Meanwhile Back in Albany (v37)

Sonofa Gov Poster

Andrew Cuomo, New York's Sonova Gov, recently helped save a man who was trapped in an overturned vehicle on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.  A few days later, he visited Puerto Rico after the recent earthquakes.

Meanwhile, Back in Albany between those two early-January activities, he delivered his tenth State of the State address - and, I should note, he was the creative force behind the poster you see here.

Our ship of state is stronger than it has been in decades. But the ocean we navigate is as tempest tossed as we have seen. Waves of anxiety, injustice and frustration are being fanned by winds of anger and division, creating a political and social superstorm.

That 'superstorm' includes school shootings, synagogue massacres, swastikas, turmoil on university campuses, homophobia, the increase in hate crimes... And it's going to get worse, he said, because of impeachment proceedings, divisive campaigns, and increasing global conflict. And those folks in DC? They're making it worse. 

We have a divided nation and a polarized Federal government. Everyone is pointing fingers, but no one is pointing forward and no one is pointing up.

He then recounted how New York has been a leader in the progressive movement, described as "the advancement of social, racial and economic justice, in an effective manner, to bring about meaningful improvement in the lives of aggrieved people and to further the collective interest." He outlined successes including gun safety, marriage equality, minimum wage, paid family leave, infrastructure, pro-union policies, and more.

Taxes went down for the middle class and corporations, and we've limited government spending to a 2% cap. We did all of that already, so what's left?

• Climate change: be ready to handle emergency situations, accelerate the transition to renewables, focusing on upstate opportunities; new transmission lines to get power from upstate to downstate; banning Styrofoam; funding national restoration/resilience programs, and more
• Green economy: expanding electric vehicles, attracting green industry, and putting a Nobel laureate to lead the way
• Taxes: continue growth by cutting small business taxes by 2.5%, cut 'middle class' taxes for individuals making up to $300K a year
• Upstate: continue REDC and DRI funding for economic growth; expand infrastructure investment; move on a host of regional projects from Buffalo to the Mohawk Valley and the Adirondacks; additional airport improvements; and more
• Downstate: continue investing in the MTA and Long Island Railroad; banning repeat sex offenders from the MTA; parks and housing initiatives. 

And, there's more:

• ensuring adequate cell service for the entire state; changing how the gig economy classifies workers; expanding paid leave; ensuring banks do business with everyone, or they won't do business with anyone; coordinating with neighboring states on legal marijuana; creating a global cannabis and hemp research center; ending the 'pink tax,' changing rape laws specifically where alcohol is involved
• legalizing 'gestational surrogacy' for same sex couples; expanding the Empire Child Care Tax Credit to include children under four; increased funding for affordable housing, with a demand for a 'higher level of competence, skill and professionalism' from local governments so the money won't be wasted 
• Not allowing guns purchase by people with a deniable conviction in another state; ending school funding disparities; free college tuition for families earning up to $150,000 a year; expanding workforce training programs
• Restricting the sales of all flavored e-cigarettes, restricting advertising on these products, and banning 'dangerous chemicals and products' as well as all variations of Fentanyl and synthetic drugs; expanding access to medication and assisted treatment; funding and other steps to ensure every New Yorker is counted in the upcoming census, and overturning the SALT limitation in the Trump tax code
• Speaking of taxes, all elected officials making over $100K annually must release their New York State taxes; prescription drug reform, medical transparency; passing the ERA; veterans assistance; e-bike laws; voting and election reform; and more.

Now, about that $6B budget gap, what did he have to say? All I can find is this:

• shifting more of the Medicaid burden to municipalities, which has been frozen for six years; and adding more accountability on the municipalities to keep costs down.

He challenged us to end the "American cancer" that is hatred, regardless of who it's against.

 Racism and discrimination are not new... It is this country consuming itself from within. And if we do not confront it, and if we do not defeat it, it will defeat us — there is no nation on this globe that can beat this nation, but this nation can defeat itself. 

New York must be the antidote. 

He said hate crimes would be subject to the "first-in-the-nation domestic terrorism law" and there'd be funding to expand the capacity of the Hate Crimes Task Force and for security grants to schools and places of worship. And, he wants schools to teach civic values and our history on diversity, as well as how immigration was driven by religious freedom, and

How Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity all teach one premise: that the strongest four-letter word is not hate, its love. 

There's also a call to expand the Jewish Museum on the Holocaust to allow it to "host school children all across the state" and make visiting there

part of a rounded education because to know the history of the Jewish people, is to know the history of love and connection, because New York would not be New York without the Jewish community, period.

Finally, he spoke of unity, saying that we should learn from the Pledge of Allegiance.

 It says, "One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all." Justice for all. Not justice for some, not justice for the wealthy, not justice for the well-off, not justice for the well-bred. Justice for all. That's what it says.

To demonstrate what that means to New Yorkers, he wants to add E Pluribus Unum to our state flag.

And then, the closing:

And hear me today, loud and clear. There is no place for hate in our state... When someone attacks one of us, they attack each of us and all of us.

When they attack Muslims, they attack me, and they attack you. When they attack the LGBTQ community, they attack me, and they attack you. When they attack Latinos, they attack me, and they attack you. When they attack Asian Americans, they attack me, and they attack you. When they attack African Americans, they're attacking me, and they're attacking you. When they're attacking Italian Americans, they're attacking me, and they're attacking you. When they're attacking Puerto Ricans, they're attacking me, and they're attacking you. And when they attack Orthodox Jewish people on the seventh night of Hanukkah, in Monsey, in Rockland, in the home of Rabbi Rottenberg, they attack me and they attack you! 

And when you try to divide the great State of New York, we will stand up tall. We will stand up unified. We will stand up and we will fight and we will win! Because we are right! And that is the New York way! Excelsior! Thank you, and God bless you!

And, lest you're wondering, he's not running for president in 2024. At least not yet.

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.