Senate grumbles about Assembly, passes three bills
Posted on March 24, 2013 at 7:08 pm by Jimmy Vielkind, Capitol bureau in Budget 2013
ALBANY — State senators marked Palm Sunday with a rare afternoon session to consider parts of the state’s $135.1 billion budget.
But several large parts of the spending plan, due by April 1, remained unfinished, a fact that prompted members of the Democrat-dominated Assembly to postpone a planned Sunday afternoon session until Thursday. The Senate passed three bills Sunday afternoon as members grumbled about their counterparts’ absence.
“Why are we even here?” One senator asked.
Sen. John DeFrancisco, a Syracuse Republican who chairs the chamber’s Finance Committee, said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was “impolite” for abruptly moving his session to Thursday.
“It was sort of deciding he makes the decision unilaterally and I think that doesn’t bode well for bipartisan good discussions in the negotiations,” he said.
Deputy Republican Leader Tom Libous, R-Binghamton, echoed his frustrations, but said the Senate was passing bills to ensure an on-time budget. “Whatever the Assembly wants to do, that’s their business,” he added. “They don’t run the Senate.”
A Silver spokesman said, “We’re still negotiating the budget.” Indeed, as of press time, bills that dictate aid to school districts and localities, funding for care of the developmentally disabled as well as the state’s tax policy had not yet been finalized.
People familiar with the negotiations said the district-by-district breakdown of education aid — a perennial sticking point — was largely settled. Lawmakers quietly feuded over how big a role legislators would play in controlling the flow of economic development dollars, as well as efforts to plug a $120 million cut to care for the developmentally disabled.
Cuomo proposed the cut in budget amendments to offset the federal government’s contention that New York had overbilled for these services, funded through the state-federal Medicaid program, over the years.
Legislators have pushed to get the money back, but officials say only $30 million has been restored. Michael Carey, a Bethlehem man whose developmentally disabled son, Jonathan, died in state care, said the cuts were “gross negligence.”
People following the negotiations said Cuomo had held firm on the $30 million number, and that some of the still unsettled bills dealt with establishing a council that will work, through the year, to find other money for the developmentally disabled.
“We’re trying to minimize as much pain as possible,” said an administration source. “These are not cuts from the normal levels. These are reductions that far exceeded what they are supposed to be. It’s rightsizing the payments because we’ve been overcharging for so long.”
Many of the marquee items that leaders announced last week at a kumbaya press conference to declare a conceptual budget agreement, including an increase in the minimum wage and tax rebates of $350 to families with children, still have not been codified in legislation that the public can see.
Senate leaders said they were confident those negotiations would wrap up by midnight Sunday, which would let the last bills ripen for voting by Wednesday. Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos, R-Long Island, confirmed that lawmakers have agreed to “indefinitely” suspend a provision of the state’s gun law, scheduled to take effect on April 15, that would prohibit the purchase of eight, nine and 10-round magazines.
The Senate session lasted less than an hour, and featured debate that was partisan and orderly. The bills offered funding for local roads — $75 million more than they received last year — as well as appropriations for zoos and aquariums and language that would allow SUNY Downstate Medical Center, a troubled hospital in Brooklyn, to be privatized. That drew a sharp rebuke from Sen. Kevin Parker, a Democratic lawmaker from the borough.
“You want to run these nice ads about New York being open for business? It’s not open for business in Brooklyn. You’re closing the fourth largest employer in Brooklyn. And you want my vote?” He said.
Senators planned to return at 11 a.m. Monday for a quick session. The Passover holiday starts at sun down.
Marco Damiani
Executive Vice President
YAI Network
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Chair, Manhattan Developmental Disabilities Council