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The proposals secured by the Senate Majority aim to uplift our working and middle class by restoring and enhancing critical funding across key sectors such as education, housing, healthcare, economic growth, and beyond.
Here is a small snapshot of the state budget:
Restoration of Public Education Funding & Supporting SUNY/CUNY
As a staunch advocate for education, I am happy to have played a role in achieving the education-related goals outlined in this budget. Upholding the Senate Democratic Majority's legacy as the "education conference," we ensured no reductions in school funding, and that students across the state would still receive the investments that they both need and deserve. The budget also includes transformative investments in higher education, making continued learning more accessible.
These wins include:
● The adopted budget increases Foundation Aid for the poorest 63 districts in the state. This is a Foundation Aid increase of $934 million, or 3.9 percent, over the current school year, which is an increase of $430 million, or 1.8 percent, over the Governor’s Foundation Aid proposal. Specifically for NYC public schools, $465.7 million is allocated to Foundation Aid. It also rejects the governor’s proposal to eliminate Hold Harmless which would have unilaterally created drastic cuts to many school districts outside of the city.
● An additional $100 million for Universal Pre-K to allow school districts throughout the state to serve at least 90% of eligible four-year-olds.
● $103.2 million for After School Programs, an increase of over $20 million from last year’s budget
● The adopted budget emphasizes our commitment to CUNY and SUNY by increasing Operating Aid funding and providing support to SUNY Hospitals for continued vital healthcare services in our communities.
● Increases funding to TAP to $53 million, doubling the minimum TAP award in all schedules, increasing the income limit eligibility, and providing for the first time Part-Time TAP for proprietary students broadening access to a college education.
On Supporting Working Families & Affordability
● In championing the cause of empowering our workforce, expanding benefits, and bolstering retention, I advocated effectively to include long-overdue and critical Tier 6 reform in this budget. This reform involves changing the final average salary calculation window for Tier 6 members from five to three years, aiming to incentivize workforce retention.
● The adopted budget includes $350 million for a new supplemental tax credit for families eligible for the Empire State Child Tax Credit to provide direct support to working families.
● This budget also continues to implement the lowest Middle-Class Tax Cuts in over 70 years, saving average New Yorkers millions of dollars.
On Housing
The SFY 2024-25 Enacted Budget includes funding towards affordable housing and homeowner protections, such as:
● $140 million in capital funding for NYCHA,
● $80 million to support Mitchell-Lamas and $75 million to support public housing authorities outside of New York City.
● $40 million in the Homeowner Protection Program (HOPP)
● A total of $10 million in Eviction Protection Funding in New York City and $40 million outside New York City
● Housing Opportunities for the Future - a new $150 million program to build affordable homes and rentals across New York State.
The enacted budget also includes some of the tenant protections of “Good Cause.” These guidelines state that:
● A rent increase is presumptively unreasonable if it is greater than the annual change in CPI plus 5%, or 10%, whichever is lower.
● A lease can only be terminated for one of the good causes lined out within the bill.
● Takes effect immediately in New York City.
● Sunsets in ten years.
● This budget includes a pilot program to legalize basement and cellar apartments within
identified geographic locations in the City of New York and to ensure those apartments
are brought up to code to allow individuals to live in them safely.
Economic Growth & Support for Small Businesses
● Investments were secured to create a vibrant, diverse, and sustainable economy for all New Yorkers including supporting small local media through the “Newspaper and Broadcast Media Jobs Program."
● This budget also includes strategic support for our legal cannabis market by providing increased funding, enforcement to crack down on illegal shops, and lowering the medical cannabis tax rate.
● This budget adds $365,000 over the Governor's proposal in additional funding for the
Minority and Women-Owned Business Development lending program, for a total of $1
million.
● It also increases the grant amounts for Entrepreneurial Assistance Centers from $175,000
to $250,000 to support small businesses and MWBEs across the state and help establish
EACs in unserved areas.
● This budget successfully enacts the Retail Security Tax Credit, which helps small
businesses make the investments needed to keep employees safe.
Health & Mental Health
● $800 million in support for distressed and safety-net hospitals.
● A $20 billion multi-year plan to build new healthcare infrastructure and expand Medicare coverage for seniors and pregnant New Yorkers, will address immediate needs and lay the foundation for long-term growth.
● Allows children ages 0-6 to remain continuously enrolled in Medicaid or Child Health Plus, and eliminates cost-sharing for insulin in commercial insurance for thousands of New Yorkers ensuring access to this life-saving medication.
● This budget prioritizes mental health by integrating it into primary healthcare systems, increasing treatment bed availability, and augmenting crisis services funding by $75.8 million, to ensure immediate assistance.
Maternal Health & Reproductive Rights
● Passing first in the Nation Paid Prenatal Leave, providing 20 hours of paid sick time for pregnant employees to use for their prenatal care visits.
● Codifying the Reproductive Freedom and Equity Grant Program to provide funding for
abortion providers and non-profit entities to support increased access to abortion.
● Enacting the Community Doula Expansion Grant Program to provide funding to
community-based organizations for recruitment and retention and startup and
administrative costs to increase the number of community doulas.
● Allowing the Health Commissioner to issue a statewide, non-patient specific order to
provide doula services for any pregnant, birthing, or postpartum individual.
● Requiring Paid Breaks for Breast Milk Expression in the Workplace for 30 minutes.
Environment
I've been passionately vocal in my advocacy for Environmental and Climate justice. Within the budget, the following allocations are made:
● Restoring $250 million over the Executive proposal for the Clean Water Infrastructure Act, for a total of $500 million.
● $1 billion for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and investing $47 million to plant 25 million trees by 2033.
● Reversing cuts to the Environmental Protection Fund.
● $300 million in Capital for enhancing and improving parks statewide and $150 million for the New York Statewide Investment in More Swimming (NYSWIMS) program to improve pools and build new ones in communities across the State.
● Expediting the siting and construction of electrical transmission and commercial energy storage through the RAPID Act.
Public Safety
● Allocating $347 million to continue efforts to reduce and prevent gun violence in New York.
● Providing $35.7 million to combat and prosecute domestic violence crimes.
● The enacted budget puts meaningful resources into public safety and protection for all New Yorkers, by expanding the list of hate crimes, enhancing public safety through community investments, reducing recidivism and improving workforce reentry, preventing harassment of transit workers, and combatting AI Deep Fakes.
● The adopted budget includes key measures to improve pedestrian safety by including Sammy’s Law in the plan to give New York City the ability to reduce speed limits to combat the scourge of traffic fatalities.
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