News from STATE SENATOR
Liz Krueger
New York State Senate, 26th District
COMMUNITY BULLETIN – July 2006
INDEX
1.) Message from Liz . . .
2.) Community Spotlight
a.) New Orleans Public Library Seeks Book Donations
b.) Resources for Single Parents
c.) Free Legal Assistance for Seniors
d.) Affordable Housing Opportunities in Manhattan
f.) Free Assistance with Citizen Applications of Seniors and the Disabled
3.) Spotlight on Policy: "Stop Over Spending" Act
Message from Liz . . .
As always, after months of short legislative days and a trickle of action on bills, the legislative leaders packed about half of the action for the entire session into the final two weeks. This approach often results in important issues getting lost in the shuffle, and also undermines the opportunity for careful consideration of the bills we do actually pass. The Legislature's behavior at the end of session always reminds me that one of the most important reforms we could implement would be to do more work from January to May, when we have time for more considered review of the issues, instead of leaving everything to the last minute and then rushing to resolve all the outstanding issues facing New York State in the last two weeks (or, in some cases) two days.
The annual end-of-session flurry of activity this year was a mixed bag -- some important accomplishments, some promises of action yet to be fulfilled, and many issues completely ignored. Among the issues we did address in the final days were:
- Medicaid Funding Restorations: the Legislature and the Governor reached an important agreement restoring $632 million that the Governor had vetoed from the legislature's budget earlier this year. The Governor had argued that the legislative appropriation was unconstitutional, and therefore had indicated he would not allocate the funds despite the fact that the legislature overrode his vetoes. The final agreement included restoration of over $260 million in funding for hospitals and nursing homes, a long overdue increase in the Medicaid reimbursement rate for emergency services, and new performance-based incentives for nursing homes. In addition, the Medicaid wrap-around for Medicare prescription drug coverage was extended until January 2007, and the ability of spouses to protect assets when a partner enters a nursing home was restored.
- Medicaid Inspector General: Another important bill passed in the final days of session creates a Medicaid Inspector General's office to coordinate investigations into Medicaid fraud. This bill should improve monitoring of the Medicaid program and save the State millions of dollars in reimbursements for fraudulent Medicaid claims by medical providers.
- Elimination of the 5-Year Statute of Limitations on Rape. I first introduced similar legislation in 2002, my first year in the legislature. This legislation had been long delayed because the Senate and Assembly disagreed over whether to eliminate both the Criminal and Civil Statute of Limitations -- the Senate majority had resisted eliminating the Civil Statute. This year a compromise was worked out that opens a five-year window from passage of this legislation, and from prosecution of criminal cases, for pursuing civil liability. Passage of this legislation is a huge victory for fighting sexual assaults, and will ensure that rapists who are identified through DNA evidence or testimony from sexual assault survivors after five years, can still be prosecuted, and that survivors can receive both justice and compensation for these assaults.
- Expansion of the state DNA database to include all convicted felons as well as a number of serious misdemeanors. While this legislation has the potential to help identify repeat offenders, it also has major problems. First, the bill includes no additional money for DNA processing, and the state already has a significant backlog of DNA samples. This legislation will result in tens of thousands of additional DNA kits needing processing, and this program can only be effective in identifying suspects if these kits do not sit for years awaiting action. A second problem is the failure to include an "Innocence Project" in the final bill, as proposed by the Assembly. Just as it is critical to use DNA to identify the guilty, it is equally critical that we use this technology to free the innocent.
- A ban on the use of so-called "Special Housing Units" (SHUs) for incarcerating mentally ill prisoners. Prisoners are confined in windowless SHUs for 23 hours out of every day, and completely isolated from other prisoners. This treatment is particularly dangerous to those already suffering from mental illness. Over 50% of suicides in the state prison system are committed by prisoners confined to SHUs. The legislation also provides for new treatment requirements for prisoners diagnosed with serious mental illness.
- $225 Million Appropriation for the Environmental Protection Fund: Among the programs funded under this allocation are local waterfront revitalization, parks funding, water quality improvement, and open space protection. This funding is critical to the continued protection of New York's vital environmental resources and the improvement and expansion of parks and open space.
- Tax Incentives for Preservation of Historic Buildings: The Legislature also acted to provide much-needed incentives that will encourage new investment in the reuse of historic buildings in urban and rural communities throughout New York State. The measure (A.11987 / S. 8392) provides for a State Income Tax credit for the rehabilitation costs of historic commercial and residential structures.
Obviously there are plenty of other important issues that we once again failed to address - healthcare reform, fair funding formulas for our schools, repeal of the Urstadt Law, and campaign and redistricting reform are just a few. But I am pleased that we were able to pass some important legislation in the final days of session, and will keep up the pressure on all the issues that we ignored.
