New York’s Legislature convened last
night as ordered by Governor David Paterson in a bid to break a
17-week budget impasse, adjourning minutes later without taking
action.
Although the Senate passed a $136 billion spending plan, it
went home before the July 4 holiday without signing off on a way
to pay for it. The nation’s third most-populous state has
operated under emergency spending measures since April as
lawmakers and the governor reduced what had been a $9.2 billion
deficit to about $1.5 billion.
“They are being brought back because the budget is not
passed and I don’t care how many of them don’t show up, I’m
going to keep bringing them back until it is,” Paterson told
reporters at his Manhattan office yesterday.
While the Democratic governor has the power to order the
senators into session, he cannot compel them to pass his revenue
proposals, which include a tax on sugared drinks, empowering
state colleges to set tuition increases and imposing a property-
tax cap.
The Assembly has already passed a revenue bill that would
close the remaining $1.5 billion of the budget gap through such
things as taxes on tobacco and nonresident hedge-fund managers,
suspension of a sales-tax exemption on clothing under $110, and
elimination of charitable deductions for high-income earners.
Shafran said Senate Democrats want the governor to agree to
their proposals for other legislation before they vote to
approve the Assembly revenue bill.
Senate Agenda
The Senate agenda includes a plan to give lawmakers two
weeks to cut $1 billion from the budget if Congress rejects an
increase in the state’s Medicaid subsidy, providing health care
for the poor. After two weeks, the governor would have emergency
power to make cuts unilaterally. The budget, as passed, counts
on the federal aid.
Democratic senators also want to permit state universities
to lease their facilities to private businesses to stimulate
economic growth and create jobs, said Austin Shafran, a
Democratic spokesman.
Senator Malcolm Smith, a Queens Democrat who serves as
president of the chamber, didn’t attend the session.
Smith had a prior “family commitment,” said Shafran.
His absence meant one less vote for the Democrats, who hold a
31-29 majority.
Of the Republicans, Senator Vincent Leibell missed the
meeting because he is recovering from surgery and Senator
William Larkin was on a previously scheduled vacation, said
Scott Reif, their spokesman.
Proposals to Governor
Shafran said Democratic leaders in the Senate and Assembly
met during the day, before convening, and sent proposals to the
governor for review.
“Comparatively, where the Legislature is right now, just
showing up represents progress,” Paterson said yesterday in an
interview on WAMC radio. “As far as I’m concerned, they should
be available at any moment and if they are not available, they
should be close.”
Republicans are voting against all the budget bills “and
then quietly, behind the scenes, going to all of the donors and
special interests and telling them, ‘We’re not hurting you,’”
Paterson said in the interview.
Mark Hansen, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, didn’t immediately answer requests for comment.
The Assembly voted to adjourn until 10 a.m. today.
----With assistance from Alan Wechsler in Albany. Editors: Pete
Young, Walid el-Gabry
To contact the reporter on this story:
Henry Goldman in Albany, New York, at
hgoldman@bloomberg.net.
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