125 DAYS LATE; NYS SENATE FINALLY PASSES BUDGET

Albany, N.Y.--
By a vote of 32-28 last Tuesday, strictly along party lines, the New York State Senate passed the revenue portion of the state budget. Passage of this bill finalizes the 2010-11 state budget.

The budget, which is over four months late, was held up for the past month due to State Sen. Bill Stachowski refusing to vote on it until issues surrounding SUNY and CUNY were resolved.

The bill that failed to pass was a bill that would have given the state university system far more autonomy to set its own tuition rates. The plan was being pushed by the chancellor, Nancy L. Zimpher, as a way to help turn around the ailing system.

But Democratic leaders pulled the bill twice after it was clear both times that it would not pass.  Many CSEA members work in the SUNY system.  CSEA leadership proposed many suggestions to lawmakers to protect our worker jobs from becoming outsourced or affected by this new reorganization.  CSEA was not completely satisfied with all the provisions of the SUNY Empowerment Bill  from the get-go so it wasn't such a huge disappointment to see nothing happen here.  However, in an interview with Capital Tonight's Liz Benjamin, Stachowski says he feels that the issue is not dead just yet and their is a "framework" in place to get it done.

The final revenue bill temporarily reinstates sales tax on clothing purchases valued at less than $110 and also limits tax deductions on charitable deductions for taxpayers who earn more than $10 million a year.
 
The state will increase its share of revenue from video gambling machines and will allow a number of casinos to stay open later. Lawmakers also voted to reduce charitable deductions for those who make $10 million or more.

But lawmakers rejected a plan to enact a tax change on earnings by hedge fund managers who work in New York but live outside the state. Much of their compensation comes in performance incentives that are considered capital gains and are taxed federally at 15 percent. The change would have made these earnings “ordinary” income, subject to New York State taxes.  The move came as hedge funds were being wooed to move out of the state.

Lawmakers also passed a controversial measure requiring that prisoners be counted as residents not of the mostly upstate prisons where they reside, but of the areas where they lived before they were incarcerated. This effort had been fiercely resisted by Republicans, because of the implications the move could have as legislative districts are redrawn by the Legislature.

The Assembly had earlier approved the budget, which is projected to be $136.5 billion. Spending will increase by 2.4 percent over the previous budget.

(photo of NYS Capitol Building by Ove Overmyer)