Cuomo called for 12 weeks of paid family leave that could be used to care for a new baby or sick relative.
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Queensbury Superintendent of Schools Douglas Huntley said, however, that Cuomo wants to eliminate it over two years. Cuomo said on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show recently that the proposals will be significant.
Moving the Canal Corp. would allow the state to stop covering the costs for policing the 570-mile highway system, which had been costing the state more than $60 million annually. Still, he was correct in observing that NY does better at building and equipping prisons than it does schools.
Scores of people rallied at the state Capitol on Tuesday to urge lawmakers to increase education funding to $30 billion, while lobbyists for renewable energy, charter schools, food banks and other interest groups worked the hallways of the state Capitol hoping to advance their budget priorities with lawmakers.
Cuomo also proposed more money for homeless, with most of the cash going to New York City, and spending billions on transportation and other major infrastructure projects.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2016 budget includes a break for NY drivers who spend at least $50 annually on Thruway tolls in their passenger vehicles and pay electronically. He told Barron everyone has heard you, now sit down. According to one reporter’s math, Cuomo’s spending plans require freeing up $1.4 billion from somewhere, and a big part of that where is the coffers of New York City, home to his schoolyard rival Bill de Blasio.
The governor called for $2 billion more in school funding spread out over two years, and $100 million dollars to turn struggling schools into community schools with expanded hours and services.
“As we have the opportunity to review details in the days ahead”, the New York State United Teachers said in a statement, “we look forward to working constructively with the Legislature and the governor to advance public education, from preschool through post-graduate”.
Cuomo spoke at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center under tight security, including fencing off protesters.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed increasing aid to public schools by almost $1 billion to $24.2 billion in the upcoming fiscal year.
Senate Republicans in past years have rejected it.
The Democratic governor had vowed to propose a series of ethics reforms after the corruption convictions late a year ago of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.
Cuomo also proposed cutting the income tax rate for small businesses from 6.5 percent to as little as 4 percent effective next year.
Cuts would apply to businesses with less than 100 employees and net income below $390,000. Advocates wanted much more.
“New Yorkers are troubled by the homeless problem”, he said.
Cuomo would dedicate $700 million from windfall financial settlements with financial institutions to Thruway projects, including the continuing construction of a new Tappan Zee Bridge over the lower Hudson River.
Cuomo described Penn Station as “miserable” and “un-New York”, and recycled a joke about Vice President Joe Biden not getting the chance to compare the station to a third world country.
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Barron was led out of the hall, and the crowd began to cheer loudly to cover up the disturbance. He called for closing a loophole that lets limited liability corporations to skirt campaign-finance laws and limiting lawmakers outside income to 15 percent of their base salary, which is now $79,500 a year.
