Millionaire's Tax a Possibility After the Budget

As Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver remained relatively mum on Thursday morning about the possibility of a millionaire's tax in the final budget, it appeared to be officially killed when Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, emphatically denied its future existence.
This "read my lips" approach from Skelos comes in the wake of a proposal (SB 4171) from Republican Sen. John Bonacic, which would institute a genuine millionaire's tax for the next two years and provide property tax relief, and remarks from two Republican Senators, including local Senator Roy McDonald, suggesting that they were open to the millionaire's tax.
By Thursday afternoon, Michael Veitch, McDonald's spokesman, had clarified the Senator's position. He said McDonald is not currently considering the millionaire's tax as part of the budget or considering the proposal from Sen. Bonacic. He added that this stance was not the product of any internal pressure from the conference that he was aware of and argued that McDonald's position has remained constant.
“He is an open-minded legislator, so it is something he would consider after the budget is done,” said Veitch.
This is a far cry from the rigid stance of Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, who objected to the Bonacic plan in its theoretical stages.
The proposal from Bonacic and the possibility that it might have some Republican support, has drawn the attention of the Alliance for Quality Education, which is a loud supporter of the millionaire's tax.
"Senator Bonacic stepped to the plate and did the right thing by joining the State Assembly in support of millionaires and billionaires paying they fair share to help fund schools, I believe that privately many of his Republican colleagues agree with him," said Billy Easton, the executive director of AQE.
It remains unclear how the Assembly and Senate versions of the budget will rectify their stark disagreement about how to proceed on the millionaire's tax.

Mandate Relief for Libraries

With New York's public libraries facing a potential 10 percent budget cut, they're endanger of violating maintenance of effort (MOE) statutes, which could cost them federal and state aid. In response to this looming dilemma, Senator Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, has introduced a bill (SB 4102) on Friday that would allow waivers for some of these MOE statutes so libraries won't lose state aid.
He proposes letting the state Education Commissioner grant waivers so that local libraries don't jeopardize 25 percent of their state funding by failing to meet certain standards.
Farley's bill memorandum argues that this loss of funding would have a "crippling effect" and would impact persons who are disabled, speak English as a second language, are incarcerated, are institutionalized or unemployed. The memo suggests that the waiver process has a successful past.
It's not clear what standards libraries would be exempted from, but that they would be determined on a case by case basis.

Farley Lends Support to Libraries

With New York's libraries facing a 10 percent reduction in funding based on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget proposal, Senator Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, has introduced a measure on Friday that would make them eligible for other streams of funding.
His proposed legislation (SB 4100) would allow libraries to compete for Employment preparation Education funds for their pre-GED and other adult literacy services. This would provide libraries access to a $96 million fund that is currently only available to schools and BOCES, even though the state's public libraries provide many of the same educational services like computer and internet skills, job readiness workshops and financial literacy classes.
This bill is likely welcomed by the New York Library Association, as executive director Michael J. Borges implored the legislature to include this measure when he testified before the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on February 15. He characterized this change in law as one of fairness and equity, especially why the state's libraries see their funding drop below 1994 levels.
Initially, the governor proposed a budget of $76 million for the state's public libraries, which would be a reduction of about $8 million. Of that cut, $4.2 million was added back as additional aid by the Senate, but not the Assembly. The proposed budgets do include $14 million for public library capital projects.
New York has 23 public library systems, which support over 1000 public libraries, and there are also nine Reference and Research Library Resources Systems, which support 41 school library systems. are state-funded regional systems that provide support to not only the 23 public library systems. Additionally, there are over 900 academic, hospital, law, business, large public, and special libraries.

(Real) Millionaire's Tax Opposed by Farley

Local state Senator Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, said on Thursday that he would oppose the proposed restructured millionaire's surcharge tax if Gov. Andrew Cuomo opposed the measure. He added that a millionaire's tax would be unlikely to pass the Senate.
This announcement form Farley comes as a response to the revelation that Republican Sen. John Bonacic would support a millionaire's surcharge if it applied only to millionaires and not people making as little as $200,000 a year, as the surcharge currently exists.
"I'm trying to back the governor on this," said Farley, in regards to Cuomo's pledge not to raise taxes or fees. Farley added that he shared the governor's interpretation of extending the surcharge in either form, which is that it would be a new tax. He went on to say that Democrats and Republicans alike in his district support the governor's cuts and oppose new taxes.
When pressed on how his constituents would feel about extending the surcharge on millionaires to prevent proposed cuts in education, Farley acknowledged that he had "no idea" what they might think. He noted that people in his district are concerned about jobs and taxes.
Farley said he understood what motivated Bonacic, such as a desire to fund needy schools in his district, but didn't seem to think his own district deserved the same considerations, even though he acknowledged that upstate school districts got "zonked" by the governor's budget.
"We have a $10 billion hole," said Farley, who noted that Bonacic's proposal would only cover about 10 percent of that shortfall.

NYS Senate Chairs Crowned

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, has announced the chairs for the standing committees in the Senate.
As reported earlier on 22 Miles From The Capitol, Sen. Farley has not taken over Senate Banks, but Senator Joe Griffo will be at the helm with Farley as his Vice-Chair. Farley, who will have some sort of central leadership position, is not the chair of any committee, including Aging, where he used to have some sway.
In local interest, the Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee went to Sen. John Bonacic, even though Sen. Roy McDonald, R-Saratoga, requested it. He acknowledged last Wednesday that it would probably go to Bonacic, who has seniority in the conference. McDonald did not acknowledge that he might also be passed over because he has an independent streak that the leadership might not be keen on.McDonald did receive the chairmanship of the Mental Health committee, which is presumably where he will be able to shepherd through autism legislation.
Bonacic is also one of three Senators pulling down double duty, as he will also be Chair of the Judiciary committee.
The Republican staffing seems to have dealt a blow to the future of nonpartisan redistricting, as the makeup of the Senate Investigations and Government Operations committee is not too friendly to Valesky's bill (SB 660) on the issue.
Already in a past session, two of the current GOP members voted without recommendation on the proposal. This isn't a full out rebuke of the measure, but its not exactly a warm welcome. In the bill's favor, though, is the fact that Big Cheese Tom Libous has supported the bill in the past.
Full list of committee chairs and Republican members:
majoritycommitteeassignments[1]

Farley's Future

Senator Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, who chaired the Senate Banking Committee for years during the Republican's long stretch as the majority party, won't even acknowledge that he wants his old post again now that his party has retaken control of the chamber.
"I expect I will be in a leadership position," said Farley, while predicting that he will have a large role on the banking committee.
Farley suggested there may be some sort of financial services committee, which may regulate the consolidated agency proposed by the governor in the state of the state address, and he floated the idea that he could lead that.
For the most part, though, the senator seemed keen to promote the idea that he didn't need to be the Chair of Banking to play a major role in policy, because he could leave his imprint from a central leadership position.
Farley has already been named to the Finance Committee and the Rules Committee

Farley's First Bill of 2011

Senator Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, has proposed his first bill of the new legislative session and it is a throwback from the past.
Senate bill 982 amends election law and state finance law, and is aimed at creating an informed voting public by requiring the listing of the total debt expected from a bond act that is on a ballot proposition.
The bill argues the current dynamic, which now mandates that the proposition must show the principal amount of proposed debt is misleading and hides the actual costs to the taxpayers. Farley argues that this an especially sharp contrast on the issue of long-term debt, where interest payments can end up doubling the principle costs.
This proposal has been floated numerous times since the early 1990s, but has never gained traction in the NYS Assembly, where it has been proposed by Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, R-Schenectady.