10 issues to watch in Albany
ALBANY – When the state Legislature returns to the Capitol on Monday, it will have just seven days of session remaining and a host of issues still on its plate that could affect the lives of New Yorkers.
Property taxes, the minimum wage, education policy, rent control, gun laws and sexual-assault policies on college campuses are among the unresolved matters before lawmakers finish up their business June 17.
The session could always be extended a day or two, but with the six-month session dominated by the arrests of the Legislature's two leaders, lawmakers probably can't get away from the Capitol fast enough.
So the scandals — and the potential for more arrests by crusading U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara — are clearly in the backdrop as lawmakers look to leave Albany for the year.
"It's a bit of tense time and people are sort of on their guard," said Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-Ithaca. "And I don't think it's the best time politically, and that always makes it harder to get things done."
Still, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislators vow to finish up the session strong amid what will be hundreds of bills passed in the final days of deal making, known locally as the "big ugly."
"Do we have a full agenda? Yes," Cuomo told reporters May 28. "And do we need to get as much of the agenda done as we can? Yes, and we will."
Here's a look at the key issues for the Legislature and Cuomo heading into the final two weeks of the session:
Property taxes
Cuomo started off the year with a sweeping, $1.7 billion proposal to provide property-tax rebates to homeowners based on their income.
But the measure has stalled, and Cuomo has instead focused on extending the property-tax cap, which expires next year.
The cap, first installed in 2011, probably wouldn't have been a hot topic this year, but it is tied to rent-control laws for New York City and its suburbs — and the rent laws expire this month.
So Cuomo and tax-cap supporters are pressing for the cap — which has cut the growth in property taxes by half over the past four years — to also be extended this year.
"It has worked extraordinary well," Cuomo said Wednesday in Rockland County. "Raising taxes was too easy. It was like raiding someone else's piggy bank."
School groups are pressing for reforms to the cap, saying it has hamstrung local budgets.
Education reforms
As part of the state budget adopted April 1, lawmakers and Cuomo agreed to install new teacher evaluations that would rely more heavily on student test scores.
The state Education Department was ordered to have the new policy in place by June 30, and then the nearly 700 school districts would have until Nov. 15 to adopt them.
But amid backlash to the new policy, lawmakers are looking to make changes. The Assembly passed a bill last month to extend the deadline for the Education Department to Nov. 17 and for schools until Nov. 15, 2016. It would also no longer require schools to have the new evaluations in place in order to get state aid.
"Students should not be denied necessary resources for a sound education due to the inability of adults to make agreements," the Assembly bill said. Still, at least so far, Cuomo and the Republican-led Senate haven't endorsed the Assembly bill, with Senate Republicans sponsoring similar-but-separate legislation.
"I think we need to get it right, and whatever it takes to get it right is what we need to do. Everybody has told us that some delay is probably important," said Sen. Rich Funke, R-Perinton.
Minimum wage
Advocates and labor groups are pushing for New York over the next several years to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. It's expected to increase to $9 an hour at year's end.
Cuomo has proposed an increase to $10.50 by the end of 2016 and to $11.50 in New York City. He has also empaneled a three-person wage board to recommend a new minimum wage for fast-food workers.
Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Assembly Democrats, said last month that a higher minimum wage would "make a huge difference in the lives of so many New Yorkers."
But business groups are trying to beat back the increase, and Senate Republicans have shown little interest in taking up the bill. Assemblyman Christopher Friend, R-Big Flats, Chemung County, criticized Cuomo's wage board for fast-food workers.
"To impose an increased cost on just a portion of the marketplace will adversely affect the franchises, which are locally owned businesses," Friend said in a statement.
SAFE Act
After Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, resigned his post amid scandal last month, senators elected Sen. John Flanagan as their leader.
Flanagan, R-Suffolk County, won in part with the help of six upstate senators, and now upstate leaders are pressing him to support changes to the controversial gun-control law, known as the SAFE Act, which has been panned by gun-rights groups.
Senate Republicans could act in the coming days to make changes — such as dropping a fledgling database for ammunition sales — but Democrats have signaled no plans to go along.
"The SAFE Act had several provisions that were so poorly drafted that they beg for revision just to make them workable," Assemblyman Bill Nojay, R-Pittsford.
Raise the age
Assembly Democrats and Cuomo want to change state law so 16- and 17-year-olds convicted of crimes would be treated as juveniles instead of adults — and head to family court instead of criminal court.
But there's concern from Senate Republicans about how the system would work.
"A very doable and first focus should be on if these kids are in harm's way," said Sen. Patrick Gallivan, R-Elma, Erie County, who heads the Senate's Corrections Committee.
Sexual assaults
Cuomo is promoting the "Enough is Enough" campaign that would create a series of new policies to report sexual assaults on college campuses.
Advocates said the policies — which are already largely in place on SUNY campuses — are needed to ensure that victims can report potential crimes and have a support system in place.
Critics, though, question the language in the proposed law, saying the lines could be blurred between consent and assault. So Cuomo and lawmakers are working to find a compromise on the bill before the session ends.
Education tax credit
Religious groups, Senate Republicans and Cuomo are pressing for a measure that would allow donors to private and public schools to get a break on their income taxes.
But unions and Assembly Democrats are opposing the measure. The sides are also battling over an increase in the cap in charter schools.
"When it comes to education, we must ensure that every child has the same opportunity to receive a first-class education," Flanagan said in a statement.
Mixed martial arts
New York is the last state in the nation to bar professional mixed-martial-arts fights, and the Senate for six years in a row has passed a bill to make it legal.
There's still resistance to pass the law in the Assembly, though Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, said he plans to revamp the bill to include more safety regulations in hopes of making it more palatable to lawmakers who are leery of the violent nature of the events.
New York City issues
With the expiration this month of rent-control laws in New York City and a lucrative tax break for city developers, Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio are in a pitched battle over how to revamp both programs. With so much on the line for more than 1 million renters and rich developers, the end of the session has been dominated by the talks.
But upstate leaders see the debate as an opportunity to push for more affordable housing, and Assembly Democrats want a $150 million fund for the initiative, which would include redeveloping abandoned properties.
"We want to revive (abandoned properties) and bring them back on the tax rolls and at the same time provide affordable housing," said Assemblyman Frank Skartados, D-Milton, Ulster County.
Dream Act
Minority lawmakers expect to make a final push for the Dream Act, which would provide tuition assistance to immigrants who are in the country illegally.
Proponents said the students are in the country and should be able to tap aid to go to college. Senate Republicans oppose the bill and used it as a campaign theme last year when they won the majority.
"Let me make it clear: We are not doing the Dream Act," Flanagan said last month on New York Now, a public television show.
www.twitter.com/gannettalbany