Hayseeds No. 201

It's Beginning to Look Like A Late Budget.

It looks like even Governor Spitzer thinks that New York State will be returning to the old habit of not passing a budget on time this year.

Real Estate Prices to Encourage Development on Ground Zero.

That pit in New York City, might finally be seeing some development, now that land around there is in high demand once again.

Karen Dewitt Interviews Spitzer on the Budget.

There is a really good interview by Karen Dewitt on WAMC and online about how things are really going with the budget process.

McNulty Votes Against Iraq War Time Table.

It's kind of amazing that Mike McNulty voted against the war time table on grounds that it was too stretched out.

NY Post Calls for a Government Shutdown.

The Post thinks that Spitzer should shut down NY Government on April 1st, rather then compromise with Bruno's proposed budget.

If Spitzer hopes to make good on his vow to fix Albany - to "change everything" - his choice is clear:

He must close down New York government.

Tell state employees they're out of work. Ready the pink slips, as then-Gov. Pataki did in '95.

Tell New Yorkers who depend on state services that, absent a budget, they're out of luck; the services can't be paid for.

And tell them, too, to blame Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (and Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver) for the mess...

... Each year, government limped along on temporary appropriations and short-term borrowing while negotiations dragged on and the special pleaders waited to pounce.

To return to that practice this year would prove that nothing has changed - and that nothing likely ever will.

And if Spitzer - freshly elected and with a mandate for reform - doesn't end it this year, he won't ever end it.

It will be an interesting thing to watch. At least, I'm scheduled for vacation next week, should they not remain in Albany to do more wrangling over the budget.

It Looks Like an On-time Budget.

The chances of an on-time budget are looking a lot better after the Republicans agreed to at least give Grannis a vote in the EnCon committee and the Governor agreed to conceded some of his so-called reform in his budget:

The deal involved several key concessions by the governor to Senate Republicans. Under the terms of the deal, the governor agreed to restore $350 million of the $1.3 billion worth of health care cuts he had proposed. He also said he would add $500 million in new education aid, addressing the concerns of Senate Republicans that too much money was being diverted away from wealthier districts, especially on Long Island.

The governor also agreed to distribute new property tax relief in the form of rebate checks instead of sending the money to school districts, acceding to a demand of Senate Republicans. But the governor said the Senate had agreed to direct most of the aid to the middle class, as he had wanted, with some modifications to his plan.

And he said he would offset his proposals to close corporate tax loopholes by reducing taxes on businesses.

The deal would add $850 million in state spending to the governor’s $120.6 billion budget, and certainly more when matching federal funds for Medicaid are considered.

So that's good for a lot of people, including those who are so over worked in Assembly Ways and Means these days. And it means that Albany can actually get back to doing some serious legislating again, and not so focused on the budget.

While we still don't know the specifics of the budget, or what made or did not make the cuts, we will give you a good run down of the Budget on Cowboy when the C-Print (final amendments to budget bills) are released to the public and can be accessed by all on LRS.

The Budget Bills.

Here is a listing of the budget bills for those who want to read them on LRS today (see public.leginfo.state.ny.us)—particularly the C-print that should be available today or tomorrow.

2007 Appropriation Bills

Budget Name	Governor's Bill Number (A = Governor's 21 day changes)	Assembly Bill Number	Senate Bill Number	Final Version
Public Protection and General Government	S2100-A / A4300-A	A4300-B	S2100-B	S2100-C / A4300-C
Legislature and Judiciary	S2101 / A4301	A4301-A	S2101-A	S2101-B / A4301-B
State Debt	S2102-A / A4302-A	A4302-B	S2102-A	S2102-C / A4302-C
Education, Labor and Family Assistance	S2103-A / A4303-A	A4303-B	S2103-B	S2103-C / A4303-C
Health and Mental Hygiene	S2104-A / A4304-A	A4304-B	S2104-B	S2104-C / A4304-C
Transportation, Economic Development and Environmental Conservation	S2105-A / A4305-A	A4305-B	S2105-B	S2105-C / A4305-C

2007 Enacting Language (Article VII)

Budget Name	Governor's Bill Number (A = Governor's 21 day changes)	Assembly Bill Number	Senate Bill Number	Final Version
Public Protection and General Government	S2106-A / A4306-A	A4306-B	S2106-B	S2106-C / A4306-C
Legislature and Judiciary	---none---	---none---	---none---	---none---
State Debt	---none---	---none---	---none---	---none---
Education, Labor and Family Assistance	S2107-A / A4307-A	A4307-B	S2107-B	S2107-C / A4307-C
Health and Mental Hygiene	S2108-A / A4308-A	A4308-B	S2108-B	S2108-C / A4308-C
Transport -ation, Economic Develop -ment and Environ -mental Conserv -ation	S2109-A / A4309-A	A4309-B	S2109-B	S2109-C / A4309-C

