Albany–State lawmakers gaveled in the 2024 legislative session with major issues on their minds, albeit with different priorities depending on what part of New York they’re from.
For Long Island’s reps, taxes and affordability are at the top of the agenda, along with illegal immigration and fighting the illicit drug scourge and crime wave the policies of their urban colleagues have wrought. There will be the age-old battle of the budget and the allocation of resources, particularly school funding and monies from the state’s $4.2 billion Environmental Bond Act, which was overwhelmingly approved by Nassau and Suffolk voters in a 2022 referendum.
“The battle, of course, will be over money,” said Senator Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue) who was in the chamber for Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State Address. “Long Island needs to get its fair share from a government that’s dominated by Democrats from other parts of the state,” Murray said, noting that the region only gets back about 60 cents for every dollar it sends to Albany. “They look at us like a cash cow and think we can afford it, but guess what, we can’t.”
The New Year got off to a rough start for the downstate when Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman criticized Hochul for shortchanging Long Island and pushing state-controlled multi-family housing on the suburbs. Hearing his comments at a meeting of the region’s top business and governmental leaders, Hochul asked the crowd if she should leave and take the state dollars with her. “We’re all for affordable housing, and the local municipalities have been addressing the issue, but they need more resources from Albany, not a top-down approach where the state takes over local zoning,” Murray said.
“Long Islanders are very concerned over the impact the migrants will have on their communities,” said Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano (R-Medford), who noted that Gov. Hochul’s “Sanctuary State” policy has brought more than 130,000 aliens to New York. “There was more than a billion dollars in the budget last year for illegal immigrants, and I’m sure the governor will want more than that this year. These are direct taxpayer allocations for the migrants and do not include the huge expenditures forced on local communities for education, EMS, and other social services.” The legislators were quick to point out that Hochul did not reference the migrant crisis a single time in her State of the State remarks (see related story in this week’s South Shore Press).
Suffolk County Executive Edward Romaine highlighted the need for Long Island’s share of state funds for environmental preservation and clean water initiatives, particularly for sewer expansion. “For protecting our water resources, spurring economic development, and permitting the construction of much-needed housing, nothing gives you a greater return on a taxpayer dollar than sewers,” Romaine noted.
Hochul’s speech was also devoid of concrete plans to tackle the crime wave sweeping across New York. Progressive Democrats from the state’s urban areas are in direct conflict with the suburban Republicans on the issue of crime, with Gov. Hochul siding with the Left Wing of her party when it comes to maintaining cashless bail and decreasing the power of the police.
Hochul has appealed to her colleagues, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie (D-Bronx), to start negotiations on the budget early in the legislative session instead of waiting until the last minute, as been the practice for years under past administrations. The process of “Three People in a Room” making all of the state’s major decisions has been a constant bane of taxpayers and government watchdog groups. Their spending packages are usually dumped on legislators at the 11th hour with no time to read them, and key legislation sometimes doesn’t hit the floor until the wee hours, as was done with the state’s cashless bail law, which was signed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo when it reached his desk at three o’clock in the morning.
In his remarks on the session’s opening day, Heastie expressed confidence in “lowering New York’s unemployment to three percent, raising wages up by four percent, and building our economic future with a focus on putting families first.” He named affordable housing as a top priority stating, “It is not an understatement to say that housing – or more pointedly the lack of affordable housing – is one the biggest issues facing this state. Every community is feeling the effects of our housing crisis and it is up to us to enact solutions." The assembly speaker also committed to raising the minimum wage each year until 2027 and stressed, “Health care decisions should be between a woman and her doctor.”
With its one-party rule and secretive legislative process, New York has become the most expensive place to live in the nation, with the highest taxes and fees and the worst business climate. The state leads the U.S. in people bailing out, having said goodbye to more than 200,000 residents last year, according to the Census Bureau. Unfortunately, local officials point out, they’re being replaced by economic refugees who don’t have the skills and educational background of those who are leaving, a recipe, they say, for economic disaster.