THIS WEEK IN ALBANY

Wisconsin-type Legislation Comes to New York

Senator Jack Martins (R-Mineola) introduced a package of legislation that targets the rights, benefits, and salaries of public employees.

S. 4475 and S. 4476 would require public employees to pay 5% of wages to offset the cost of benefits, in addition to health care premiums, co-pays, and pension contributions. What is more disheartening about this proposal is that Senator Martins supported a tax cut for millionaires in the state budget.

S. 4477 would require municipalities to tell the public how much the property tax levy would increase because of a wage increase in a collective bargaining agreement.

S. 4478 would institute a 1 year wage freeze for all state and local government employees.

Call your state senator at 1-877-255-9417 and tell them that public employees are not the cause of the financial problems of the state and should not be attacked.

Cuomo Lays Out Priorities for Remainder of Session

During a press conference earlier this week Governor Cuomo listed his legislative priorities for the remainder of the legislative session. They include passage of a property tax cap, local mandate relief, rent regulation, and ethics reform. The Governor said his staff is working on all of these issues and he hopes to have agreements on them by the end of the session.

Fight for Millionaires Tax Continues

While the Governor and Senator Dean Skelos say that the millionaire’s tax is dead, Assembly Democrats and a few Republicans in the Senate say that they will continue to fight for the passage of the tax before the end of session. Please continue to lobby your state senator and assembly member for passage of this needed revenue.

Federal Government Shutdown Looms

As of the sending of this e-mail, the federal government is on path for a shutdown. For the past several months the federal government has been operating on temporary spending extenders. Unless another extender or permanent spending plan is passed by Friday night non-essential federal operations will be suspended.