The 2017 - 2018 Budget

The 2017-2018 State Budget made progress, but there is still more work to do. I am very proud of the strong efforts that both I -- and my Democratic Conference colleagues -- put forth to help ensure that the interests of New York's working and middle class families were not forgotten. Throughout this process, the Senate Democrats advocated for our priorities and plans to build a stronger, fairer, and more prosperous state. We were able to raise the age criminal responsibility for children, provide free SUNY/CUNY tuition, increase aid to local school districts, make greater investment in clean water infrastructure and record-low tax reduction for middle-class New Yorkers.

Unfortunately not everything was included in this year’s budget, but session is not over and there is still hope that we will be able to pass important legislation like the DREAM Act to help thousands of New Yorkers who only want a fair shot at earning an education and achieving the American Dream, the Liberty Act, which I sponsor, to protect our immigrant communities, strong ethics reforms to root out corruption that hurts our taxpayers, and efforts to make it easier for people to vote.

This budget made progress, but it did not take the opportunity to give New Yorkers the progressive budget that they deserve. I look forward to building on our successes in this budget as well as the failures to best improve the lives of New Yorkers as we move forward.