Community Spotlight
New Orleans Public Library Seeks Book Donations:
The New Orleans Public Library is seeking donations of hardcover and paperback books for people of all ages in an effort to restock their shelves after Hurricane Katrina. The staff will assess which titles will be designated for its collections. You can send donations of books to:
Rica A. Trigs, Public Relations, New Orleans Public Library, 219 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans LA 70112. If you tell the post office that the books are for the library in New Orleans, they will give you the library rate, which is slightly less than the book rate.
Resources for Single Parents:
The Single Parent Resource Center offers a number of programs aimed at assisting single parents and their children. Among the programs they offer are assistance finding summer day camps, a Single Fathers Program, a Youth Leadership Program for teens, and a Family Respite Center. For more information on these and other programs offered by the center, call their Parent Line at (212) 951-7030 x 231 Monday-Thursday 9:30 AM - 1:00 PM.
Free Legal Assistance for Seniors
The New York Seniors Legal Assistance Project (NYSLA) offers free legal assistance to seniors on a variety of issues, including health care, income security, consumer issues, nursing home transition issues, guardianship, health care proxies and living wills. NYSLA primarily focuses on advice and short service cases. Priority is given to lower income clients and clients who face barriers to obtaining legal relief without assistance, such as those with limited English proficiency or personal factors such as fear and stress, frailty and ill health, mobility restrictions, or lack of a support system. For assistance call (646) 442-3333. Hours for the project are 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and 5:00 to 8:00 PM on Tuesdays.
Affordable Housing Opportunities in Manhattan:
250 West Owners LLC is now accepting applications for 31 one and two bedroom apartments for low and moderate income individuals and families. Rents for these units will be $544-1,810.00 per month depending on income and unit size. To be eligible, applicants have incomes between $21,760 to $141,800, depending on income, unit and family size. Applications will be selected by lottery with preference given to New York City residents. Applicants residing in Community Boards 10 will receive priority for 50% of the units. In addition, visual/hearing impaired applicants will receive priority for 2% of the units, applicants with mobility impairment will receive priority for 5% of the units, and applicants who are New York City municipal employees with receive preference for 5% of the units. One application per household. You may request an application by mail from: 250 West Owners, LLC c/o Poko Management Corp. 225 Westchester Ave, Port Chester NY 10573. Please include a self-addressed envelope with your application request. Applications must be postmarked no later than July 31st 2006 and must be returned by regular mail to the PO Box on the application, so you should request your application as soon as possible in order to ensure you have time to fill it out and return it by the deadline.
Free Assistance with Citizenship Applications for Seniors and the Disabled
Self-help Community Services offers citizenship application assistance to people 60 years or older, or who are on SSI Disability. Assistance includes N-400 application preparation, fee and transportation subsidies, and help with existing applications. For more information call (718) 633-1300 for assistance in English, Armenian, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Russian, Sri Lankan, Tamil, Urdu or Yiddish; and (212) 787-8106 for assistance in Spanish or Creole.
Spotlight on Policy
"Stop Over Spending" Act
One piece of proposed federal legislation that would have a devastating impact on the New York State budget is the so-called "Stop Over Spending" Act (S.3521) introduced by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg. The Gregg bill would impose caps of various kinds on both discretionary spending and all entitlement programs other than Social Security. But it would also shift significant budgetary power from the Congress to the President and to unelected commissions. For example, the legislation includes a line-item veto proposal that would give the President the power to cancel - or threaten to cancel - carefully negotiated spending provisions agreed upon by Congress. This would give the President far more power in the legislative process than is currently the case.
This particular version of the Line Item Veto goes far beyond earmark reform, which supporters of the bill purport to be addressing through this provision. Funding for annually appropriated programs as well as for entitlement expansions - such as, for example, a measure to extend health care coverage to more uninsured children - would be subject to a line item veto if a President so chose. But the vast preponderance of new tax breaks for wealthy investors and corporations would be shielded from the line item veto. This unbalanced bill will thus put the President in the driver's seat with regard to spending, but will do little to help to raise the revenues that are desperately needed to reduce the annual deficit.
The real-world impact of this bill could be staggering - driving cutbacks in critical investments for health care, child care, education, public safety, veterans' programs, and other priorities. Millions of individuals - including the elderly, people with disabilities, and children - could lose their health insurance due to Medicaid and Medicare cutbacks. In addition, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, health care providers could eventually see their Medicare reimbursement rates slashed by as much as 30 percent. Just three short years from now, children's services, including Head Start, could be cut by $1.4 billion, or 15 percent. During that same period vocational and adult education could be cut by $1.5 billion, or 73 percent, and student loans would also be at risk of cuts over time. Community policing could be cut by $300 million, or 75 percent. Clean water and drinking water funds could be cut by $354 million, or 19 percent. Even veterans' benefits would be subject to the budget ax, with cuts in disability compensation, veterans' pensions, and VA medical care. The impact on state budgets would be devastating, particularly for states like New York that have relatively generous healthcare and social service programs for the poor.