Senator Seward Announces "countdown To April 1"

With the April 1st start of the state fiscal year now less than a month away, Senator James L. Seward announced an effort that will enable residents of the 51st Senatorial District to show their support for the senate's fight to pass a new state budget on time for the first time in 20 years.

"Never have we had a greater opportunity to get a budget passed on time than we have this year," Senator Seward said. "Right now, as a result of the senate's budget reform efforts, everything is in place and a schedule has been set to get a state budget done before the deadline. The one element remaining is strong public support to keep up this momentum as we countdown to April 1, and encourage the assembly to join the senate and governor to achieve an on time budget and reform the process to end late budgets forever."

Senator Seward urged constituents to go to www.EndLateBudgetsNow.com and register their support for an on time budget by signing on to a petition that says "Tell the asembly that 20 years of late budgets I enough." (Link on right hand side of Senator Seward's home page).

"With your help, we can deliver a message to the assembly that we must put an end to late budgets now and get a new budget in place, on time," Senator Seward said. "The senate is going to pass a budget resolution that outlines our priorities for education, health care, economic development and other areas. Then we are going to start public budget conference committees in mid-March and, if the assembly is willing to cooperate and negotiate, we can get a budget done on time."

In addition to going online and signing the "End Late Budgets Now" petition, people can also view the public leaders' meetings that been held to discuss the budget. The meetings were scheduled in response to the senate’s call for greater openness and accountability in budget negotiations. The public leaders meetings can be viewed online by clicking on the link on Senator Seward's home page.

"Viewing the public leaders' meetings online will enable people to see firsthand the positions of the senate, assembly and governorin budget talks," Senator Seward said. "Watching these historic discussions will help people be better informed about the budget process and progress."

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