Governor Cuomo and state lawmakers continue to work on the state budget, with two days left until the deadline. The two sticking points remain education and ethics.
Cuomo says two main items in the budget are unresolved. Senate Republicans continue to be hung up on an ethics package that would require full disclosure of law clients. The Assembly wants an alternative to the governor’s plan for new teacher evaluations. Cuomo says he wants both in the budget.
“At the end of the day I want to say be able to say transformation of education and ethical reforms that you haven’t seen in decades,” Cuomo said.
The governor says he also wants a provision to distribute an over $5 billion dollar windfall surplus, with a $1.5 billion competition for funds for troubled upstate regions.
Cuomo has conceded on numerous other budget items, including the Dream Act, to give college aid to children of immigrants, and the minimum wage, saying they will be argued after the budget. He now says a property tax break for people who pay a high percentage of their income on property taxes also won’t be settled until after the budget, though money could be set aside for the program in the new spending plan.
The governor now says he was only stating some of his priorities in the budget, and does not have to get the measures passed until the session ends in June.
“I wanted to make a point,” he said.
The governor admits it’s the “hardest budget he’s had to do so far.