News
from STATE SENATOR
Liz Krueger
COMMUNITY
BULLETIN – April 2005
Message from Liz . . .
Late last month, the legislature passed the first on-time budget in 21 years. However, this was accomplished only by taking some of the most important issues off the table for later negotiation. I will discuss the details of the budget deal in the policy spotlight below, and will focus this message on the process and what it tells us about the progress (or lack thereof) toward real reform.
Of course, substance and process should not be
entirely de-linked. Passing a bad budget
on time is much worse than passing a good budget late. I was not pleased about
a number of items in the budget, and voted against several of the budget bills
because they failed to address the critical needs of
Passing the budget on time was extremely
important because late budgets have become a symbol to the public of all that
is wrong with
Another important sign of reform is that we
actually had the budget bills for three days before they came to a vote. I support legislation that would require ten
days for public review of the budget, given that budget taken together totals
several thousand pages. But three days
is certainly better than a few hours, which has often been the case in previous
years.
I cannot give the legislature an “A” for our budget process, however. One major flaw in the process is that we succeeded in passing our budget on time only by taking some of the most controversial – and important – issues off the table. This meant that we still had $1.7 Billion in spending unresolved on April 1, leaving some to legitimately question whether we had met the deadline at all. Furthermore, when we did address the final issues in the budget this week, we reverted to our old methods of moving bills through with no public review. We passed the budget “cleanup” bills using messages of necessity from the Governor the moment after they appeared on our desks. Taking these caveats into account, it is clear that this years’ budget process represents a significant step forward in the fight for legislative reform. I firmly believe that the fact we have an on-time budget is a direct result of pressure from the press and community groups, as well as the political pressure placed on Senate Republicans by Democrats, both on the floor of the Senate and in the electoral arena. We are waking up the State Senate to the reality that if they continue with their dysfunctional ways, there are real consequences, including losing their seats. As long as electoral defeat remains a consequence for failure to reform, we have a real chance of continuing to advance a broad reform agenda.
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SENIOR/HEALTH CARE
COMMUNITY FORUM: “PRESCRIPTION DRUG
BENEFITS FOR SENIORS” Featuring
a Discussion of the 2006 Medicare Part D Benefit Date:
Friday, June 10th Time: 2pm –4pm Place: Call (212) 490-9535 for further information |
Community Spotlight
Parents Speak Out!:
Community Education Council District 2 (www.cecd2.net), comprised of volunteer parents elected last
summer to represent public schools in District 2, needs your help! They
are working hard to cut through red tape and serve as advocates for parents on
issues of importance. In order to do this, they need your input.
Please fill out this short survey on my website at www.lizkrueger.com/educationsurvey.html and send it
to: Community Education Council, District 2, NYC Dept of Education,
Section 8 Voucher Waiting List Open Through
May 4, 2005:
The long –closed Section 8 Voucher waiting
list has been temporarily reopened. To
be eligible you must meet income eligibility requirements, and submit an
application by May 4, 2005. Income
eligibility is based on family size, ranging from $22,000 for a single
individual, $25,100 for 2 people, and $33,900 for a family of five. Up to 6000 eligible applicants will be added
to the Voucher waiting list. A random
lottery will determine applicants’ placement on the waiting list. To request an application, send a
self-addressed stamped envelope to NYSDHCR,
Upcoming Senior Wellness Events at Crown
Community Care of Yorkville:
All seniors are invited to attend Senior
Wellness Program events at Crown Community Care. Upcoming events include “Ask the Social
Worker” on Saturday, April 16 at 2:00PM, an Exercise Class on Wednesday April
20th and Wednesday April 27th at 10:00AM, and a Knitting
and Crochet Class on Thursday April 28th at 10:00AM. All events take place at St. Stephen of
April is Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness
Month:
More than 85,000 people nationwide are
currently waiting for organ transplants.
To bring attention to this great need, April has been declared National
Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Month.
Organ and tissue transplantation has saved or enhanced the lives of
thousands of men, women and children nationwide. For more information on organ donation,
contact my office at (212) 490-9535. You
can also join the New York State Organ and Tissue Registry by filling out a
webform at http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/donor/index.htm, or by calling
1-866-NYDONOR.
Mother’s Day Mammography Campaign:
The Adelphi NY Statewide Breast Cancer Hotline
and Support Program is conducting their annual Mothers Day Mammography
Campaign, to encourage women to get mammograms.
They can provide information on getting low cost or free mammograms, and
answer questions about breast cancer. To
get help, call their hotline at 1-800-877-8077, or visit them on the web at www.adelphi.edu/nysbreastcancer.
Information on Health Care Proxys and Living
Wills:
The recent press coverage of the tragic Terry
Schiavo case has highlighted the importance of making sure that everyone has
clear instructions for their loved ones regarding what life support treatments
they wish to have should they become incapacitated. My office has information regarding two
important ways of ensuring your health care wishes will be respected: Health
Care Proxys and Living Wills. If you
would like this information, please contact my office at (212) 490-9535.
