One-House Budgets Released!
1. Senate & Assembly Release Budgets
This week, the State Assembly and Senate released their one-house budgets, which are each house’s response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s Executive Budget. There are several positive elements of the proposals for CSEA members, including fixes to Tier 6, eliminating the salary withholding and deferral programs for state employees, and funding increases to schools, libraries, local governments, and childcare providers. Now, both houses will negotiate with Governor Hochul to hash out a final budget. The final budget is due by April 1.
2. Renewed Call to Action: Fix Tier 6!
Since the Senate and Assembly included Tier 6 reforms in their one-house budgets, we need to make sure that legislators continue to fight to ensure that these proposals are in the final budget. We need your help to keep the pressure on! We have a new letter that you can send to your legislators here. Even if you’ve already participated in this campaign, it is important to take action again and let legislators know that we’re seeing this fight through until the end!
3. Government Shutdown Averted
Late on Friday, March 8, President Joe Biden signed a $467.5 billion spending package to fund the Departments of Agriculture, Justice, Commerce, Energy, Interior, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, and Housing and Urban Development through September 30. Federal lawmakers acted with little time to spare, narrowly avoiding a partial government shutdown that was set to take effect early on March 9. However, funding for all other federal agencies is set to run out on March 22, meaning that lawmakers will need to come to another agreement soon.
4. Next Week
The State Assembly and Senate budget conference committees begin meeting next week. These are the collective bodies that hash out the budgetary disagreements between both houses. This is the next step in the process of reaching agreement on a final budget. The State Legislature will be in session on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
5. CSEA Legislative Toolkit
We’re encouraging members to get the word out about our union’s 2023 legislative successes. Click the icons below for informational documents that you can print, share, and post on social media to spread the news!
Ambulance Direct Payments:
Bumping, Retreating and Rehiring Rights:
Civil Service Exam Announcements:
School Workplace Violence Prevention Programs:
Counting Provisional Time Toward Probation: