New York State SmartTranscripts:

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: Can you is there a way you can manually It's on, but the the light light bulb are now.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: Okay.

[Assemblymember Charles D. Fall]: Cool. Mister speaker, would you please call the house back to order?

[Speaker Carl E. Heastie]: The house will come to order.

[Assemblymember Charles D. Fall]: Mister Fall? Members have on their desk an a calendar. Mister speaker, now move to advance the a calendar.

[Speaker Carl E. Heastie]: On a motion by mister Fall, the a calendar is advanced. Page three rules report 93. Clerk will read.

[Reading Clerk (New York State Assembly)]: Assembly number 10 935, rules report 93, mister Pretlow, enacted making appropriations for the support of government.

[Speaker Carl E. Heastie]: On a motion by mister Pretlow, the senate bill is before the house. The senate bill is advanced. Governor's message is at the desk. Clerk will read.

[Reading Clerk (New York State Assembly)]: I hereby certify to an immediate vote, Kathy Hochul, governor.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: Explanation please.

[Speaker Carl E. Heastie]: An explanation has been requested. Mr. Prentlow?

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: Yes, Mr. Speaker and good afternoon everyone. Before us we have an extender bill as we continue to negotiate the final state budget. This extender takes us through April 16. It includes funding for institutional payroll, public health programs, unemployment insurance, public assistance programs, veterans programs and general state charges.

[Speaker Carl E. Heastie]: Mr. Palmisano?

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: Yes. Mr. Speaker, will the chairman yield for a few questions?

[Speaker Carl E. Heastie]: Mr. Chairman, will you yield?

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: A few is three. Yes, sir. Chairman yields.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: In multiple parts. Just kidding. Well, you answered a couple of quick questions already with your answer. The first question I wanted to ask you, and I mentioned in the committee, but for the floor. With this being our third extender, how much is the total amount we are spending through these three extenders?

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: Since April 1, it was $7,400,000,000.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: Okay. And, this extender is how much of an increase over the last twenty years?

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: 3,400,000,000.0.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: Okay. And, you mentioned this is the institutional payroll, correct? Yes. So, that would be for

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: like

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: docs, OCFS, OPWD, is that correct?

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: Yes.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: And since this goes to Thursday, what payroll and other expense state expenses would we need to account for in a fourth budget extender for taking it up on Thursday? Just the emergency payroll. Okay. For like the National Guard?

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: Yes.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: Do you expect at this point in time, I know we were looking, we had to plan for an extent or we might be taking up any budget bills at that particular day?

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: I would hope so, but I don't foresee that in the extremely very near future.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: I can appreciate that, Mr. Prowlow. I do want to do a little baseball analogy with this discussion too. I know we talk about hopeful on opening day. So right now, we have three budget extenders, one budget bill has passed. Now we have nine budget bills to pass. In this discussion, based on your knowledge and your conference's knowledge, where we are in our budget negotiations, what inning would you say we're in in the ballgame, in the process? In the middle or extra innings depending on

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: your If we're playing little league, it's a seven inning game, we're close. If we play big league, not so much. Okay.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: So, we're not even in extra innings yet. Okay. So, I hear you.

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: We're definitely not you now. So,

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: we're going do another extender on Thursday. We'll come back the following week. That will be extender four, five, five.

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: That depends on the governor, but it should be around

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: I that understand that. So, you anticipate how many more extenders we might need before we actually take up budget bills?

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: I'm hoping that the next one is our final, that's not I know. I'm looking that bright, but my hope springs eternal as I said I know. Last

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: That's a good buzz line I hear you say often. It's good to be hopeful. I'm hopeful but not so optimistic unfortunately. So, here now we are twelve days late with the budget. The public and this body really deserves to know where we stand on some major sticking points in the negotiations. So, maybe I can ask a few questions if you could possibly clarify, if able to clarify on some of these things. Some of the policy proposals, I know you said in the past that those policy proposals are sticking up. Relative to the auto insurance reforms, do you have any update on where we stand there, and has the governor maybe provided any information about how premiums will be reduced with your policy?

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: Not at this point.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: Okay. How about relative to the the some of the proposals the governor has talked about on the climate proposals? Any update on any of those or where they stand? We're working closely toward climate,

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: but no. My my personal main focus is on the fiscal aspects of the budget

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: I understand.

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: And not policy.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: I do understand it. The reason I'm just asking the question is because the public is still kind of wondering what's going on. So I'm just asking if you know where on some of these things like one example, just this week we've seen bipartisan support to delay the electric school bus mandate. Is that a part of the discussions that might be going on in the policy discussions around the climate agenda?

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: Well, that's part of CLCPA, yes.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: Yep. Okay. So, is possibilities maybe delay in the school bus mine that might be possible? It is a possibility. Any proposals being discussed to help businesses and homeowners and families with rising energy costs?

