Politics on the Hudson

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, said his house was ready to take up budget bills as well tonight, with some state operations measures, transportation, economic development and environmental spending bills all on the docket.

It was a bit of a reversal from earlier today, when Skelos hedged with The New York Daily News in the possibility of having an early budget. The state’s budget is due Friday, the start of the 2011-12 fiscal year.

“It’s critically important that we get a budget early,” Skelos said. “That’s the focus of the Senate.”

Asked if Gov. Andrew Cuomo had placed a call to his office to nudge him along in the budget-passing process, Skelos said the opposite was the case.

“Fred, the honest truth is I called him today and said I wanted the budget bills started today,” Skelos said.

He added that it was important to get voting done over the next two days in order to avoid last-minute pitfalls that tear apart Albany budget accords.

“It sends a message and it keeps the momentum going. I don’t want the Legislature or the governor, to be bogged down in what prevents a budget,” he said.

Here’s some video with Skelos and reporters:

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said the budget will be approved “as soon as we can” and a spending plan may be in place by Wednesday evening.

The Democratic-led Assembly is so far without a message of necessity from Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Once in hand, lawmakers could bypass the necessary three-day waiting period for “aging” bills.

Matters that remain incomplete include language issues on health care. And we are still without revised school aid figures, known as education runs.

“The health committee is closing and we hope to have a report today,” Silver told reporters. “There’s some loose ends, some small programs around the state.”

Here’s some video from his press scrum:

The first budget bills of the year have been put on the state Senate’s website, as Albany strives to attempt a somewhat on-time budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

The first budget bill, as it usual is, is a measure to allocate spending for transportation and economic development. The bill also also includes spending allocations for the environmental conservation budget for the coming fiscal year.

The second is the measure that would merge the Department of Correctional Services with the Division of Parole and also sets aside spending for the state Division of Criminal Justice.

The merging of DOCS with Parole has some legislators weary of a politicized parole process as Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his prisons commissioner seek to reduce 3,700 beds from the state prison system.

Newsday reported earlier today that budget bills are being printed today and should be on legislators’ desks later this evening. Cuomo can issue a message of necessity to bypass the normal three-day “aging” period, allowing legislators to begin voting Wednesday.

The budget is due April 1, the start of the fiscal year.

The aides who worked in the Spitzer administration may have called it the “haunted house” but don’t tell that to the advocates planning a marathon sleepover/protest at the Capitol Building.

A variety of advocacy organizations upset with the tentative state budget agreement set to be voted on later this week will stage a “sleepover” in the Capitol to protest budget cuts.

The groups are upset that the $132.5 billion spending plan, which includes deep cuts to education aid and health-care, doesn’t include a tax on those making $1 million or more.

From a news release:

Hundreds of New Yorkers, unhappy with the budget agreement presented to the Legislature will protest at the Capitol on Wednesday. The groups, representing a broad coalition, will being camping-in all night at the Capitol to bear witness to the votes on this painful budget that includes huge cuts for children, families, seniors, schools and communities combined with a $4.6 billion tax cut for the wealthiest three percent of New Yorkers. The budget also fails to proactively renew and strengthen the rent laws, a sign that the State Legislature is more concerned with pandering to real estate interests than protecting the millions of New Yorkers who depend on these laws to stay in their homes.

And for “visuals” the groups promise: “Hundreds of New Yorkers. Signs. Chanting. Folk Songs. Marshmallows.”

Among those participating include the Alliance for Quality Education, Citizen Action of New York, New York City Coalition for Educational Justice, Long Island Progressive Coalition, Make the Road New York, New York Communities for Change, VOCAL, PUSH-Buffalo, Right to the City New York, Real Rent Reform New York, Community Voices Heard, New Deal for New York, The Save Our SUNY Coalition, Strong Economy for All, Growing Together New York Coalition, VOICE Buffalo.

The group plans to start at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday and continue with demonstrations over cuts to SUNY, K-12 education and concerns over rent regulations.

It’s unclear where in the Capitol the camp out will take place.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo got more than he originally asked for with the closure and consolidation of state prison facilities.

Among the changes from his Feb. 1 budget proposal:

-The state will now look to reduce 3,700 beds, up from the 3,500 he initially proposed.

-The governor and the commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services will have final authority over the closures. The Legislature will offer advice, but will not be able to vote on a plan.

-The amount of economic development aid for the upstate communities impacted by the closures is being reduced from $100 million to $50 million.

-There will be tax incentives for job creation in the communities affected by the closures.

