SENATOR BIAGGI REPORTS ON THE STATE’S 2019-2020 BUDGET

  Senator Alessandra Biaggi (Bronx/Westchester) issued the following analysis of the 2019-2020 State budget:

On April 1, the legislature passed the $175.5 billion state budget, which included some extremely important reforms, but also some major disappointments. It was the first budget since the new Democratic majority took over the State Senate and the first I participated in. I was disappointed in the process and believe it needs to change, but I will have more to say on that soon. For now, here’s my view on the key results.

Criminal Justice Reform: How much money you have should not determine how you are treated by the criminal justice system. That’s not justice and these new reforms will result in major, long needed improvements in the fairness of our criminal justice system.

• There will be no cash bail for most misdemeanor and non-violent felony offenses. Now, too often too many people, usually the impoverished and people of color, who are accused but not convicted, can’t make bail and have to sit in jail for long periods, potentially losing their jobs and their homes. Now that changes.
• Changes to the discovery rules will mean that prosecutors will have to share evidence with the defense earlier.  Currently, the accused don’t know what the evidence is against them or how long they will have to wait for trial and too many are forced to plead guilty, whether they are actually guilty or not.
• Speedy trial provisions mean that trials will happen sooner and that no individuals will languish in prison for excessive amounts of time for crimes that they have only been accused of.

Voting: Earlier this year, we passed major reforms to make it easier for everyone to register and vote, which is essential to preserve our democracy, especially at a time when the right to vote is under attack in other areas of the U.S. The budget provided the funding to actually implement those reforms.

Funding to Fix Mass Transit.  The New York City metropolitan area doesn’t work without good mass transit. One of our most important tasks was to produce enough reliable funding to fix and expand our subways, commuter railroads and bus lines.

• We passed congestion pricing, which will establish tolls for driving into Manhattan south of 60th Street, excluding those just using the FDR or West Side Highways. Many of the details, such as exclusions and discounts based on, for example income or credit for bridge and tunnel tolls paid in the same trip, will be determined by a commission.
• An Internet sales tax will be imposed by Internet retailers such as Amazon on New Yorkers who buy items that would be taxed if bought in a store. That should both produce income and help small local businesses that are at a disadvantage when Internet sellers don’t collect sales tax.
• There was a proposal to tax expensive second homes owned by people who don’t live in New York City, the Pied-a-Terre tax. Those apartments will only maintain their value as long as New York City remains a good place to live and work, so it’s reasonable to ask that those super wealthy people contribute to maintaining the City. Unfortunately, that proposal was replaced with a tax on the sale of all homes above a certain value, starting with $3 million, and an increase in the mansion tax, starting with homes at $2 million. These taxes will fall on many New Yorkers who are not rich, and will produce less money to fix mass transit than the Pied-a-Terre tax. Sadly, the real estate industry used its power to push for the change, which will benefit only high-end developers and the super-rich, many of them foreigners. That’s a strong argument for campaign finance reform to get money out of politics. More on that below.   

Plastic Bag Ban: The budget protects our waterways and environment by banning plastic carry out bags, and authorizing counties and cities to impose a five-cent fee on paper bags. If they choose to opt-in, 40 percent of the funds raised from the fee will help cities and counties purchase and distribute reusable bags, especially in low and fixed-income communities. The other 60 percent will go to the Environmental Protection Fund.

Health Care: To protect New Yorkers access to health care, with the Affordable Care Act under attack in Washington, the State made the federal Affordable Care Act and the New York Health Care Exchange into State law.

Education: Nothing is more important than ensuring that every student in every school in every zip code has access to an excellent education. In my campaign, I promised to fight for full funding for our schools, but we did not win that fight this year. This budget includes $27.86 billion in General Support for Public Schools, a $1 billion increase over the 18-19 school year, and a total of $18.4 billion in Foundation Aid, an increase of $622 million in Foundation Aid. Both the Senate and Assembly proposed double that amount. I’m determined to continue fighting for full funding of our schools. Clearly, it will take all of use working together to achieve that.

Campaign Finance Reform: As noted above on the issue of funding for mass transit, when big money is involved, decisions benefit them, not all of us. That’s why it’s essential that we implement a program of matching small donor contributions and lower the maximum contribution, which will require candidates to spend time talking to and asking for support from their constituents, not special interests. Instead of passing that program, the job has been given to a commission. It’s essential that we ensure that the people who are appointed to that commission fully support real reform. And that the commission is not used to end fusion voting, which allows candidates to run on the lines of more than one political party.

In my first three months as your Senator, there are some major accomplishments to point to in the legislation passed before the budget and in the budget itself. But clearly there are also fights yet to be won, for which I will need your support. One clear lesson already is that elections matter and your vote matters. Much of what we have been able to accomplish would not have been possible without the new Democratic majority in the Senate. So I urge everyone to register and vote. And with the new law allowing teens 16 and 17 to pre-register, make sure your children and family members also register and vote.