New York budget on track for passage
The New York state budget appeared to be on track for passage Friday as a measure boosting sexual harassment protections moved through the Legislature as part of the $168 billion spending plan.
The Republican-led Senate approved legislation with provisions that provide new sexual harassment protections for all employees of state and local governments. The Democrat-controlled Assembly is expected to pass the measure, which has the backing of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“That’s a major victory for all New Yorkers,” said Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean, one of the authors of the sexual harassment provisions and the Senate’s budget chairwoman. “It has several provisions in it that are going to
protect everyone across the board.”
Here are some of the final proposals and complications that emerged in the final hours of negotiations:
Yeshivas
The most contentious part of the budget was still pending heading into Friday evening after talks broke down hours earlier over a small number of unresolved issues.
Sen. Simcha Felder had demanded private Jewish schools be exempt from certain state curriculum standards, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, said. Felder is a Brooklyn Democrat who votes with Republicans.
His support is pivotal to GOP control of the Senate, giving him outsized influence in budget negotiations. He denied holding up the budget.
“I’m not Moses. I’m not Jesus,” he said. “I don’t have that kind of power.”
The issue appeared to be resolved when Felder left the Capitol by mid-afternoon so he could be home for the start of Passover.
Legislative pay
Senate leaders said the Assembly had its own demands. Deputy Senate Majority Leader John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, said Democrats in the Assembly are insisting the budget contain a provision to create a legislative pay commission to consider a raise for lawmakers. Lawmakers now make a base salary of $79,500 and haven’t seen an increase since the late 1990s.
“There’s something in the budget that he desperately wants — a pay commission,” DeFrancisco said of Heastie. “He can make all the ultimatums he wants,” he said.
Deadlines and holidays
The budget is due by Sunday, when a new state fiscal year begins. But Lawmakers had hoped to reach agreement in time to get home for the Jewish Passover, which begins at sunset Friday, and the Christian Easter on Sunday.
“We’re getting to the point where we’re bordering on infringing on people’s religious observances, and we’d like to get it done,” Heastie said.
If lawmakers can’t reach a budget deal by Sunday they would have to pass short-term budget extensions to prevent a government shutdown.
Lawmakers said they still hoped to pass a complete budget late Friday or early Saturday.
New harassment policy
Sexual harassment scandals have been all too common in Albany government circles. The sexual harassment legislation included in the budget has been a hot topic at the Capitol since the Legislature convened in early January.
The measure’s provisions include prohibiting secret harassment settlements involving state officials and ensuring taxpayers don’t have to pay when a public official settles a harassment complaint. Some in the Legislature say the legislation didn’t go far enough in protecting workers from unwanted advances and inappropriate workplace behavior.
Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat who has been pushing for her colleagues to crack down on sexual harassment in state government, said she was “very disappointed” with the final measure because it wasn’t broad enough.
Deeming the legislation a “really good try,” Krueger added: “I just wish we had gotten farther here today.”