Reinvent Albany Review of Senate One-House Budget 

March 14, 2023

Reinvent Albany broadly supports transparent and sensible budgeting and fact-based policymaking. Today we are commenting on how the Senate one-house budget dealt with some of the specific policies we advocate for. We will update this post when the final bill language is published. We will comment on the Assembly one-house budget and MTA issues in forthcoming statements. 

Support
We thank the Senate for including in its one-house budget:

Accountable Government 

  • Reducing the Governor’s Special Federal Emergency slush fund by $8 billion, from $10 billion to $2 billion (State Operations S.4000-B)
  • Including staggered terms for the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (Part Z of S4005-B)
  • Repealing 2019 changes to the Public Authorities Control Board (new Part YYY of S4008-B)
  • Rejecting higher Dormitory Authority bonding cap for medical care facilities (Part Z of S4008-B)

Freezing Corporate Giveaways

  • Ending NY’s Opportunity Zone tax break (new Part DD of S4009-B)
  • Rejecting the reintroduction of the 421-a real estate tax break (Part R of S4006-B)
  • Rejecting the resurrection of the failed “Start-Up NY” as “EPIC” (Part CC of S4008-B)
  • Establishing a local “database of deals” (new Part XXX of S4008-B)
  • Requiring a monitor for Orange County IDA (new Part AAA of S4005-B)
  • Ending the Madison Square Garden tax break (new Part ZZZ of S4008-B)

(Note: Overall, we are extremely disappointed that the Senate has chosen to endorse billions in new and expanded corporate giveaways proposed by the Governor.)

Strengthening Democracy

  • Funding for the Public Campaign Finance Program (S4000-B, S4003-B) 
  • Increasing funding for local boards of elections (S4004-B)

Transparency

  • Including most of the Governor’s proposal to change Open Meetings Law to let groups focused on disability rights meet remotely (Part X of S4008-B)

Oppose

We strongly disagree with the Senate including in their one-house budget:

  • A $7 billion, 10-year, $66,000/year-per-job taxpayer handout to Hollywood Film/TV producers (Part D of S4009-B)
  • A $300 million/year taxpayer handout to Broadway theater producers (Part I of S4009-B)
  • A $455 million loan to the horse racing industry for Belmont track (Part X of S4009-B)
  • Refusing to allow localities to extend existing sales tax without the approval of the state legislature (Part O of S4009-B)