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Cuomo Calls New State Budget "Robust," Progressives Call It "Republican Austerity Warfare"
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Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 2, 2020
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Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 2, 2020
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New York was facing a $6 billion budget deficit even before the COVID-19 pandemic swept in to deliver a potential $10 billion blow to the state’s coffers. But Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters on Tuesday he was proud that he and the state’s lawmakers were still able to craft a “robust budget,” despite the circumstances.
“This is a particularly difficult budget because there is no money and there is much fear and there is much stress,” Cuomo said. “When we did the state of the state, we had a lot of policy ideas, a lot of reforms for this state that would help many, many New Yokers and make this state once again the progessive leader. On the environment, social justice, economic justice, racial justice—and all of those items are still in this budget,” the governor said. “So it’s not that we said, ‘Well, because we’re busy, we’re gonna scale back.”
In fact, the $177 billion budget dilutes major criminal justice reforms passed last year and abandons legalizing marijuana, gives the executive branch extraordinary authority to slash funding for municipalities without raising any taxes on the wealthy, enacts substantial cuts to Medicaid, and creates a public campaign financing system that threatens the survival of third parties in New York—including the one that is most critical of Governor Cuomo.
For years, advocates for government transparency have criticized the secretive way that New York’s budget has been created: the governor creates a framework, and he and the two legislative leaders hash it out, often cramming in consequential legislation that has little to do with state finances without allowing for any real public debate.
“It’s worthy of Vladimir Putin and the Saudi government,” one lawmaker told us last year.
With the state capitol shut off to any visitors for weeks, and the coronavirus pandemic scattering lawmakers and their staffs—at least four lawmakers have tested positive for the disease—this year’s budget process was even more shadowy.
“It’s a totally opaque, not transparent, not sufficiently open and collaborative process to begin with, and it’s even more so now,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of the good government group Common Cause New York. “In virtually every way possible, the individual representatives are cut out of this process, which is three leaders in a room, and now it’s even more locked down than usual.”
Lerner said that lawmakers should continue voting on critical issues like election safety and security and rent after the budget is passed, and should work remotely like other sectors of the economy. The Senate and the Assembly have passed laws to allow them to work remotely, but Lerner said they were flawed.
“The Assembly resolution is truly unusual in that it appears to require anyone who wants to vote in the negative to do so in the Assembly chamber in Albany,” Lerner said. “It also has a provision that if you don’t vote you’re assumed to vote yes.”
Lerner said that she didn’t want to “downplay the challenges, I believe many of our elected representatives want to do the best job possible.”
“But I think it’s irresponsible to require them to sit in Albany in isolation from each other. They are being appropriately cautious, they don’t want to bring the virus back to their staffs or their families. They need to develop the remote capabilities.” She added, “It’s as simple as having people raise their hand on a video screen in a Zoom call.”
As of this writing, the legislature is still voting on pieces of the state budget, but here are some of the more consequential aspects of the legislation.
Criminal justice reform rollbacks
The bail reforms passed in 2019 have only been in effect for three full months, and they have led to a 30 percent decarceration rate in the state’s jails, according to the Vera Institute for Justice, a group that had pushed for the reforms that prevent judges from setting cash bail on many offenses. Last year at this time, around 21,000 people were held in jails across the state, now that number is roughly 14,500.
Even before the reforms took effect, law enforcement, police unions, and politicians like Mayor Bill de Blasio had urged legislators to dilute them, and to give judges the ability to determine a defendant’s “dangerousness.”
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins was the first legislative leader to capitulate to their demands. But the changes to bail reform don’t go as far as giving a judge “dangerousness” discretion. Instead, they make dozens of more offenses eligible for bail (the changes are in Part UU here).
Insha Rahman, an attorney and bail expert who is the director of strategy and new initiatives at the Vera Institute, said that one of the most consequential changes applies to New Yorkers who are released after committing a non-bail eligible low-level misdemeanor, like stealing food. If they are charged with another low-level misdemeanor while awaiting trial, a judge may detain them and order them to post bail.
“Imagine that someone is accused of stealing something from a Rite Aid, they’re released on their own recognizance, and then they get arrested say 10 days later for an allegation for stealing, even if it’s something as small as taking $20 worth of food. Now they are eligible for bail,” Rahman said.
Rahman explained that these charges are already “very common,” and that given the dire economic circumstances many people find themselves in because of the pandemic, they may become even moreso.
“Clearly we’re entering a recession, and we can imagine those kind of instances will happen more and more, so making that particular change to the new law right now, in this very moment, really does expose New Yorkers to having bail set and being in jail even for what is for most people quite minor conduct,” Rahman said.
The Vera Institute projects that the 30 percent decarceration gains will be cut to 15 percent once these rollbacks are instituted, and Rahman estimated that “tens of thousands” of arrests will now be bail eligible. The changes go into effect in 90 days.
Discovery reforms passed in 2019 were also dialed back. Previously, the prosecution and defense had to turn over all “discoverable” material within 15 days of a defendant’s arraignment. Now, for those in custody after the arraignment, that deadline is extended to 20 days, and to 35 days for those not in custody.
The city's largest police union, which has been among the loudest critics of the reforms, remains unsatisfied with the rollback.
No Marijuana Legalization
Despite pledging to legalize marijuana in the budget in his state of the state speech, just as he did in 2019, Cuomo told reporters this week there was “too much” to do with dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and keeping the state running to tackle it in the budget.
