Albany saved some of its ugliest budget poison for – Latest News
Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature’s leaders saved the worst for final: The ultimate bits of their budget offers embody some actually ugly idiocy.
Beyond the budget’s obscene $268.5 billion backside line is election-year pandering to particular pursuits and ideological extremes, all on the public’s expense.
In a match of ethical preening, the state’s Democratic leaders imposed a package deal of anti-ICE measures banning immigration-cooperation by native law enforcement and prohibiting native jails from holding lawbreakers on behalf of ICE.
They additionally banned banning mask-wearing by federal brokers (whereas refusing to do something about masked rioters).
Add theft in plain sight: Hochul handed the state’s public-employee unions $557 million in new pension advantages by rolling back prior reforms.
Teachers get to begin amassing at age 58; all staff get to contribute much less towards their own retirement payouts — and play even more OT pension-padding video games.
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This unfunded mandate will power college districts and native governments to hike property and different taxes to cowl the added tons of of thousands and thousands in yearly prices.
And roughly a third of the state legislators voting for it’ll benefit from the adjustments.
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The budget deal can even lengthen a particular tax on health insurance coverage, driving premiums needlessly greater, and divert $100 million in Medicaid money to subsidize a benefit fund for “low-income” members of health-care union 1199 SEIU.
The insurance coverage tax was initially half of a rip-off to spice up the state’s take from federal funds, however the feds have closed that loophole so now it’s purely about feeding Albany’s urge for food.
We anticipate more toxic “gifts” to materialize down the street; the push to cross these payments will as soon as again guarantee that even most legislators gained’t know every thing they’re passing into law.
Worse but, with the legislative session set to run to June 17, they’ll have one other three weeks so as to add more distress with non-budget laws.
