from 16 to 18.
``We should be mindful that this extender, which does keep our government running --- is really again for all of us a signal for the growing dysfunction here in Albany,'' Stewart-Cousins said.
Others who voted against the measure held firm to declarations made by Democratic leadership that members would not sign off on any budget item without the juvenile justice reforms. Some also criticized Cuomo for continuing the long tradition of backroom negotiations, or of not including legislative pay in the extender.
Cuomo has cited the likelihood of federal spending cuts as one reason to delay the budget, saying waiting until late May would give the state time to understand how they might impact state finances. Lawmakers from both parties dismissed that as an excuse.
``This guy (Cuomo) should look in the mirror as to why this budget is late,'' said Assemblywoman Steve McLaughlin, R-Troy. ``He ran his mouth for months about the dysfunction in Washington and this guy cannot get a budget done in time.''
Cuomo introduced his $152 billion budget proposal in January. The proposal would keep the status quo when it comes to taxes, add $1 billion in new public education spending and include expanded child care tax credits and a new initiative making state college tuition free for students from families earning $125,000 or less annually.
Lawmakers won't be paid until a full budget is adopted.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)