Governor Cuomo unveiled his proposed budget for the state’s upcoming fiscal year, which starts on April 1^st.  The governor’s presentation focused on the amount of aid that the state could receive from a federal stimulus package.  The strategy of the Administration since the pandemic began has been to “kick the can” – putting off critical decisions – until it became clear what the Congress would do.

By the end of the calendar year, the Congress had approved stimulus plans, but little of the $4 trillion in aid was earmarked for New York State government.  During that time, the governor engaged in keeping the state solvent by withholding approved spending to various agencies – both inside and outside of government.  But withholding monies from programs targeted to get funding is not without pain.

Over time, that pain grew as over $2.5 billion in approved state spending was withheld from agencies.  This strategy of withholding state payments was done largely outside of public view. 

The November election of President Biden and the results of the Georgia special elections earlier this month offered the governor new hope that his strategy would succeed.  Now a Democratic President and a Congress controlled by Democrats offers the possibility of a financial bailout for the state.  The new President has called for Congressional approval of a new $1.9 trillion federal stimulus with hundreds of billions of dollars to help state and local governments staggered by the pandemic and the economic downturn.

Additional reasons for the state to be optimistic is that the new U.S. Senate Majority Leader is New York’s Senator Chuck Schumer.  However, he only has a razor-thin majority.  Whether the Biden administration and Congress can reach an agreement is unclear.  Republicans are now in the minority and after years of reckless tax cuts that benefitted the wealthy and big corporations, they are now positioning themselves as fiscal conservatives.  It is highly likely that there will need to be Senate Republican support for a new federal bailout if one is to pass.

Governor Cuomo’s budget presentation last week focused on the federal stimulus response.  He argued that the state would have to enact big budget cuts and hike taxes if the bailout package did not provide $15 billion in immediate relief to New York.  The budget that he presented to the Legislature assumed that the federal government would provide $6 billion in aid.  If the state received the full $15 billion that the governor said is needed, some of the cuts and revenues proposals could be changed, he said. 

But in terms of a proposed budget, the governor assumed $6 billion in federal relief.  If that occurred, the governor proposed in his $193 billion budget the following:

1. New revenues would be generated by an income tax hike for those making over $5 million as well as taxes generated by the sale of marijuana and from sports betting – both of which are currently illegal in New York.  The governor would generate additional revenues by proposing a $1 per online transaction every time a driver uses the Department of Motor Vehicles.
2. Public college students could pay automatic tuition hikes of $200 per year for each of the next few years.
3. The governor proposes cuts to hard-hit community colleges and eliminates direct aid to financially strapped private colleges (although he argues that federal aid will offset these cuts).
4. Remember that the governor was withholding 20 percent of approved state aid?  Well, he’s willing to return most of it, but plans on making permanent cuts of 5 percent, instead of 20 – although it’s not clear if that percentage cut will be applied equally.
5. And the governor proposes that the Legislature grant him continued authority to unilaterally decide on changes to state spending.

The Legislature kicks off public hearings on the governor’s budget plans this week.  Much more will be discussed as lawmakers and the public dig into the details of the governor’s proposals.  The ultimate fate of the state’s finances, however, may not be determined in Albany, but in another Capitol Building in Washington D.C. 

Governor Cuomo is scheduled to release his proposed state budget this Tuesday.  His budget will be the first to comprehensively analyze the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state’s finances and it will also be the first budget of the second decade of the Cuomo Administration.

New York requires that state budgets be balanced.  How will he balance the budget?  There can be no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the state’s finances.  While there is some dispute over the size of the looming budget deficits over the next few years, there is no disagreement that the state’s finances have been badly damaged. 

Moreover, the state’s finances were in bad shape even before the pandemic hit.  Last year, the state faced a $6 billion deficit, a deficit that the governor and the Legislature were grappling with just as the pandemic emerged.  All those budget problems were swept into the state’s emergency plans as it faced the pandemic, but those imbalances are still there and continue to aggravate the state’s financial woes.

It is expected that there will be another federal stimulus, one that will help state and local governments.  How much of the state’s revenue shortfall will be covered by this stimulus? 

Will the governor add new revenues beyond his recent pledges to tax the sale of marijuana and online sports betting – both of which are currently illegal and therefore will take some time to get off the ground? 

Will the governor make publicly available his Administration’s decisions to withhold from agencies state monies that were supposed to be spent?  The Administration has stated that in many cases they withheld as much as 20 percent of approved spending for the current fiscal year, which ends March 31^st.  

Will the governor fundamentally reshape state government?  In his 2010 campaign, then-candidate Cuomo promised to fundamentally reorganize state government – stating that the former Governor Al Smith’s plan was his inspiration.  Nothing much has come of that pledge.  It is clear from fiascos like the efforts to get unemployment insurance to the pandemic-impacted unemployed and the recent roll out of the COVID vaccine that the years of cuts to state agencies have taken their toll. 

