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Bare Knuckled Budget Battles
The Governor dropped the bomb on state lawmakers when he issued large-scale vetoes of the state budget approved last month. The Governor justified his vetoes that total $2.9 billion since the budget approved by legislators “spent too much and reformed too little.” Not only did he veto those measures, the Governor argued that even if lawmakers voted to override, he would ignore their actions in most cases. The Governor stated that $1.6 billion of the $2.9 billion he vetoed were due to unconstitutional actions by the legislature and as a result he would be justified in ignoring any new actions by the legislature. It’s a complicated situation, but essentially under the state constitution the Governor has unparalleled powers – far beyond the powers of other Governors in the nation – and the legislature is extremely limited in its ability to change the Governor’s proposed budget. In this case the Governor charged that the legislature illegally made changes and therefore even if lawmakers override his vetoes, he can ignore them. The Governor has battled the legislature since his first days in office. Apparently he’s going to finish his last term in the way he began – by playing political hardball. Unfortunately, as the gamesmanship over the budget plays out, real people get hurt. There is no budget agreement on spending hundreds of millions of dollars on programs to help the poor, hundreds of millions of dollars for the environment are in limbo, and property tax relief has been derailed. College students could take a big hit too. Donald Navarro, for example, is a 28-year-old student at Queens College in New York City. Donald can afford to go to college by combining college financial aid and a job. But the Governor’s vetoes put his college career in jeopardy. Under the Governor’s plan, students attending college full-time would now have to get 15 credits per semester if they wanted to receive full financial aid. Donald cannot both work and attend school if he has to take 5 classes instead of the 4 he takes now. Donald says that if the Governor has his way, he will have to quit his job and take out more loans to make it through school. Another potential victim of the Governor’s struggle with the legislature is Chris Johnson. Chris is a student at the State University School of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. Chris is nearly finished with his undergraduate degree. All he needs is 13 credits in the Fall semester and he’s done. But if the Governor’s plan stays in place, Chris will either have to take an additional class that he doesn’t need (and take time to do well in that class), or take a reduction in financial aid. While both Donald and Chris could be affected by the budget battle, their fates are in relatively good shape since the legislature can override the Governor’s cuts in these areas without fear that the Governor will ignore them. In the case of his cuts to college aid, the Governor is not arguing that these are constitutional issues. Consequently, if the legislature overrides the Governor, in this case he will comply with that action. We hope. You see sometimes the Governor has refused to follow the law if it suits him even when there is no constitutional question. For example, in the last two budgets the legislature approved – with the Governor’s consent – that the state collect taxes on sales to non-Indians making purchases on Indian reservations. But the Governor told his Tax Department to ignore that law and thus it has not been enforced. So you never know. Obviously there has to be a better way. For whatever reason, the Governor’s hardball political tactics have made negotiating extremely difficult. And despite investing the Governor with vast budgetary powers that no other state Chief Executive has, New York’s finances are a mess. Change is coming this November. Hopefully, having a new player on the scene will lead to better fiscal results for the state. But until then, policymakers should act to ensure that people like Donald Navarro and Chris Johnson are not the casualties of Albany’s bare-knuckled budget battles. That’s all for now. I’ll be keeping an eye on the Capitol and will talk to you again ext week. |
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