Governor Hochul Announces Agreement On 2023 New York State Budget

[TTL News 319]

Yesterday, Governor Kathy Hochul announced an agreement to address key priorities in the Fiscal Year 2023 New York State Budget. This bold and fiscally responsible plan makes historic investments in communities across the State that will bring relief to New Yorkers recovering from the pandemic and launch New York's economic comeback. 

The State's reserves in this plan will increase to a record level of 15 percent of State Operating Funds spending by FY 2025, as proposed by the Governor in her Executive Budget. 

"As we make our comeback from the COVID-19 pandemic we are embracing this once-in-a-generation opportunity to usher in a whole new era for New York, with a bold budget that brings much-needed economic relief to New Yorkers and looks to the future with historic investments in education, health care and infrastructure," Governor Hochul said. "This agreement brings us closer to an enacted budget and makes good on our promise of a stronger, safer, more inclusive and more prosperous New York State. I thank Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie for this collaborative process. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues in state government to enact a budget that delivers for all New Yorkers."

The budget will include major priorities that the governor's office says will "deliver for New Yorkers", including: 

• Tax relief for middle-class New Yorkers and small businesses;
• Suspending fuel taxes to tackle the high cost of gasoline which has surged in recent months as a result of the war in Ukraine;
• Helping to support small businesses most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, like restaurants, by authorizing the sale of to-go alcoholic beverages;
• Billions of dollars to rebuild the health care workforce, support home care workers, and build the health care system of the future; 
• A historic investment in education to strengthen our higher education institutions and support our teachers and school employees; 
• Increasing funding for and access to child care; 
• A historic investment in pandemic recovery funding;
• A comprehensive housing plan to make living in New York more affordable; 
• A record-level investment in a five-year transportation infrastructure plan; 
• A record investment in clean energy infrastructure, climate resiliency and preservation;
• Improving ethics oversight and restoring trust in state government by replacing JCOPE with a new Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government; and
• Moving forward toward a safer, more just New York by cracking down on the trafficking of illegal guns, stopping the cycle of repeat offenders, protecting the victims of domestic violence and hate crimes, and investing in mental health infrastructure.

With a conceptual agreement in place the legislative houses are expected to pass bills that will enact these priorities.

[MsKreed 1,204]

Hopefully, the part about reforming bail reform will get worked out in a way that restores some sanity.....
 

Quote

 

The budget was delayed in part over disagreements on whether to roll back parts of a landmark 2019 law that largely did away with cash bail for nonviolent offenses.

Centrist Democrats demanded changes, concerned about an uptick in violent crime during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some specifics of the bail changes are still being worked out, but elements of the deal would let judges require more people to post bail to gain their freedom while awaiting trial if they had repeatedly been arrested for similar crimes, Stewart-Cousins said.

 

Source