How will he reform health care?  Despite a decade of Cuomo Administration oversight, New York’s health care system continues to deliver uneven services, often ones that leaves the poor and underserved to face poor quality care.  The impacts of the COVID pandemic turned a harsh spotlight on New York’s health care delivery system and its woefully underfunded public health programs.  Will he offer a vision of reform?

How will he stabilize the higher education sector?  As colleges and universities moved to on-line, remote education in the spring, new challenges emerged in how to teach and equip students.  The pandemic also showed how the decades-long state pullback of support for higher education left some colleges teetering on the financial brink.  Particularly small independent colleges – those without large endowments – and public community colleges – those who normally see a surge in enrollment when the economy tanks, but have not seen that during the pandemic – are struggling to survive and may not unless the state steps in.  Will the governor do so?

How will he address the state’s crumbling infrastructure?  The governor spent a significant part of the State of the State presentations on how he will restore New York’s old, crumbling, municipal infrastructure.  How will he pay for it?  The cost of improving the state’s water and sewage infrastructure, for example, will costs tens of billions of dollars.  How will he pay for that and other mass transit and roadway needs?

How will he attack festering environmental problems?  The governor has stated that he will advance proposals to push New York toward a greener energy future.  Will he include a detailed reporting system so that the public can monitor progress?  And what about other environmental hazards, such as the legacy of industrial pollution that threatens drinking water supplies?

There are questions for lawmakers:  Will the Legislature roll back the unprecedented “super powers” it granted the governor to attack the pandemic?  Those powers are supposed to end at the end of March for his budget “super powers” and in April for his non-budget “super powers.” 

Unprecedented times demand bold, imaginative responses.  The big question in this year’s budget is whether the governor will seize on this opportunity to remake the state’s finances and governance.  New Yorkers will have a clearer picture on Tuesday.

Last week the President of the United States attempted to overturn the 2020 election through the use of force.  There can be no other interpretation of his actions.  His effort was planned for months and executed after all his other measures to overturn the election failed. 

The actions of President Trump are a dark stain on America.

For sure, the nation has seen worse events: Slavery, the Civil War, the genocide of native peoples, the post reconstruction apartheid in the South.  But never has the nation witnessed an attempt by an incumbent President to use mob rule to overturn the vote of the people.

Let us start with the facts.  The President was elected in 2016 despite having lost the popular vote by 3 million ballots.  In the run up to the 2016 election he was laying the groundwork to challenge the results.  In his mind a victory by his opponent could only be an example of an election that was “rigged.”  A classic “heads I win, tails you lose.” 

In 2020 the same scenario unfolded.  The President knew he would lose the popular vote – which he did by 7 million – and he launched attacks on the election on multiple fronts.  Tellingly the challenges he issued were only in states where his electoral loss was close. 

In every state, his challenges were thrown out of court.  Yet, he and his collaborators continued with the public messaging that the election was stolen.  The President personally intervened in Georgia in a failed effort to pressure Republican election officials to find just enough votes to overturn the win for President-elect Biden. 

Having lost legal and illegal efforts to overturn the election, the increasingly desperate President took the lead in urging his followers to march on Washington – an effort that he believed would add mob pressure on members of Congress for them to throw out the result of the election.  He knew that he had collaborators in the Congress who would work hand-in-glove with his effort; the mob would add pressure to those on the fence.

At last week’s rally, the President urged his followers to march on the Capitol and to “be wild.”  After repeating a long list of lies about the election and his dangerous conspiracy theories, he went on to say, “We’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you.  You’ll never take back our country with weakness.  You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”  These calls echoed language calling for violent action circulating among extremist groups.

And march they did.  Many were wearing military equipment – helmets, body armor, camouflaged military garb, and carrying batons as well as other hand-held weapons – clothing that is not worn when people are expecting a peaceful protest.  No, they were ready for a fight. 

The attack on the U.S. Capitol followed.  Had the President’s insurrection succeeded, leaders of Congress could have been kidnapped – or worse.  And it would have advanced the president’s agenda, creating an unprecedented political convulsion that would have halted the Congress’s acceptance of the Electoral College’s vote affirming the victory by former Vice President Biden. 

Luckily, that didn’t happen.  But America is still roiling from the attempted coup.

Questions need to be answered.  Why were the Capitol police so unprepared?  Without doubt law enforcement was aware of what could happen.  Michigan had recently experienced a military-style attack on its state Capitol and the governor there was the target of an attempted kidnapping by fascists. 

Instead, the national Capitol police were overwhelmed and injured – one killed – by the coup attempt.  The President’s response to the violence did nothing to quell the mob.  In fact, he emboldened them, telling the rioters that “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace.  Remember this day forever!”

Another question is what happens next?  Clearly, the President violated his oath of office and schemed to overthrow the election.  The danger has not passed – the President is still in office for another week and anything can happen.  He has not shown remorse or stopped with his propaganda.  He must be removed from office, even if there are only a few days until the new President is sworn in.  His actions simply cannot be ignored.

