NEWS: MYRIE, SENATE MAJORITY ADVANCE BROOKLYN PRIORITIES IN BUDGET

ALBANY-- Today, Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie (D-Central Brooklyn) and his Senate Majority colleagues adopted a budget resolution for State Fiscal Year 2022, setting the stage for adoption of the final state budget by April 1. The Senate’s budget plan includes critical funding for schools, healthcare, housing and more, and addresses the gun violence epidemic by directing new funding to violence intervention and interruption programs that serve our communities.

“Today, I was proud to support the Senate’s budget resolution that sets the stage for New York’s comprehensive, equitable recovery from COVID-19,” said Senator Myrie. “By making critical investments in education, our health care system, housing, transportation and more, the Senate Majority is advancing a bold set of priorities that will improve our State and serve our people, especially those most in need. Over the next few weeks, I will work with my colleagues in government to ensure these priorities are addressed in the Enacted State Budget.”

Senator Myrie continued: “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., taught us that ‘budgets are moral documents.’ I am proud to support the Senate Majority’s one-house budget proposal which includes additional resources for the most vulnerable and asks the wealthiest to pay their fair share towards a recovery for all. I’m especially pleased the Senate is working to address the gun violence epidemic in Brooklyn and other communities across the State by funding violence intervention and interruption programs.”

Among other provisions, the Senate’s One-House Budget resolution includes the following:

Addressing gun violence

• The Senate budget dedicates at least $10 million from New York’s federally-funded Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding to hospital-based violence intervention programs and community-based violence interruption programs. These programs provide a credible, non-police response to gun violence, and have a remarkable track record of success in the communities most vulnerable to gun violence

Supporting healthcare institutions and essential health workers

• The Senate directs additional aid to SUNY-Downstate, Brooklyn’s first all-COVID hospital, including:
  • $50 million in capital borrowing authority 
  • $60 million in debt service relief for all SUNY hospitals 
  • $40 million in hazard pay for SUNY hospital workers (their colleagues at other hospitals received hazard pay during the pandemic)
• The Senate restores $180 million cuts to our hospitals, $94 million in administrative cuts, and $455 million in Medicaid cuts 
• The Senate also adds $624 million to increase the minimum wage for home health aides

Boosting housing
The Senate’s budget proposal includes:

• $750 million for NYCHA capital projects 
• Establishes an emergency rental assistance program to use federal dollars to address rental arrears
• $200 million in homeowner assistance as well as restoration of the $20 million Homeowner Protection Program 
• $200 million for the Housing Access Voucher Program to provide permanent housing for the houseless
• Property tax relief for homeowners paying more than 6% of their income in property taxes

Prioritizing education

• The Senate proposal includes $3.5 billion more for our schools than the Executive budget, including a three-year phase in of Foundation Aid that our schools are owed
• The Senate also provides $13.6 million in base aid to CUNY community colleges, raises the maximum Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) award by $1,000, closes the “TAP Gap” at SUNY and CUNY, provides $4 million each for student mental health services at SUNY and CUNY, and provides a 20 percent increase for all Opportunity Programs serving our most under-resourced college-bound students
   

Stabilizing our small businesses

• The Senate’s budget includes $500 million in commercial rent relief and $500 million in small business assistance grants

Help for all New Yorkers

• The Senate budget provides $2.1 billion for an excluded worker fund to provide unemployment benefits to workers who lost their jobs during COVID-19 and were ineligible for for unemployment insurance
• The budget resolution also includes $25 million for food insecurity programs and makes food sharing from upstate farms to communities all over the state permanent

A fairer budget

The Senate budget asks the wealthiest to pay their fair share to help maintain critical services and boost our economy

To review the full Senate Majority One-house State Budget Resolution, please click here.

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