Outline of New York State & the NYS Assembly Seal

New York State Assembly

Speaker Carl E. Heastie

December 20, 2013

The Honorable Andrew Cuomo
Governor, State of New York
Executive Chamber, State Capitol
Albany, New York 12224

Dear Governor Cuomo:

I hope that you and your family are enjoying the holiday season. The start of a new year brings with it a new legislative session and renewed opportunities to advance meaningful public policy measures that improve the lives of New Yorkers.

It is my hope that collectively we will enact a 2014-15 State Budget that establishes a clear commitment to improving our economy, reducing taxes and getting more New Yorkers back to work. This is a chance to show the public that we, as state officials, are taking active steps to ease the fiscal burden on the families and communities we represent. Your Executive Budget proposal provides the framework on which the final state spending plan is built, and there are a number of measures I encourage you to consider.

Cutting the Tax Burden

  • End the State's temporary Utility Assessment (18-a) that is placed on utility companies but handed down to customers.
  • Make the Middle Class Income Tax Cut permanent.
  • Cut Personal Income Taxes and Corporate Franchise Taxes for all New York businesses and provide tax credits for hiring someone on unemployment.
  • Establish a business startup program cutting all application fees for new businesses by 50% for the first year; eliminating business income taxes for the first year and reducing income tax rates for the second and third year.
  • Repeal the MTA Payroll Tax.
  • Eliminate the state sales tax on items such as gasoline, car seats, bike helmets, and hygiene products to make necessities more affordable for families (Shop NY).
  • Make out-of-pocket college expenses for course requirements tax deductible.
  • Create a sales tax-free week for all education-related purchases as well as computer hardware and software.
  • Provide tax credits for college tuition and student loans (Retain NY).
  • Provide income tax deductions for certain seniors struggling with prescription drug costs (EPIC Extra).
  • Provide tax credits for those obtaining flood insurance.
  • Require a two-thirds vote of both houses of the state legislature for approval of any increase, extension, imposition or restoration of any tax, fee, assessment, or surcharge, except any bill which results from the passage of a home rule message.
  • Provide annual reimbursement to Seneca and Cayuga Counties from New York State for property taxes that the Cayuga Indian Nation refuses to pay.
  • Eliminate the fee being charged to veterans who have their driver license amended with a veteran notation.

Stimulating Economic Growth and Job Creation

  • Establish a "Division of Regulatory Review & Economic Growth" (D-RREG) to review and make binding recommendations for the elimination of burdensome regulations.
  • Eliminate the Wage Theft Prevention Act's annual notice requirement.
  • Lower workers' compensation and unemployment insurance (UI) costs for employers by implementing reforms and eliminating regulatory burdens and assessments, such as the UI interest assessment.
  • Establish a Grow-NY economic gardening program to provide technical, informational and logistical support to existing businesses to help them succeed and create jobs.
  • Build a strong workforce through partnerships with community colleges and BOCES and provide incentive to employees who complete high-tech training programs.
  • Promote economic development by allowing safe and supervised natural gas exploration in counties that authorize it.

Keeping Our Education & Health Systems Strong

  • Reform the school aid formula to ensure that low-wealth and high-need school districts receive a higher proportion of State aid.
  • Relieve the burden on students, teachers, school administrators and parents by placing a moratorium on state assessments until a comprehensive review of the Common Core Standards is completed.
  • Ensure NO CUTS in funding to organizations and programs that support people with developmental disabilities.
  • Ensure continued increases in Library Aid to support community institutions.
  • Direct $40 million in funding from the Public Safety Communications Account (E-911) to school districts for the purpose of funding School Resource Officers to ensure safety.
  • Increase the Community College Base Aid.
  • Continue to increase support to New York State's special needs schools.
  • Establish an Affordable College Education Scholarship (ACES) Pilot Program to allow students to obtain a bachelor's degree for a total cost of $10,000.
  • Increase Tuition Assistance (TAP) for college students by linking it to tuition increases.

Provide Unfunded Mandate Relief

  • Prohibit any new unfunded mandates and eliminate mandates that raise property taxes.
  • Freeze county Medicaid costs at the current level and shift to a county driven Medicaid system where counties are allowed to offer optional Medicaid services above federal requirements.
  • Help combat Medicaid fraud by providing additional financial incentives for counties to undertake Medicaid fraud prosecutions and obtain fraud detection data mining software.
  • Restrict the ability of welfare recipients to use public assistance money for the purchase of alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets or the ATM withdrawal of benefits at casinos, liquor stores or strip clubs.
  • Create a new defined contribution retirement plan for elected officials.
  • Require minimum employee health care contributions for local government and school district employees.
  • Require the State to provide aid to school districts to cover the cost of Annual Performance Professional Review (APPR) and State testing.
  • Streamline special education programs and services to be more in line with Federal requirements.
  • Eliminate the requirement of State approval for county sales tax extensions.

Shrink the Size and Cost of State Government

  • Enact reforms that streamline State government operations, including the consolidation of the Thruway Authority and Department of Transportation.
  • Cut down on State and Local government printing costs.

I appreciate your consideration of these proposals and hope they will be a part of your 2014-15 Executive Budget proposal. I look forward to working together on these and other public policies that will make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.

Sincerely,
Brian M. Kolb
Assembly Minority Leader