[NYAPRS Enews] GNS: Cuomo's Aggressive Agenda For 2013

[Harvey Rosenthal]

Governor Cuomo's Aggressive Agenda For 2013

By Jessica Bakeman | Gannett Albany Bureau   January 1, 2013

 

ALBANY, N.Y. - When lawmakers return to the state Capitol in early
January for a new legislative session, they'll face closing a roughly $2
billion budget deficit and debating a "progressive" social agenda
demanded by the powerful Democratic governor.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he expects the Legislature to pass "the
people's agenda," specifically a minimum-wage hike, decriminalization of
small amounts of marijuana and reform of the state's campaign-finance
laws. Gun control will likely dominate during the session, as well,
after a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school earlier this
month thrust gun violence into the national spotlight.

Recovery from Superstorm Sandy will have a profound effect on the budget
for fiscal year 2013-14 - although to what extent is unclear as the
state waits for emergency funds from Congress. Local governments will
pressure lawmakers for relief from the financial responsibilities of
state mandates, and Cuomo has said there is no place in Albany for those
who don't support the 2 percent property-tax cap, which was passed in
2011.

"As governor, I have specific programs and progressive initiatives that
I believe must be continued or enacted," Cuomo wrote in an op-ed piece
Dec. 6. "In general, I believe the state needs to continue the progress
of the past two years to maintain the fiscal integrity we've established
and further the social progress we've achieved."

Cuomo also urged the Legislature to allow "limited and highly regulated"
casinos, support women's reproductive rights and pass environmental
protection initiatives. He also expects continuing support for
predetermined increases in education and Medicaid spending, tax cuts for
the middle class and education reforms, such as a teacher evaluation
system adopted in 2011.

Discussing his priorities on an Albany radio show Dec. 12, Cuomo said:
"I will do everything in my power to get that agenda passed."

Cuomo noted he would announce other priorities during his 2013 State of
the State speech, to be held Jan. 9 in Albany. The legislative session
also starts Jan. 9 and runs through June.

 

Senate Leadership

Although a series of close state Senate races in the November elections
resulted in more Democrats being elected to the chamber than
Republicans, a breakaway faction of Democrats has decided to partner
with the GOP. That, and the decision of Sen. Simcha Felder, D-Brooklyn,
to sit with Republicans, has lead to uncertainty about how liberal
social issues will fare.

The Independent Democratic Conference, led by Sen. Jeffrey Klein,
D-Bronx, brokered a power-sharing deal with Republican Leader Dean
Skelos, R-Nassau County, in which the two will alternate the Senate
presidency every two weeks.

Though Republicans and the IDC have touted the agreement as an an
unprecedented commitment to bipartisan cooperation in Albany, mainstream
Senate Democrats have condemned the deal as an attempt to circumvent
voters' will.

Democrats won at least 32 of 63 seats in the elections, which would have
shifted to them control of the chamber, had the IDC and Felder not
broken away.

Republicans currently hold a slight 33-29 majority.

"This is not a coalition but a coup against all New Yorkers who voted
for Democratic control of the Senate and a progressive state
government," Senate Democratic spokesman Mike Murphy said in a statement
Dec. 4.

Klein told Gannett's Albany Bureau earlier this month that the coalition
is "committed to seeing major pieces of progressive legislation pass the
Senate chamber." He said the chamber would approve increasing the
minimum wage, decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana and reforming
campaign finance laws.

But Republicans have not been so clear.

Senate Deputy Majority Leader Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, said he
doesn't "like any of the bills that are out there right now" on the
minimum wage or campaign-finance reform.

Democrats have pushed to raise the hourly wage from $7.25 to $8.50,
arguing that low-income New Yorkers will put that money back into local
economies. Republicans have maintained the change would stifle small
businesses.

Campaign-finance advocates want strengthened disclosure laws and a
publicly funded system.

Libous said those proposals are "devastating."

"I'm not going to contradict what Leader Klein is saying, but I think if
they do go to the floor, I think they will be in a different form than
what we presently see," Libous said earlier this month. "I think there
are creative ways of addressing issues like the minimum wage and
creative ways of addressing campaign-finance reform."

Minimum Wage Increase

Klein called a minimum wage increase "a moral necessity," and Senate
Democratic Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, said the
hike would "make a difference for so many people."

Stewart-Cousins said Senate Democrats would be open minded to different
forms of the minimum-wage bill, but wouldn't want to see a weak bill
pass.

 

Campaign-Finance Reform

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the state ethics board have
recently revealed plans to reform campaign financing in New York, a
system where donors are allowed to contribute a lot but required to
disclose very little.

Schneiderman, a first-term Democrat, proposed regulations this month
that would require nonprofits registered in New York to report how much
they spend on local, state and federal elections. Groups that spend more
than $10,000 would have to release to the public an itemized report of
expenses.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics recently adopted regulations that
require disclosure from lobbyists.

But Cuomo said he has a proposal that will go beyond those regulations.

He said he wants any donor, no matter where they're located, to be
covered under the state's disclosure laws. He will lay out more details
in his State of the State, he said.

 

 

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