Senate Republicans, who stand to lose the most by a Cuomo-controlled process, say they will have more influence under this plan.

Also, the plan does allow lawmakers to essentially wash their hands of the closure process as Cuomo can name prisons to be closed, with legislators not subject to an up or down vote on the contentious and emotional issue.

Our full story on the plan can be found here.

Gannett’s Jacob Fischler attended the final Senate-Assembly budget general conference committee—known as the “mothership”—which ended today as lawmakers now turn their attention to the agreement inked Sunday night on a $132.5 billion budget. The Assembly has posted the reports of nine of the 10 budget subcommittees. The Health Committee report has not been submitted yet.

Here’s what happened:

Six committees reported to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos at what should be the final meeting of the general conference committee.

“I am delighted that we can meet now for what will probably be the final time in this conference process and be on target to make an early conclusion to the budget process,” Silver said.

Silver added that there were several issues not dealt with in the budget that were a high priority to him – ethics reform, rent regulation and a property tax cap.

“It’s a sobering budget,” Silver said.

Skelos too was confident that the budget could be completed before the deadline, saying that “he could see no reason” why the budget wouldn’t be done on time.

Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, Orange County, said he had still held out hope that the millionaires tax would be included in the final spending plan.

The $132.5 billion tentative budget agreement does not include any new taxes and rejected Bonacic’s plan to tax millionaires. It also allows a surcharge on those making $200,000 or more a year to expire.

Bonacic said he would have preferred the millionaires tax to be in the budget in order to offset cuts to education and help keep down local property taxes. The Republican bucked his party by introducing the bill to tax millionaires, but it was quickly stamped down by the Senate leadership.

“In my humble opinion middle class families are struggling with home ownership and the school impact hits are very severe,” Bonacic said. “I would have extended the millionaires tax for two years. I would have softened the hits to the school districts. In this business you don’t get all that you want. It was on the table, it was part of the negotiations. It’s gone today, but it may still be alive as we go down the road.”

He added that Cuomo’s vow to use emergency appropriations to pass the spending plan with or without an agreement from the Legislature spurred lawmakers to act quickly.

“He used the club, with intimidation, if you can’t come to an agreement, then I’m going to put my own budget in, which we thought was more Draconian so an agreement was in everyone’s best interest,” Bonacic said.

Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg is our guest on Live from Albany. He’ll be talking about the state budget, voter concerns and issue left for Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The tentative proposal to downsize the state’s prison beds by 3,700—which is 200 more than initially recommended by Gov. Andrew Cuomo—drew a withering response from the union that represents correctional officers.

Donn Rowe, the president of the state Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, called the plan presented Sunday unnecessary and disappointing.

From his statement:

“We are obviously very disappointed and frankly disturbed that the leaders in Albany have chosen to make drastic and unnecessary cuts to our prison system, rather than seeking to cut the ever-growing and costly bureaucracy that is the Department of Corrections. The announced cuts will have very serious impacts on the safety of our jails – putting more lives at risk and jeopardizing the structure of the entire New York State prison system. With this budget, the leaders in Albany have stated unequivocally: we care about numbers on a spreadsheetmore than people’s lives and safety.”

The union has long disputed the claim that prisons are under populated. They also say the closure plan would put their members at risk.

In addition to adding more beds that would be removed, the new prison plans rejects a commission that would recommend which prisons would close. It would be up to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services to select which facilities would close. The closures would then be approved by the Legislature.

Cuomo said Sunday he would strive for geographic balance in the prison closure plan. Most of the facilities are concentrated in rural upstate areas, with many of the communities relying on the prisons as a major source of employment and economic activity.

The governor plans to provide economic development funds and tax credits to the communities impacted by the closures.

This is a little late, but here’s video of the Sunday news conference with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders announcing a tentative $132.5 billion budget agreement.

Highlights include:
—The $132.5 billion budget would reduce state spending by about 2 percent from the current year, closing a $10 billion deficit for the fiscal year that starts Friday April 1.
—Education aid would be cut by about $1.2 billion after the Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to add back $272 million in spending. Cuomo said the cuts will be spread evenly through the state, but specific school reductions won’t be available until Monday.
—Education and Medicaid spending, the two most expensive items in the budget, would be funded over two years. The increase would be capped at 4 percent in the second year for both programs.
—The spending plan means the budget deficit in the following year, the 2012-13 budget year, would drop from $15 billion to about $2 billion.
—The spending plan doesn’t include any broad tax increases and doesn’t include an extension of higher income taxes for the wealthy, which is set to expire at year’s end and Democrats and school groups wanted to retain.