Meanwhile, Back in Albany (v16)

Nathaniel Brooks/NY Times photo

Many of us have been focused lately on Washington's spending bill, which added Carl Sagan-esque billions and billions of dollars to the federal deficit, on top of the tax plan Christmas present we got last year - but then we moved quickly on to 'school safety/gun safety/dammit we're taking ALL your guns!' discussions that have been occurring, honestly and not, since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day.

Or  we've been focused on how Congressional Democrats miraculously lost their entire chain of thought on solving the DACA problem, given that they can only argue about one thing at a time, and because they have to focus on winning seats in special elections so they could, assuming they win the majority in November, go back to focusing on stuff like DACA, or finding a candidate to take on Trump in 2020, or whatever else they're thinking.

Meanwhile, back in Albany,  New York's Sonofa Gov Andrew Cuomo and his handful of men in a room managed to hash out and pass a budget deal, before the deadline, leaving everyone time to get home for the holiday.

Among the provisions in the $163B budget:

• requirements related to preventing sexual harassment for the government and private companies;
• a projected $100M annually from opioid manufacturers to help combat addiction;
• tax credits for charitable contributions for public education or health care programs, and an option for an employer tax to replace personal income taxes;
• new spending on education;
• another commission to figure out how much we should pay legislators and other government officials (see prior posts on the pay issue here: v3, v5, v6, v7, v8 - including my solution, which will NEVER come to fruition)
• funding for water quality issues of various types; 
• prohibitions on police claiming consensual sex with people in custody; and
• a number of items that will help fund activities in NYC including some $415M annually from a charge on cabs, Uber, Lyft and other pay services in certain sections of the city.

Here's how the Sonofa Gov described the accomplishment:

This budget is a bold blueprint for progressive action builds on seven years of success and helps New York to continue to lead amid a concerted and sustained assault from Washington on our values and principles.

We put into place the strongest and most comprehensive anti-sexual harassment protections in the nation...(we) will become the first state to implement new measures to shield families from the devastating federal tax law's elimination of full state and local deductibility... protects New York's future with record funding for education, coupled with...reforms that finally ensure transparency and equality in how that funding is distributed... (it) delivers for the most vulnerable among us, including...tenants who have had to live with mold, lead and no heat.. and those who have had to ensure the injustice that is Rikers Island. 

With this budget, we chart a path forward and ever upwards toward a better future for all New Yorkers. 

Excelsior!

The NYS Senate had a slightly different take on things. According to their web page, the Republican-controlled Senate (with help from the Independent Democratic Caucus, which hangs with the Rs), it was all about keeping Cuomo under control.

The New York State Senate has completed passage of the 2018-2019 state budget that achieves key objectives to promote affordability, opportunity, and security for hardworking taxpayers. The final budget maintains fiscal discipline by keeping within the self-imposed two-percent spending cap and closes a $4.5B deficit, while also preventing billions of dollars in new taxes and fees to protect taxpayers and encourage economic growth. 

The Rs are happy, though, with things like staying within the 2% spending cap for the eighth year, with over $52B in total taxpayer savings since the cap was imposed;keeping brownfield, historic and certain other business tax credits from being deferred, and having $700M available under these programs; adding $13M on top of what Cuomo proposed for farm-related initiatives; job training programs,and so on.

It'll likely take some time for all of the dust to settle on this but at least coming out of the gate, the pols seem expectedly happy with the outcome, which allows all sides to claim victory.  The proof will come when we taxpayers start seeing and feeling the impact of the budget, which will take longer.

It is an election year, though -- so we're apt to see the good stuff fast, and the less good stuff, well, less fast.  I'll circle back around on things as they progress.