For the individuals involved in the storming of the Capitol, they should be arrested and face legal consequences for their actions.  If convicted, they should face long prison sentences.  In addition, there must be a 9/11-style commission to look at the security threats posed by domestic terrorists across the nation.

That leaves the Congressional collaborators who abetted the President’s efforts to overturn the election.  They too must face the consequences for their part in the coup attempt.  By echoing the President’s lies and working to overturn the will of the people, they must face sanction.  Here in New York, four Congressional Representatives Jacobs, Malliotakis, Stefanik and Zeldin – were among this group.

The Trump Presidency has been a stress test for our system of government, and it has exposed weaknesses in the American form of democracy.  Why keep the Electoral College?  Why is the President immune from investigation for corrupt actions?  Why are governmental watchdogs and whistleblowers not protected from Presidential retribution? 

America has always thought of itself as a beacon for democracy and freedom.  After the actions of last week, that beacon has been dimmed.  Will it be extinguished?  What happens next will answer that question.

New York State lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene this week to start a new two-year legislative session.  The state Constitution is clear about the opening of the Legislature, that it must start meeting on the “first Wednesday after the first Monday in January.”

Usually, the opening of the Legislature coincides with the delivery of the governor’s State of the State message.  That message is also required under the state Constitution, “The governor shall communicate by message to the legislature at every session the condition of the state, and recommend such matters to it as he or she shall judge expedient.”  However, the date of that message is not set and the current governor, Andrew Cuomo, has not always delivered his message on the first legislative day.  Technically it doesn’t have to be given in an oral presentation, but that has become the custom.

The Legislature is scheduled to convene on January 6 and adjourn on June 18.

There are, of course, huge differences between this session and previous ones.  Most obvious is that fact that lawmakers will convene during a pandemic – and that situation has dramatically changed the nature of the session.  Instead of being physically present at the state Capitol for its proceedings, lawmakers will “meet” through remote Internet-based platforms.

In addition, both houses of the Legislature will have Democratic “super-majorities.”  A “super-majority” allows the Democrats who dominate both houses to – at least theoretically – overturn a gubernatorial veto without needing to make a deal with the minority party. 

Democrats won a 43-20 majority in the Senate and will maintain a majority in the Assembly (with 107 of 150 members of the Majority conference).  At the start of the 2021 session, New York is one of 22 state legislatures where one party has a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

Governor Cuomo and state lawmakers will have to grapple with big issues this session.  The biggest of all will be figuring out to close the state’s yawning budget gap. 

Even though that state has a large budget – last year over $175 billion – much of it is required spending, spending that leaves little ability to make major changes.  The massive current deficit, as well as the big ones over the next few years, will require dramatic actions.

The state’s strategy to date has been to hope for federal help, which has not materialized.  That hope continues with a new Biden Administration being sworn in later this month.  But the timing could be a problem.  New York’s budget must be in place by April 1^st and the Biden Administration may not have negotiated a new stimulus package by then (or ever).  The governor has said the state is looking at tax increases, revenue raisers, layoffs, borrowing and early retirements, but has not provided further details.

Even with federal assistance, it is likely that the state will have to deal with budget deficits.  Moreover, the COVID-19 continues to rage and will depress economic activity and may require the state to shut down and restrict business activities even further.   

That and literally hundreds of issues – large and small – will be addressed during the next six months of the legislative session.  The first big decision lawmakers must make is to decide on their own procedural rules.  At the beginning of every two-year legislative term, lawmakers must approve legislative rules that determine how policy changes get made.

And given the fact that this will be the first full session in which lawmakers will operate remotely, those rules matter even more.  A coalition of civic groups have urged lawmakers to amend their rules to allow for greater public participation and accountability. 

In a letter to the legislative leaders, the groups noted that while lawmakers have been operating remotely since last spring, “public access to the halls of government is literally prohibited; and just as lawmakers are finding new ways to do business, members of the public are looking for ways to engage with them.”

The groups further noted that “Public confidence in government is even more important when lawmakers are out of sight.  Work behind closed doors undermines public confidence and breeds public cynicism and apathy.  Public distrust of the legislative process erodes democracy.”

The groups urged measures to help bridge the “digital divide,” to ensure the public has both Internet-based and phone access to proceedings, provide that participating lawmakers in meetings are visible to the public, as well as other measures to further open proceedings. 

The groups also noted the need for rules changes to further empower rank-and-file members of the legislature and ensure fairness in the allocation of resources to all members, including those in the minority parties.

This week a new session for our state legislative body begins.  In many ways, the session will seem like all others – public fights, secret negotiations, hundreds of bills passed.  In key ways – most notably the pandemic – the session will be unprecedented.  And that uniqueness offers lawmakers a unique opportunity for re-imaging how they do their work.  Let’s hope that they decide to take steps toward more openness.  If they do, the pandemic will offer a small silver lining: greater transparency in government and greater trust in state government.