Senator Flanagan Announces "countdown To April 1"

With the April 1st state budget deadline a month away, Senator John J. Flanagan (R,C-East Northport) announced an effort that will enable residents of the 2nd Senate District to show their support for the Senate's fight to pass a new state budget 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 Flanagan 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 Flanagan 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 Assembly that 20 years of late budgets is enough."

"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 Flanagan said. "The Senate is going to pass a budget resolution that outlines our priorities for education, health care, economic development and other areas; we are going to go to 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 going to www.senatorflanagan.com.

"Viewing the public leaders meetings online will enable people to see firsthand, exactly what positions the Senate, Assembly and Governor are taking in budget talks," Senator Flanagan said. "Watching these historic discussions will help people be better informed about the budget process and progress."