After intense negotiations, the New York state budget passed before the April 1 deadline. The $168.3 billion budget holds the spending growth to 2 percent and closes the $4.4 billion budget gap, avoiding spending increases and adding some measures to raise revenue.

The budget includes the highest ever investment in K-12 education, enacts a nation-leading women’s agenda, protects taxpayers against federal tax changes and strengthens the middle class.

Education

The State’s commitment to educating every New York state student is the foundation for the budget’s investment in public education. The 2018-19 budget includes $26.6 billion in education funding, an increase of $914 million, or 3.6 percent over the previous year. The state’s support of education ranges from investing $25 million for expanding pre-K and after-school programs, to providing $7.6 billion in state support for higher education. New York state is committed to providing our youngest residents with a quality start to their educational career by allocating an additional $15 million to expand high-quality half-day and full-day pre-K to 3,000 3- and 4-year-olds. For students looking to pursue higher education, the state budget includes a $1.2 billion for strategic programs to make college more affordable and to encourage students to stay in New York. The budget’s allotment of $7.6 billion includes the second year of the Excelsior Free Tuition Program, and the New York State Tuition Assistance Program.

Libraries

Local libraries are wonderful resources of learning and opportunities within our communities. With resources ranging from adult literacy classes to job search materials, our libraries are a community hub for all ages. The budget includes a total of $96.6 million, an increase of $1 million from last year, for libraries, and an additional $34 million to support library capital projects.

Enacting a nation-leading women’s agenda

The budget includes a multi-pronged approach to combating sexual harassment in the workplace. The progressive legislation requires State contractors to have a sexual harassment policy and provide employee training; prohibits using a mandatory arbitration provision in an employment contract; and ensures that nondisclosure agreements can only be used upon explicit preference of the victim.

Budget legislation also extends the length of time rape evidence collection kits are preserved — from 30 days to 20 years. In addition, the legislation passed requires all new or renovated buildings with public restrooms to have changing tables available to both men and women.

Bans gun ownership from domestic violence abusers

In an effort to keep guns out of the wrong hands and prevent gun violence, legislators passed, and the governor signed, a measure that prohibits individuals who have been convicted of a domestic violence crime from purchasing or possessing a firearm.

Protecting taxpayers against federal tax changes

The recently enacted federal tax law guts the deductibility of state and local taxes, effectively raising middle class families’ property and state income taxes by 20 or 25 percent. Legislation in the state budget combats this by expanding charitable contributions, creating alternative employer compensation expense programs and decoupling from the federal tax code.

Strengthening the middle class

The new state budget continues to phase in the $4.2 billion middle class tax cut to deliver relief to 6 million New Yorkers, saving households $250 on average, and $700 annually, when fully effective. The state budget also continues to support county-wide shared services panels for the next three years, encouraging the sharing of local services to deliver further savings for taxpayers. The 2018-19 budget also includes the enhanced child care tax credit for middle-class families.

Combating the opioid crisis

In response to the opioid epidemic that is widespread throughout New York, the 2018-19 budget includes a fee paid by the manufacturers and distributors of opioids. The $100 million Opioid Stewardship Fund seeks to help curb the epidemic by partnering with the pharmaceutical industry to fund prevention, treatment and recovery services.

Transparency of political advertisements and elections

The budget expands the definition of political communications to include paid Internet and digital advertisements, and requires all independent expenditures to include a “paid for by” statement. The legislation also requires the State Board of Elections to keep a publicly available database of all digital ads purchased. In addition, $5 million is included in the budget to strengthen cyber protections for New York’s election infrastructure. The money will be used to create an election support center, develop an election cyber security tool kit, provide cyber risk vulnerability assessments for Boards of Elections, and require Boards of Elections to report data breaches to state authorities.

Seniors’ health and well-being

The state budget restored $8.16 million to support long-term care, and $7.81 million to preserve spousal refusal. This ensures that couples do not lose their life savings in the event a spouse becomes ill and needs nursing home care. The state also rejected the proposal to limit the amount of resources a spouse is allowed to retain. These measures allow a spouse to maintain economic security while ensuring their loved one receives the care they need.

The budget also restored $13.99 million in hospital and nursing home reductions, and restored $12 million in managed care reductions.

Environmental protection

A $65 million initiative to combat harmful algal blooms threatening local water bodies is being funded by both the Clean Water Infrastructure Act and the Environmental Protection Fund. Skaneateles Lake, which provides the majority of drinking water in Syracuse, is among those affected by the algal blooms.