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: That's part of the discussion on CLCPA also. Energy costs continue to rise. Gasoline is going through the roof now. Fuel oil is going through the roof. Diesel oil is like diesel fuel for cars is $5 which translates to home. Heating oil being over $5 a gallon. It's all part of the discussions that we're trying to lower these costs.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: I understand and I appreciate that especially with the report that came out from NYSERDA last couple weeks ago about the cost increases to residents based on the policies that are in place.

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: Those policies were thwarted by the current administration's removal of funding that was earmarked for wind and solar generation. So, with those funds from the federal government being drawn, it puts us in a bind. So, we don't have the battery storage nor the ways to facilitate the construction of wind and solar energy.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: Yeah. And, we can certainly have more of a lengthy debate on that, but we don't need to do that right now. The other part I wanted to talk about with the budget policies, we hear a lot about tax increases. We know that New York is dead last in competitive. We know where we stand on the process of tax increase? We know in your one house budget, you guys had billions of dollars in tax increases. The governor says no. Is that still part of the discussions and negotiations that are going on at this Well, point

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: this part of the discussion when we're talking fiscal into items but so far, we've basically only been talking policy.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: And so, I guess that would just answer the next question I had. So, there's really no discussion on what we have for our total spending amount of funds or all your budget gaps and things of that nature then, right? At this point in time, we're focusing on the policy issues, is that right?

[Assemblymember Gary J. Pretlow]: Yes. All right.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: Mr. Chairman, thank you for your time. I appreciate it very much. Mr. Speaker, on the bill.

[Speaker Carl E. Heastie]: On the bill.

[Assemblymember Philip A. Palmesano]: Mr. Speaker, my colleagues, here we are, April 13. This is our third budget extender. We passed one budget bill. We have nine more budget bills to pass. You know, jokingly, I said, what inning are we in? Sounds like we're in the middle. But at what point are we in extra innings? I mean, we're already late. Seems like it's late now. So we're twelve days past the April 1 deadline, and yet, there are even more basic questions that remain out of reach for us and the public. We've asked here today again about major policy issues, spending and taxes, and really the consistent answer is we're not really sure because policy. We just don't have those answers. And I think that's a problem. We should have more accountability and answers for the public because they expect us to be doing our job. If there are issues holding up a budget over a quarter of $1,000,000,000,000, and they can't be described and discussed at a high level, then the public are really not part of this process. And from where I sit, and we sit, this process has not changed. It's still three leaders in a room making decisions without public visibility, without meaningful member input, and without accountability. Instead, we're hearing of real instead of hearing about progress on real issues, we see headlines going around about pothole tours, about political endorsements, and a so called budget tour across the state when we don't even have a budget yet. So I don't understand that. What's changed over time is not just the timeline, it's the expectation. A late budget used to be the exception. Now, it seems like the default and the norm. And something happens when a budget becomes a default, accountability starts to disappear. And that's problematic. There are no deadline pressures. There's no clear updates. No defined process for members to engage in. It's just ongoing negotiations behind closed doors. So, question becomes, when is this going to change? When do we move to a process where members are informed, where the public actually understands the issues that we're talking about, and when deadlines actually mean something? And when there is no transparency and there's no accountability and the result is simple, the public loses faith in the system and we know they continue to lose faith in the system. That said, this extender is necessary. We absolutely have an obligation to pay our state employees, make sure services continue, and that the government remains open. So, for that reason, I will certainly be supporting this extender here today, but let's be clear, keeping the government open is the bare minimum. And supporting this extender should not be supporting this extender should not be mistaken for supporting this process. Absolutely not. Because, mister speaker, my colleagues, until there is greater transparency in this process, clear communication, and real accountability, we will keep finding ourselves in the same position of late, uncertain, and in the dark, and New Yorkers deserve better. But I will be voting yes on this bill and urge my colleagues to do the same. Thank you, mister speaker.

[Speaker Carl E. Heastie]: Read the last section.

[Reading Clerk (New York State Assembly)]: This act shall take effect immediately.

[Speaker Carl E. Heastie]: The clerk will record the vote. Are there any other votes? Announce the vote results.

[Reading Clerk (New York State Assembly)]: Ayes, one thirty two. Nays, zero.

[Speaker Carl E. Heastie]: The bill is passed. Mister Fall?

[Assemblymember Charles D. Fall]: Mister speaker, do we have further housekeeping or resolutions?

[Speaker Carl E. Heastie]: We have no other housekeeping or resolutions, mister Fall.

[Assemblymember Charles D. Fall]: I now move that the assembly stand adjourned until Tuesday, April 14, tomorrow being a legislative day, and that we reconvene on Thursday, April 16 at the call of the speaker.

[Speaker Carl E. Heastie]: On mister Paul's motion, the house stands adjourned.