As you may know, last week in Albany the state legislature passed the second straight on-time budget under Governor Cuomo. Given our state's long history of late budgets, many observers are calling this a significant accomplishment. In addition, this budget did much less damage to basic programs than last year's budget. The state's slowly improving fiscal situation and the deep cuts made last year both made it easier to maintain spending for many programs this year.I supported most of the budget bills, because on balance, they met a minimum standard of fiscal responsibility while providing support for critical programs. But despite these accomplishments, I believe this budget represents a missed opportunity for our state. The facts are that this year's budget did little to address the damage done by last year's cuts and failed to lay out a vision for how our state government should respond to the challenges New Yorkers are facing today. It's a budget to keep things going - not a budget to solve problems.
So what's missing? Here are a few things that were on the table at various points in the process, but did not make the final deal.
- Creation of a Healthcare Exchange, to provide a market for small businesses and the uninsured to purchase affordable health insurance
- Full implementation of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity decision, to provide fair funding to high-needs schools in New York City and low-income communities statewide.
- Implementation of bullet microstamping, a technology used to track guns used in crimes. Police departments and District Attorneys want this done - it's a no-brainer that we just keep failing to implement.
- A forward-looking transportation funding strategy. The budget included basic funding for the MTA, but forces it to rely more heavily on borrowing, setting straphangers up for bigger fare increases in the near future to pay for debt service, not improved transit service.
- Funding to study the health and seismic impacts of hydrofracking, necessary if we're to safeguard New Yorkers from the dangers of this new drilling technique.
- A full state takeover of local Medicaid costs, which would significantly reduce pressure on local property taxes.
And why were these and other worthy proposals not included? Some got caught in election-year politics. A healthcare exchange would cost the state nothing and bring in significant additional federal funding, but Senate Republicans opposed it for purely political reasons - healthcare exchanges are part of national healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act. But other proposals would have had significant fiscal impacts.
This point, however, leads us to the biggest failure of this year's budget: the failure to consider any additional sources of revenue.
I offered two proposals during the budget process to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars - without raising taxes. Senate Republicans rejected them.
First, the state could make it illegal to possess "zapper" technology, which helps unscrupulous businesses dodge sales taxes and get an unfair leg up over competitors. Second, the state could crack down on real estate partnerships, which underreport their capital gains to the tune of hundreds of millions in lost tax revenue every year. And of course, there are many additional ways to raise revenue: how about a full review of the nearly $29 billion in 'tax expenditures' and tax breaks included in this year's budget?
The people of New York State deserve a responsible, prudent budget - but prudence does not only mean restraint. Sometimes, in the face of economic adversity, prudence demands bold action.
A century ago a New Yorker, a Republican named Roosevelt, went to the White House. In the face of a Gilded Age of concentrated wealth and corporate power, he established sweeping reforms to protect Americans from corporate excesses and indifference. Decades later, a Democrat named Roosevelt followed in his footsteps. In the face of the worst economic depression our nation had ever faced, he rejected the failed approach of leaders who had tried austerity and acted boldly to put the nation back to work.
In the best traditions of Presidents Theodore and Franklin Delano Roosevelt - both governors of New York before they went to Washington - we must restore the tradition of bold leadership to state government. We must tackle the biggest problems with real solutions. Anything less isn't enough.
Best regards,
Liz
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