In healthy democracies, budgets are not secret and weeks late, and emergency powers are not abused so bills can be rushed to a vote sight unseen.
The Governor and Legislature have once again failed to provide New Yorkers with basic budget transparency. At a minimum, state leaders should:
- Honor the state constitution, which requires a minimum 3-day transparency period between time bills are printed and voted on.
- Stop abusing the Governor’s “message of necessity” emergency powers to stymie transparency and sneak past opposition and political embarrassment.
- Provide simple financial tables showing spending by function, anticipated budget gaps, and other basic expenses and revenue assumptions.
- Count billions of dollars of tax credits as expenditures. This is not free money.
We have not completed our review of the billions in lump sum spending in the FY 2025 budget that will be paid out at the direction of the Governor and legislative leaders. However, the Governor’s $2 billion “Special Emergency Appropriation” and the $1 billion transfer from the General Fund to the Health Care Transformation Fund remain in the final budget, which were opposed by watchdogs.
Our Current Budget Priorities
Strong Democracy
Thumbs up:
- $100 million for public matching funds and $14.5 million for administration of public campaign finance, surpassing the Public Campaign Finance Board’s request. This landmark program will go a long way toward building a healthier democracy and getting big money out of NY politics. We thank Governor Hochul for including this funding in her initial budget. We also urge the Governor and Legislature to make no changes to the program in 2024.
- $5 million in funding for local BOEs to prepare for the 2024 election. We would have preferred the $10 million, as advocated for by partners such as the League of Women Voters and the Brennan Center for Justice.
Thumbs down:
- Failure to include Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). We hope the Legislature approves New York’s participation in ERIC this session to promote better accuracy in state voter roll information.
Open Government
OK:
- Two-year extension of the post-pandemic changes to Open Meetings Law. We prefer a comprehensive update requiring hybrid (in-person and virtual) meetings.
- Applying OML and FOIL to local development corporations (LDCs). Reinvent Albany has yet to review the final legislation to ensure technical issues have been addressed.
Thumbs down:
- Cameras and other recording devices are still banned from courtrooms.
- No major reform of the FOIL process, which has massive problems.
Accountable Government
Thumbs up:
- Authorities Budget Office (ABO) funding increased from $3.359 to $3.657 million.
- New ABO database on local authority spending, which we hope leads to a completely new technology platform for the Comptroller’s Public Authority Reporting Information System (PARIS), and ultimately to more accountable IDAs.
- $8.9 million for the Commission on Judicial Conduct, as requested by the Commission and supported by watchdogs. The Governor proposed $8.3 million.
Thumbs down:
- Failure to grant ABO basic enforcement powers.
- Failure to give county comptrollers the common-sense authority to audit local IDAs.
MTA and Transportation Policy Proposals
Thumbs up:
- No raids on transit funds, ensuring robust operating support for MTA, including an agreement for $16.3 million for increased bus service and discounts for monthly passes for LIRR and MNR trips within New York City.
- Increased operating aid for other transit systems, including $333.2 million for upstate transit operating assistance, and $551 million for non-MTA downstate systems.
- Expansion of Transit Adjudication Bureau to commuter rail, enforcing fare evasion more equally, and fare penalty forgiveness with enrollment in the Fair Fares program.
OK:
- New, loophole-filled toll enforcement provisions to increase fines for obscuring license plates and use of ghost plates, as well as provisions to suspend registration for repeat offenses. The provision allowing immediate “correction” will be abused and less effective than confiscating the illegal plate or cover as proposed by the Governor.
- One-year extension of tax increment financing (TIF) provisions, rather than 10 years as originally proposed. We have called for a hearing to be held to understand potential use cases and how TIF has worked elsewhere before extending the program.
Thumbs down:
- No new dedicated funding for upstate transit systems. The Senate proposed a new fee on for-hire vehicles trips made outside of New York City from companies like Uber and Lyft.
Ethics
OK:
- $8.1 million for the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government. This is what COELIG requested, but does not include any new funding for IT systems that would boost transparency of ethics and lobbying disclosures.
NYC Home Rule
Thumbs up:
- Sammy’s Law included in the budget. This is a step toward NYC controlling the speed limit on all its streets. Given the huge advocacy effort, it is disappointing it won’t apply to the big streets where pedestrians and cyclists face the greatest danger from speeding.
Thumbs down:
- Two-year extension of mayoral control of NYC schools with many strings attached. This is absurd Albany meddling that dilutes public accountability. New York City’s Mayor, City Council, and voters should decide how their schools are governed, not the state. Under this latest convoluted configuration, the Assembly Speaker, Senate Majority Leader, and Chancellor of the Board of Regents nominate candidates for the Mayor to select as Chair of the Panel on Education Policy, formerly known as the Board of Education.
- 485-x state law giving away billions in NYC property taxes to incentivize affordable housing. It is obnoxious for New York State to give away New York City property taxes; it’s not the state’s money. The state budget is a decision about how to spend state funds, not give away New York City taxes.
Sensible Public Investment
Thumbs up:
- $500 million for Clean Water Infrastructure Act funding.
New and Expanded Corporate Giveaways
Thumbs down:
- $500 million NY CREATES Albany Nanotech UV Lithography Center.
- $400 million for NY Works slush fund.
- No end to the Opportunity Zone tax break, a Trump handout to the wealthy that will cost the state and NYC up to $420 million annually from 2029.
- No passage of the Stop Climate Polluter Handouts Act, which would end $265 million in annual fossil fuel subsidies.
- No end to tax breaks for sales of private jets and yachts.
Click here to view Reinvent Albany’s full budget compare chart as a PDF.
Click here to view Reinvent Albany’s full budget compare chart in Google Sheets.