2007 Revenue (Tax) Bill

Budget Name	Governor's Bill Number	Assembly Bill Number	Senate Bill Number	Final Version
Enacts into law major components of legislation relating to taxes and revenues which are necessary to implement the state's fiscal plan for the 2007-2008 fiscal year	---none---	A4310-B	S2110-B	A4310-C / S2110-C

Times Union Now Has a Local Politics Blog.

As the Times Union expands further into the blogging world, they have added a new beat covering local politics and what happens around the Capital Region.

Right now there isn't much there. But we will have to see how it evolves—we could really use a good local politics blog for our area.

Last Minute Budgeting.

It looks like they are working out the final details of the budget—right until it has to be put in print sometime in Friday morning—for passage Friday afternoon before sundown so Shelly Silver can observe the mandatory Orthodox Jewish prohibition of work on Saturday.

All those plans depend on Governor Spitzer releasing a message of necessity for all of the budget bills, allowing the normal aging process of 3 days to be suspended on the C-amendment/final version of the budget bills. Most people think he will release such a message, but only when he's happy with the budget.

Until then, most of the Capitol staff will be working very hard to get an on time budget. While the paper notes there are some major secondary issues on unresolved, the reality is both sides have carefully analyzed both houses budget's resolutions and know where everybody stands. It's just a matter of picking between or compromising on the differences by the hard working negotiating staff and then having bill drafting

Will there be mistakes at this pace? Lots. Does that mean the budget will be forever screwed up? No, as budget clean up bills are always passed after the budget to clean up technical mistakes and others. The good news is that unless something horrible happens throwing off the process, the budget will get done on time.

Gillibrand and Hall on Rove's Hit List.

It looks like the Republicans have stated the obvious—who is really vunerable in Congress in New York on both-sides of the aisle: Hall and Gillibrand on the Democrats, Kuhl and Walsh on the Republicans. It should be very interesting to see how these predictions work out.

CapCon also links to the Politico which says Dan Maffei and Eric Massa may be spoiling for the same fight all over this year. At least Bob Johnson isn't thinking on taking on snazzy-dress John McHugh (no, I can't make the C float like his campaign signs on the blog).

Steamroller Still Plans a April Fool Days Budget.

It looks like our fucking governor is insisting that his budget passed by April 1st, even if it means stripping out all his principles before the passage of the budget.

We are pleased that we, as the elected leaders of the state, first and foremost, believe that we will get an on time budget that captures the principles and values that should guide us as we move forward,” said the governor.

This marks a turnaround for Spitzer, who originally stated that getting a good budget was more important than an on time budget.

In the end they added $980 million to the budget to appease the Senate for the appearance of an on time budget. He also conceded the following points:

• The deal involves $1 billion in healthcare spending cuts, instead of the $1.3 billion proposed by the governor.
• Along with 50 percent of hospital cuts already being completed, there's a change in Medicaid spending. Spitzer originally proposed cutting Medicaid 8 percent, now will be cut by only 1 percent.
• The plan also gives school spending statewide a nearly a half a billion dollar boost. There would also be money for 100 new charter schools, 50 of which would be in New York City, that would be established by the State University of New York and not the schools chancellor.
• More than a quarter of a billion dollars would go to nano-technology research and $100 million would go towards stem-cell research.
• Plus, the plan gives a billion more dollars in property tax breaks for homeowners.
• One item Spitzer did say was missing from the budget that he would like to add was a bottle bill

You have to wonder what's left of Governor's Spitzer budget. Did he close any tax loopholes? Did he get those Dam fees or the CAFO fee increases? Did he make any real reforms happen—or what it all done in the back room on behalf of special interests? Did he do much of anything?

It looks at though this is a low point of his power—a major defeat for Governor Spitzer. He attacked the State Senate too hard at first, and they creamed him. You don't negotiate well when your attack the heart and soul of your enemy.

The thirty million dollar question is Governor Spitzer still relevant? Maybe if he can bribe several Republican Senators and hire hit man for other Senate Republicans, he can survive. But other then that, unless thing change in Albany, he's starting to look like a one term fucking steamroller (voters like governors who get results).