Southern Region CSEA activists and staff hold a Zoom meeting with State Sen. James Skoufis to discuss their concerns with the proposed state budget. Participants included, clockwise from top left: Ulster County Unit activist Anne Fisher; CSEA Political Action Coordinator Chris Ludlow; Orange County Unit 1st Vice President Kathy Rodriguez; State Sen. James Skoufis; Orange County Unit President Rosemarie Kukys and Ulster County Local President Todd Schmidt.
As this edition went to press, the state Senate and Assembly had passed their one-house budgets, and are working on passing a final state budget, due April 1. Our May edition will provide coverage of the final state budget, once enacted.
While not perfect, the one-house proposals were very favorable to CSEA’s positions. This is in large part due to the efforts of so many CSEA activists who took action through our Legislative Action Center.
In recent weeks, CSEA members across the state met with state legislators holding more than 120 virtual meetings to discuss our budget concerns and priorities. Union members also worked with legislators, other unions and advocates to make our concerns public via news conferences, editorials, digital ads and media releases. These efforts were concentrated in areas of the state where some of the hardest proposed cuts were taking place.
Assemblymember Angelo Santabarbara, top left, recently met with CSEA Capital Region leaders and staff to discuss the union’s budget needs and legislative priorities, including facility and child care needs. Clockwise, from top left, are Assemblymember Angelo Santabarbara; CSEA Political Action Coordinator Bill Gustafson; CSEA/VOICE Child Care Local 100A President Pamela Wells and CSEA Capital Region President Ron Briggs. (Photo provided by Assemblymember Angelo Santabarbara)
Despite the legislative proposals restoring many of the cuts, CSEA members continued to press hard for a fair budget as the deadline grew nearer.
“We needed to keep the pressure up on our legislators to ensure that they stood strong on our priorities until a final budget was reached,” said CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan.
Here is a brief summary of how some of our important issues were handled in the one-house budgets:
Office of Mental Health: Both the Senate and Assembly propose to restore funding for Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Center and all adult beds;
Office of Children and Family Services: Both the Senate and Assembly omit the proposal to close four OCFS youth detention facilities;
Local government funding: Both Senate and Assembly propose to restore the state’s responsibility for AIM payments. The Assembly proposes to restore all cuts in VLT aid, while the Senate only proposes to restore aid to some municipalities. Both houses propose increased resources for local roads and bridges;
Retirees: Both Senate and Assembly omit proposed increases in retiree health insurance costs.
DMV workers: The Senate proposes to accept the proposal to increase penalties for assaulting a DMV worker, and calls on the DMV to implement electronic notification of road test results. The Assembly omits the proposal;
Canals: Both Senate and Assembly omit the proposal relating to canal “revitalization;”
Courts: Both Senate and Assembly omit the proposal to expand virtual arraignments statewide;
School transportation aid: Both Senate and Assembly propose to expand eligibility for transportation aid to include additional services provided during COVID;
Transportation workers/work zone safety: The Senate accepts and expands on the Executive proposal for increased protections for transportation workers. This includes increased penalties for assaulting and/or menacing a worker and additional CSEA-supported provisions to create a new crime of endangering a highway worker, establishing a pilot program for speed cameras in work zones, and providing funding for increased work zone safety enforcement and monitoring. The Assembly included none of these proposals; and
Revenues: Both houses propose significant revenue increases over the Executive Budget, mainly focused on increased taxes on the wealthy and big businesses.