Also DOA: parole reform, and making law enforcement more transparent by repealing section 50-A of the state's civil rights law.
Cuomo’s Power Over The Purse
The state’s $95 billion operating budget (which is roughly the same number as New York City’s proposed budget was earlier this year) gives Cuomo’s budget director Robert Mujica (who is also an MTA board member) total authority to make cuts each month of the year if tax receipts are 99 percent or less of what is projected.
“We’re going to look and see—if revenues come in, we’re going to put them in,” Mujica told reporters on Tuesday. “If they do not, then we have to make those reductions.”
Legislators will have 10 days to give Mujica’s office a counter proposal before any cuts are enacted.
The budget does not include any new taxes on wealthy New Yorkers to help make up for the gaps. Education spending is static (it usually increases by a few percentage points every year) but municipalities are bracing for major cuts—New York City has estimated that vital social programs will take a hit well over a billion dollars over the next two years.
In a statement, Paulette Soltani, the political director for VOCAL-NY, said that the governor was attempting to “exploit a crisis to advance austerity and policies that exacerbate inequality.”
“By demanding the ability to enact ‘rolling budget modifications’ he consolidated state power, stifled democracy, and now can unilaterally impose cuts with little or no oversight,” she said.
Jonathan Westin, the executive director for New York Communities for Change, called the budget “the worst budget in recent memory.”
“What the hell happened to Democratic control and progressive leadership in Albany?” Westin said in a statement. “It’s Republican austerity warfare against countless low-income New Yorkers who are the most vulnerable to coronavirus.”
Billions Of Dollars In Cuts To Medicaid
As we reported earlier this week, Cuomo is determined to cut Medicaid in the midst of a massive public health crisis—even if it means risking federal funds designated to provide relief.
The federal government is offering New York billions in dollars of Medicaid relief due to the pandemic, provided that states don’t tinker with their Medicaid programs. But Cuomo has insisted that he is pressing on with the recommendations from his Medicaid Redesign Team [MRT] to eliminate more than $2 billion in spending in a single year (the governor has called it “waste”).
“Many of the MRT recommendations are in the budget, we have the ability to delay them in the budget,” Mujica said on Wednesday, referring to calls for the governor to delay the MRT so that the state can get the federal relief it needs now.
Some of the MRT details are still being finalized—check back for more coverage.
E-Bikes And E-Scooters Legalized
As promised, Cuomo and the legislative have finally legalized e-bikes and e-scooters (Part XX), and the legislation looks very similar to what was distributed earlier this year. There are three classes of e-bikes: Class 1 pedal-assist models with a top speed of 20 mph, Class 2 throttle models with a top speed of 20 mph, and Class 3 throttle bikes with a top speed of 25 mph.
Electric bike and e-scooter ridership is restricted to New Yorkers 16 and older, but e-scooter operators under the age of 18 are required to use a helmet. While it’s illegal to operate either kind of vehicle impaired, harsh DWI penalties are only triggered in the event of a collision. Transporting children on e-bikes is also permitted.
E-scooter speeds are capped at 15 mph, and the legislation contains a provision demanded by Manhattan State Senator Liz Krueger that bans e-scooter shares from operating in Manhattan. Scooter share systems can operate anywhere else so long as the local authority permits it. Localities have the ability to restrict and even ban e-bikes and e-scooters under the legislation. Electric bike and scooter riders will use bike lanes when possible.
Curiously, a ban on electric vehicles on greenways survived, meaning that Citi Bike’s pedal-assisted e-bike would be illegal on the Hudson River Greenway, among others.
Cuomo Crushes His Political Enemies
Another strange addition to the transportation portion of the budget: a public financing scheme that was initially recommended by another one of Cuomo’s blue-ribbon commissions. The Public Campaign Finance Commission itself was recently deemed unconstitutional by a judge, but here are their proposals in Part ZZZ of a budget bill.
While the legislation lowers campaign contribution limits and creates a fund for candidates to draw on, it states that any group that wants to be a political party must qualify every two years with “at least two percent of the total votes cast for its candidate for governor, or one hundred thirty thousand votes, whichever is greater.”
Some context: the 2016 turnout in the state was 7.8 million, meaning that parties like, say, the Working Families Party that endorsed Cuomo’s rival Cynthia Nixon, would need 156,000 votes to maintain its existence on the ballot. Under the current rules, the WFP, like all political parties, has to win 50,000 votes statewide every four years to keep their ballot line.
"Governor Cuomo claims that now is not the time for politics — yet behind closed doors he is blocking voters from supporting minor parties and the values they stand for,” WFP state director Sochie Nnaemeka said in a statement. “At a time when many Democrats are calling for fair and open elections, the Governor has made New York the most hostile state toward third parties in the entire nation. When he created a commission to wipe out third parties we sued and won. We feel as strongly now as we did then that the law is on our side — and we will win again in court."
Polystyrene ban, closing prisons, surrogacy, etc.
Polystyrene food containers (it’s not Styrofoam but that’s what you probably call it anyway) will be banned across the state in 2022.
Governor Cuomo has the power to close more state prisons provided he gives the state legislature just 90 days notice.
Flavor vaping products will be banned by state law.
Paid surrogacy legalization has passed.
Anyone riding in the back seat of a vehicle, no matter their age, must wear a seatbelt.
"E Pluribus Unum" Is Now On The State Seal
Because Cuomo wanted it. The phrase means "out of many, one."
You can read more solid budget coverage here and here.
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andrew cuomo
Bail reform
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Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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