State Budget, Medicaid Among Issues At Hand In 2005 Legislative Session

We are at the beginning of a new year with new energy to tackle the 2005 Legislative Session that recently started with the annual State of the State Address by Governor George E. Pataki.

As the Governor pointed out in his speech, there is a lot of work to be done, including determining education funding and reforming Medicaid. As usual, the Senate will tackle these issues head on.

For the past few years, the top priority of the Senate has been budget reform and we have begun each Session by acting on bills to improve the budget process. This legislation has included provisions such as calling for a contingency budget to automatically go into effect if a new budget is not adopted by the May 1st deadline and requiring a two-year appropriation for State school aid. We will be looking at these issues again and other possible budget reform solutions when the Senate Government Reform Task Force issues a report and recommendations soon.

The Governor will submit his executive budget shortly. My colleagues and I in the Senate look forward to reviewing and negotiating his proposals and addressing the budget reform plans as soon as possible so it can impact this year's budget.

I've heard from many constituents on the cost of Medicaid, which the Governor also discussed in his speech. Many of you share my concerns about the level of New York’s Medicaid spending, which is the highest in the nation. It is essential that we take further action in this area. At the same time, providers (hospitals, nursing homes, etc.) and advocates for Medicaid consumers (senior citizens, disabled persons, etc.) fear that spending cuts will reduce the quality of medical care. The Senate Task Force on Medicaid made several suggestions last year on ways to reduce spending while retaining the quality of care, and we plan to delve further into them and work on solutions that benefit everyone.

In December, my colleagues and I in the Senate met to lay the groundwork for this Session by identifying the substantive issues that we are going to advocate for, such as tax relief, Medicaid reform, economic development and job creation investments and incentives, funding education, health care and transportation issues and criminal justice reforms. I look forward to tackling these issues and making 2005 a productive year.