Discovery reform, MTA funding top concerns for Hudson Valley lawmakers as NY budget talks continue past deadline
Originally published in
WAMC Northeast Public Radio
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The New York state budget is late again. WAMC’s Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Jesse King spoke with lawmakers in the Hudson Valley about their top concerns as negotiations continue.
Legislators passed a $1.7 billion budget extender Tuesday that will fund the government through Thursday. But multiple lawmakers who spoke to WAMC say they’re not going to meet that deadline, either, and another extender will be needed.
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State Senator Rob Rolison, a Republican from the 39th District, says he doesn’t feel like he has a lot of power in these discussions, as a member of the minority conference. But he hopes changes to New York’s pre-trial discovery laws make it through. He says cases are being dismissed because district attorneys statewide are struggling to meet the tighter deadlines established in 2019 to submit evidence for discovery, including evidence not directly tied to the case.
“Essentially, what the governor has proposed is that something that’s inconsequential, something that was not deliberately held back…there needs to be some leeway," he says.
Rolison and Skoufis both say they’re keeping an eye on funding for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The MTA is looking to the state to plug all or part of a more than $33 billion funding gap for its next capital plan, potentially by increasing the payroll mobility tax on nearby businesses. Skoufis says such an increase would not be fair for Hudson Valley businesses, especially those west of the Hudson, which do not have direct train access to New York City.