ALBANY – New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo gave his State of the State address and unveiled his 2016 spending plan on Wednesday, calling on the legislature to invest billions of dollars to fight homelessness, rebuild infrastructure, and enhance public education.
“Crumbling infrastructure, a slow economic recovery, the unambiguous reality that climate change threatens the very way of life, a growing specter of terrorism, homelessness, an ever widening gap between the wealthy and everyone else, political polarization and government gridlock ... These problems may have confounded other states and the federal government, but I know New York must and can address them,” said Cuomo.
The Democratic governor’s $145.3 billon budget proposes drastic investment of $20 billion over five years for massive expansion of housing and homelessness. This covers construction of 100,000 affordable housing units across the state, along with creating 6,000 new supportive housing beds, 1,000 emergency beds, and expanding homelessness services.
“This is New York. And we are New Yorkers, and we will not allow people to dwell in the gutter like garbage,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo also pitched a plan for more than $54 billion in infrastructure projects, which includes $250 million for water and wastewater projects, a $22 billion multi-year capital plan to upgrade roads and bridges, and continued investment in broadband Internet access throughout the state.
Cuomo also called for a $2.1 billion increase in school aid over the next two years, bringing total aid up to $24.2 billion by 2017. Initiatives include ending the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) over two years, expanding pre-K programs to three-year-olds, getting continued advisement from the newly established Common Core Task Force, and investing an additional $470 million in resources for SUNY and CUNY colleges.
“For generations of New Yorkers, education has been the ladder to climb out of poverty,” Cuomo said. “Today, the need for that ladder is greater than it has ever been.”
The governor also called for $300 million for small business tax cuts, incentives for local government consolidation, and a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour which would be phased in in New York City over four years, and in the rest of the state by 2021.
Many of the proposals outlined in the governor’s speech have been introduced by Cuomo since the start of the year.
On the issue of ethics reform – a leading issue for many legislators earlier this week – Cuomo called for a series of initiatives that he said would restore the trust of New Yorkers amid recent acts that have “undermined the public’s trust in government.”
“Public trust is essential for government to function at the level we need,” he added.
Recommendations include closing the loophole which currently allows wealthy individuals and corporations to use Limited Liability Companies (LLC) to avoid New York’s campaign donation limits. Also, Cuomo proposed limiting outside income for legislators.
“The original constitutional view of a part-time legislature dates back to colonial charters and our first State Constitution in 1777. Now back then, legislators returned to their farms to tend the crops,” said Cuomo. “But that doesn’t happen today. Today, legislators work at law firms or business that pose real or potential conflicts.”
The proposal will limit state legislator’s outside income to 15 percent of their base salary.
Other proposals in the area of ethics and government reform include adoption of a voluntary public campaign financing system, increased transparency through the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), early voting in 139 locations, and a $1 million investment for an expert, non-partisan commission to make recommendations ahead of the state’s referendum to hold a convention to amend the state constitution in 2017.
A number of state legislators weighed in on the governor’s 2016 agenda on Wednesday.
“It’s troubling that Gov. Cuomo does not want to end the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) this year,” stated 51st Senate District Representative James Seward (R-Springport). “Upstate schools desperately need these funds restored so that they can retain talented teachers and implement a forward-thinking curriculum. I was also looking for a public education funding increase commensurate with last year’s allocation ... Now is not the time to scale back aid increases.”
In his first State of the State address, newly elected Republican State Senator Fred Akshar said he was “disappointed” that the governor failed to address the state’s heroin epidemic.