State budget deadline looms


By SHERRY HALBROOK As this magazine goes to press in


March, the state Senate and Assembly have each staked out their bargaining positions on the state budget in the form of one-house bills and resolutions and have begun to discuss their differences in conference committees. So far, the Legislature and Gov. Andrew


Cuomo have agreed to assume $155 million more in revenue than was anticipated in the governor’s initial Executive Budget proposal presented February 1. The governor and the lawmakers are proposing budgets for all funds totaling $132.5 billion to $133 billion. Both the Senate and the Assembly seem


willing to accept the governor’s demand for four years of $450 million in state employee concessions and his threat to layoff 9,800 employees if the unions won’t agree to the concessions. Also, the Senate budget resolution and


Assembly budget bills accept most of the governor’s proposed spending cuts. Gov. Cuomo and the legislative leaders say they are optimistic they can agree on a budget by the time the 2010-11 state fiscal year


ends March 31. “The Assembly and Senate positions


show we’ve gained traction on several critical issues with legislators in at least one or both houses,” said PEF President Ken Brynien. The Assembly would continue the


income tax surcharge for New York taxpayers with taxable incomes of $1 million or more, but the Senate’s Republican majority and the governor, a Democrat, want to let it expire. “Without the revenue of $705 million


this year and $2.4 billion next year, it would be very difficult to restore funding for the three SUNY teaching hospitals or to mitigate the employee concessions the governor has demanded, especially in 2012 through 2014,” Brynien said. So far, both the Assembly and the


Senate are willing to restore at least part of the state funding for the SUNY hospitals and reduce the likelihood of layoffs there. Also, both houses are holding the line


against the governor’s request to repeal the laws requiring state agencies to give 12- months prior notice before closing prisons, youth detention centers and psychiatric centers. However, the Senate and


Assembly are willing to waive that requirement for the proposed closings this year. In addition,


first the Senate and now the Assembly have joined PEF’s opposition to the governor’s proposal to eliminate the Science and Technology Foundation (called NYSTAR) and merge it with the Empire State Development Corporation. Both houses agree with PEF that NYSTAR should merge with the state Department of Economic Development. Both houses are proposing variations


on the governor’s proposal to merge the state Division of Parole with the Department of Correctional Services to create a new agency. “It’s very important for our members to


continue writing, phoning, e-mailing and even visiting their legislators to discuss these issues until a budget is passed and signed,” Brynien said. “Please go to our website at pef.org and sign up for our Active, Informed Member (AIM) updates., or visit our Facebook page. You have a lot at stake.”


Executive Budget lacks key ingredients


By SHERRY HALBROOK In testimony at two joint legislative


hearings on the proposed state budget in March, PEF President Ken Brynien called on the lawmakers to add four things to it: fairness, openness, the public interest and efficiency.


Layoffs help no one Just as New York’s economy is starting


to rally, the Executive Budget threatens thousands of layoffs and job-killing cuts that would reverberate through both the public and private sectors. The budget needlessly targets state


employees, Brynien said. “This is not a bloated work force. The


number of state employees per capita in New York is 31 percent below the national average. “Ten thousand state employee layoffs


would cost more than $2 billion in economic activity and 28,000 private- sector jobs over the next two years,” Brynien said. The governor has said he would lay off


9,800 state employees if they don’t agree to $450 million in concessions and a one-year salary freeze.


Page 4—The Communicator April 2011 The budget would trigger thousands


more public and private job losses through agency consolidations, and by closing prisons and facilities for youth, the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled. The governor also would strip the public


mission and control from the SUNY medical centers. Brynien urged the Legislature to delete


parts of Senate Bill 2808 and Assembly Bill 4008 that would allow SUNY to enter public-private partnerships without prior review by the state comptroller, attorney


SOMETHING’S MISSING—PEF President Ken Brynien tells legislators at a state budget hearing in March the proposal needsmore fairness, openness, savings and concern for the public interest.With Brynien areTomCetrino and Brian Curran. —Photo by Sherry Halbrook


general or the Legislature. The bill could allow parts of SUNY campuses to be leased to private operators, or allow SUNY employees to be fired in favor of higher- cost consultants. “A public university should not be


privatized solely for the benefit of the wealthy and well connected, to the detriment of those who need public services most,” he said.


Fairness missing It’s unfair, Brynien said, to expect


Continued on next page PEF Information Line: 1-800-553-2445


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