Lawmakers return to the Capitol this week to tackle the big issue of the session: approving a state budget.  As part of that $140 billion plus decision, lawmakers will be forced to also debate a key issue: reforming the state’s campaign finance and ethics laws.

For at least 30 years, New York governors have called for sweeping campaign finance reforms.  New York has the highest campaign contributions of any state with limits.  Its disclosure requirements are weak and its enforcement essentially non-existent.

But for all that talk, Governors Mario Cuomo, George Pataki, Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson achieved virtually no reforms.  Lots of talk, no real action. Read the rest of this entry »

Listen: http://wamc.org/term/blair-horner

It wasn’t long ago when it seemed that the tobacco lobby’s stranglehold over New York policymaking was finally broken.  In addition to federal court decisions, state actions were being taken.  During the years of the Pataki Administration, the state raised its tobacco tax, enacted one of the nation’s most sweeping restrictions on smoking in public places and in work environments. The Spitzer Administration bolstered funding for the state’s tobacco control efforts, helping it rise to the 5^th most well-resourced program in the nation.  In the Paterson Administration, New York raised its tobacco tax rate to the highest in the nation.

Meanwhile, the New York State Department of Health implemented a robustly-funded, evidence-based, anti-smoking campaign.  As tobacco use continued to cause avoidable misery, addiction, disease and early deaths, the smoking rate among adults and children fell to unprecedented lows.  New York seemed poised to have secured a historic public health achievement that saved thousands of lives and reduced strains on our healthcare delivery system. Read the rest of this entry »

The governor’s budget is based on a huge promise – that he will keep the budget growth to less than 2%.  The governor presents this number as a simple feat, keep to the rate of inflation and he can use some of the revenues for a tax cut.

Of course, the governor’s tax cut – trumpeted as $2 billion – is more rhetoric than reality.  He promises to cut taxes, but in the fine print the amount of that cut hinges on the governor’s prediction that the state can keep spending under 2% growth and that the federal government will shift billions of dollars in Medicaid savings to New York.

But even if the governor is right on both of those predictions, keeping spending under 2% means cuts to important programs.  Last week, the Legislature heard the details of the governor’s higher education proposal.  In a word, cuts. Read the rest of this entry »

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One of the state’s most important public priorities is ensuring that New Yorkers have access to affordable and high quality medical care as well as providing health services to those who are poor or needy.  Tens of billions of dollars are spent to meet those demands and this week the governor’s health budget proposal was the subject of a legislative public hearing.

Two key issues under consideration are the implementation of the federal health care reform act and the state’s public health programs.

The number of New Yorkers who lack health insurance is considerable.  According to the US Census Bureau, in 2012 roughly 2.1 million New York residents were uninsured (11.3 percent of the population). While this percentage represents a lot of New Yorkers, it is both the lowest percentage and the lowest number of New Yorkers who lack health insurance since 1999. Read the rest of this entry »

Listen: http://wamc.org/post/capitol-connection-1349

During the 2012 election, far too many Americans had to stand in long lines for hours in order to cast their ballot.  Voters who were stuck waiting were all too frequently lower-income and non-white.  The President promised to act, in order to ensure that such a disgraceful situation would never happen again.

The President convened a blue-ribbon panel jointly headed by the top lawyers for the Obama and Romney campaigns.  Last week, the panel issued its findings.  The report, The American Voting Experience: Report and Recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, called for – among other proposals – expanded early voting, online registration, and a goal of ensuring that no voter waited on line for more than 30 minutes to cast their ballot.

The report was the result of a six-month-long study.  The panel held public hearings as well as meetings with experts and election administrators. Read the rest of this entry »