SCAM ALERT: Don’t Be Taken in by Phony
Fundraisers Claiming to be Police:
New Yorkers have been conned out of millions
of dollar by phony telemarketers who falsely claim to be soliciting donations
on behalf of the New York City Police Department. These telemarketers pose as police officers
and try to deceive potential donors with false and misleading statements that
their donations will be used to support the NYPD, or help widows and children
of slain officers. The reality is that the
NYPD never solicits charitable donations. If you receive a call claiming to be
raising funds for the NYPD, you can report it to the NYPD Internal Affairs
Bureau at (212) 741-8401, or to the Attorney General’s Office at (212)
416-8401. Your call will be kept
confidential. If you do wish to
contribute to the NYPD, the only approved fund-raising organization for the
NYPD is the New York Police Foundation, Inc.
For information on the foundation, call (212) 751-8170.
LEGAL
BOUND Summer Junior High and High School Intern Program:
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is
accepting applications for its Legal Bound Summer Internship Program. Students between the ages of 14 and 17 (or 18
if still in high school) with an interest in the law are encouraged to
apply. Applicants should send a resume
and an essay explaining their interest in the law to Community Affairs Unit,
New York County District Attorneys Office, Attn: Ms. Carol Ragsdale,
The Fourth Annual
So
what did we actually do with this years’ budget? The short answer is tread water. The legislature managed to restore most of
the Governor’s most draconian cuts to higher education and health care. But we also failed to address the serious
needs of
Education: One of the biggest
failures of this budget was the failure to address the Campaign for Fiscal
Equity decision requiring additional funding for
Higher
Education: The
story in higher education was somewhat better, in that the legislature restored
full funding for TAP grants for low income students, and eliminated the need
for a tuition increase at SUNY and CUNY colleges. These are important changes, but again leave
us only treading water, in that they do not address the long-term needs for
greater investment in higher education.
Health
Care: The Governor
had proposed draconian cuts to Medicaid and Family Health Plus that would have
had negative impacts on both recipients of these programs as well as hospitals
and other health care service providers.
I was pleased that the vast majority of these cuts were eliminated by
the legislature, and voted for the Health and Mental Hygiene Budget Bills
because I felt they appropriately balanced the goal of cost containment with
the need to maintain our health care system.
On the cost containment side, the legislature placed a cap on the local
cost of Medicaid, and agreed to a Preferred Drug List (PDL) for Medicaid
recipients, with a number of important patient protections including the right
of physicians to override the list when they deem it medically necessary. I support a PDL with patient protections as a
worthwhile way to address rising prescription drug costs. The budget clean up bills passed this week
also included an increase in co-pays for drugs for Medicaid and Family Health
Plus recipients that was not included in the original budget deal, but I was
extremely pleased that we were able to preserve important services for
recipients, including dental and vision care.
Social
Services: One
of the issues the legislative budget did not address was the Governor’s
proposal to change the distribution of federal social services funding through
the TANF program. Under the Governor’s
proposal, this money, much of which is currently distributed directly to
service providers by the state, would be provided to localities through block
grants, ostensibly in the name of flexibility and local control. However this proposal poses great risks to
programs funded through TANF dollars that are not mandated by the federal
government, and also transfers the risk from the state to the localities should
the federal government significantly reduce TANF funding, which is very likely
in the current political climate in
Transportation: While I am happy
that the legislature made additions to the MTA capital budget to deal with
issues of ongoing maintenance, I am disheartened by the levels of funding for
crucial expansion projects like the Second Avenue Subway. This failure to invest in necessary
improvements in our transportation infrastructure will have serious long-term
effects on the ability of the MTA to meet the needs of both
Tax
Policy: Neither
the legislature nor the Governor offered any proposals to create a more
progressive tax structure for
“Economic
Development” Slush Funds: This
budget is actually relatively moderate in the creation of new slush funds for
the legislature and the governor to distribute for economic development. The main additions are $90 million for
“regional economic development” with the distribution to be determined by a
private agreement between the three men in a room, and a $250 million
“technology and development” program being pushed by the Governor. I was pleased that some more ambitious
proposals fell by the wayside, including a proposal to put $350 million into
the RESTORE and GeNYsis programs. These
programs have been around since 2002 and give grants for high-tech development
at the discretion of the legislative leadership. Perhaps the leaders felt they could pass on
increasing the funding for these programs, since they were able to
reappropriate close to $1 billion into these funds that was not spent from
previous years.
In
sum, the budget we passed is simply more of the same – while we may have
reformed the process, we still have a long way to go toward reforming the
product. There were some major
accomplishments in this years’ budget process, but we still have a long way to
go before New Yorkers get the budget – or the budget process – they deserve.
Repeal
of the Urstadt Law
Earlier
this week, I offered a motion to petition to bring my bill (S.2735) to
restore home rule to
Since 1971, when home rule over rent and eviction protections was taken away, New York City households alike, with half of all New Yorkers paying at or over the federal hardship level of 30% of income in rent, and a fourth of all households are paying more than half their income in rent. Firefighters, nurses, teachers, police officers, construction workers, seniors, artists and thousands of other New Yorkers can no longer afford to live in the communities they serve. More and more low-income families have become homeless - there are more homeless people in NYC than at any time since the Great Depression. By preventing the City Council and Mayor from acting to preserve affordable housing, the Urstadt Law is an unconscionable restriction on the democratic “home rule” of New York City
The Urstadt Law was named after Charles Urstadt, former Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s housing commissioner and a major real-estate owner, he was also one of the architects of Governor George Pataki’s 1994 transition platform, which made explicit the intention to end rent and eviction protections entirely, a promise which took giant steps toward realization in the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997.
My
Republican colleagues frequently talk about the importance of local control
when speaking on legislation affecting localities other than