It's Time To Get Serious About Real Reform

DEAR EDITOR:

This year we saw yet another New York State budget crafted by three men in a room and ratified in the dead of night. How many times must we shamefully repeat history before the New York State Assembly Majority gets serious about ethics and transparency?

Rather than allowing lawmakers to review the budget for the three days required by law, Gov. Cuomo again chose to rush a vote by using a ‘Message of Necessity.’ Obviously, this governor does not believe that ‘haste makes waste.’

Despite this critically-flawed, opaque process, we have finally adopted significant measures to reverse failed policies of the past, especially in the realm of education. Thanks to the elimination of the harmful Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) education cuts and a $626 million increase in Foundation Aid, public school aid has reached $24.2 billion, marking a $1.4 billion increase over last year’s levels. Starting in 2018, families will begin to reap the rewards of a middle-class tax cut that, once phased in, will result in $1.9 billion in savings in 2020-2021. Library aid has increased by $4 million, and the state has committed $25 million in additional funding to provide services for our neighbors who are grappling with heroin and opioid addiction.

I am also proud to announce that, following efforts by me, Assemblyman Andrew Raia and local safe-boating advocates, a plan to cut Suffolk County’s state aid for marine police in half was eliminated from the budget. This decision will result in safer waters this boating season.

However, critical issues remain unaddressed. The maximum level of Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) grants available to New York students remained flat while families across our state struggle with skyrocketing college costs. And, with the appalling inaction on ethics reform, elected officials convicted of corruption can still collect fat pensions funded by the very taxpayers they chose to betray.

One would think that the experience of having New York’s two highest ranking legislative leaders arrested and convicted on corruption charges would be the sufficient shock needed to bring about profound reform. The Assembly Majority, sadly, seems to have concluded that preserving the status quo is preferable, which will allow Albany to remain a breeding ground for corruption. It is an insult to the taxpayers of New York State.

Chad A. Lupinacci
Member of Assembly
10th AD – South Huntington