Senator Montgomery votes "No" on budget extender bills (S. 5491 & S. 5492)

I joined 14 of my colleagues in voting "No" on 1700+ pages of legislation (S. 5491 and S. 5492) that would extend the budget through May 31st, 2017. Bills that are delivered at 3AM and 7AM, several hours before a vote is scheduled is an insult to the legislative process. The issues important to the Senate Democratic Conference and all New Yorkers remain unresolved including Raise the Age, foundation funding for our schools, funding for our safety net hospitals, the DREAM Act, college affordability, criminal justice measures such as speedy trails and bail reform and increased funding for affordable housing. 

What was originally described as a "simple" budget extender evolved into budget bills that contained substantial appropropriations and policy recommendations including:

- $110 million to build a new youth detention faciity as part of the Governor's Raise the Age proposal

- $40 billion in appropriatons

- $8.9 billion in added debt

- $2.5 billion for water infrastructure

- sweeps $65 million away from the MTA to help pay for other services.

- restored funding for educational opportunity programs at SUNY and CUNY ($32.2 million for EOP, $28.1 million for SEEK, $7 million for EOC)

- $2.6 million to restore 7-day visitation for maximum-security prisons (Gov's budget called for visitation to be reduced to 3 days)

- the Governor's plan to cap prescription drug costs for Medicaid recipients

- $400 million for the ongoing "Buffalo Billion" effort 

- $300 million for a life sciences initiative

- member item funding for majority projects

For more information about the budget extender bills, please download the Senate Democratic Conference staff analysis. For more information about the Senate Democratic Conference budget priorities https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/articles/velmanette-montgomery/senate-democratic-conference-budget-priorities-include-raise