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Ensuring our students have access to a high-quality education
Proposes a new $2 billion Smart Schools Bond Act
- Zero-emission school bus charging stations and energy-efficiency projects would be allowable
Increases school aid by $1.8 billion over the 2023-24 school year ($1.1 billion over the executive budget)
- Increases Foundation Aid by $818.6 million over the executive proposal ($1.3 billion increase over the 2023-24 school year)
Supporting community libraries as vital cultural spaces
Increases funding for libraries to the statutory level of $104.6 million, an increase of $2.5 million over the executive budget
Provides an additional $34 million in library capital funding for a total of $68 million
Restores $1 million to the Summer School for the Arts program
Keeping our higher education institutions affordable
Supporting CUNY:
- Provides a total of $976.2 million in capital funding for CUNY, an increase of $535 million over the executive budget, including:
- Provides $124 million in additional operating funds for CUNY Senior Colleges
- Restores $2.3 million for the School of Labor and Urban Studies for a total of $5.9 million
- Restores $1 million for CUNY expansion of nursing programs for a total of $3 million
- Restores $1 million for mental health programs for a total of $2 million
Supporting SUNY:
- Provides a total of $2.1 billion in capital funding ($820 million over the executive)
- Provides $186.5 million in additional operating funds
- Forgives SUNY hospitals’ debt service payment for 2024-25, saving them $79.1 million
- Restores $1 million for the SUNY High Needs Nursing Program for a total of $2.7 million
- Restores $1.7 million for Cornell Cooperative Extension for a total of $6.1 million
- Restores $1 million for mental health programs for a total of $2 million
Increases the Tuition Assistance Program income threshold from:
- $80,000 to $125,000 for dependent students, certain independent students and students who qualify as an orphan, foster child or ward of the court; this brings the maximum income level up to the same level as the Excelsior Scholarship
- $40,000 to $60,000 for independent married students who have no other tax dependents
- $10,000 to $30,000 for single independent students who have no tax dependents
Raises the minimum TAP award from $500 to $1,000 per student
Allows for a fifth year of TAP eligibility
Ensures the inclusion of SUNY and CUNY in the executive budget’s appropriation of $250 million in capital support to establish the Empire AI Consortium
Increasing affordable housing
Provides additional funding that will assist low-income and working-class families with rental and homeownership assistance, including:
- $250 million for the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP)
- $40 million for the Homeowner Protection Program (HOPP)
- $25 million for First-Time Homeowner Assistance
- $10 million for land banks
Provides:
- $500 million for Mitchell-Lama Preservation and Home Ownership
- $500 million for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)
- $150 million for public housing outside of New York City for rehabilitation, replacement and new construction
- $7 million for the Small Rental Housing Development Initiative
- $7 million restoration for the Housing Opportunities Program for the Elderly (including the RESTORE program) for a total of $8.4 million
- $2 million increase for Access to Home for a total of $3 million
Establishes the Office of Civil Representation to provide education, legal consultation and legal representation for individuals at risk of losing their housing in eviction actions
Easing the tax burden on families and providing inflation relief
Creates a one-year supplemental child tax credit estimated to save taxpayers $300 million
Expands the EITC to those with an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), estimated to save taxpayers $70 million
Improving care and services for aging adults
Increases the New York State Office for the Aging (SOFA) funding by $56.5 million
- Provides $75 million to maintain the Nursing Home Vital Access Provider Assurance Program, which helps fund operational improvements for struggling nursing homes
- Provides $60 million to maintain the Managed Care Quality Pool
- Provides $51.75 million to maintain the Managed Long Term Care Quality Pool (MLTC)
Fighting the opioid crisis and treating drug addiction
Appropriates $63.7 million from opioid legal settlement receipts, won in court against pharmaceutical companies, to be used to fund various programs to address the opioid crisis
Helping address the growing mental health crisis
Provides $43 million for specialized residential housing programs
Provides $37 million for 75 Transition to Home Units (THUs)
- THUs adopt a multidisciplinary approach to teaching life management skills and sessions to help those who are homeless and those dealing with mental health issues
Provides $25.9 million for various services to support those in the criminal justice system with mental illness
Provides $22 million to support the opening of 125 new state-operated psychiatric in-patient beds, including adding $3 million for an additional 15 beds for children
Require OMH to establish a statewide grant program to develop peer-to-peer mental health programs for first responders
Expanding opportunities and services for people with developmental disabilities
Increases the cost-of-living adjustments for Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) employees by 3.2%, a 1.7% increase, or $83.8 million over the executive proposal
Provides $45.1 million in wage increases for staff at voluntary not-for-profits licensed under OPWDD
Provides $15 million to support the development of residential independent living opportunities for people with disabilities
Provides $6.8 million for the Disability Advocacy Program (DAP)
Provides $6.7 million to expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities
Making New York energy more affordable
Restores $200 million for the Energy Affordability Program to ensure that enrollment in the program can continue to grow and to reduce costs for ratepayers
Provides $50 million for the Empower Plus Energy Affordability Guarantee, which ensures an income-based cap of 6% on energy bills for low-income New York residents who have electrified
Provides an additional $100,000 in funding for the Public Utility Law Project (PULP) for total funding of $1.5 million
Enhancing Medicaid and investing in the health facilities of the future
Provides $3.1 billion in state funding for the Medicaid program
Provides $1 billion for health care facilities’ capital needs
- Restores $200.4 million to the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), which provides essential care to chronically ill or disabled individuals, to ensure wage parity for CDPAP workers
- Rejects the executive budget proposal to use unallocated Long Term Care Insurance savings and CDPAP rate repayments reduction to achieve $200 million in savings
Adds additional capital support to SUNY Downstate would be used to maintain existing facilities
Supporting anti-poverty initiatives for at-risk New Yorkers
Provides $112 million to establish a supplemental basic grant for public assistance, intended to address the insufficiency of benefits that have not been adjusted in years
- This would include covering the local share of Safety Net costs for this increase through County Fiscal Year 2024
Provides $15 million in additional funding, for a total of $50 million, for Eviction Prevention Legal Services to provide statewide support for legal assistance for eviction proceedings, including supplementing the New York City program
Increases Cash Assistance Grants for basic needs, including utility assistance, for families and individuals receiving public assistance
Improving our communities through public health initiatives
Provides $1.1 billion in funding for public health, including:
- $1 billion in capital funds to support the needs of health care facilities
- $25 million for Nourish NY to connect struggling farmers to food-insecure households
- $22 million to restore funding for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program
Provides $100 million for the Non-profit Infrastructure Capital Investment Program to support capital projects for eligible non-profit human services organizations
Provides an additional $2 million for the Nutrition Outreach and Education Program (NOEP) for a total of $5.5 million
Adds language to include prenatal care in the Paid Family Leave Program by including such leave in the existing sick leave requirement
Caring for families and New York’s future generations
Provides $500 million for Child Care Provider Wage Enhancements, an increase of $220 million over the executive proposal
Restores $5 million for the Advantage Afterschool program, for a total of $105.8 million, and ensures that existing contracts are extended until a new grant process is established
Provides a $5 million increase to the Summer Youth Employment Program for a total of $55 million
Provides $43.1 million to restore the state’s child welfare reimbursement to localities from 62% to 65%
Helping small businesses and our economy thrive
Provides $100 million to support infrastructure improvements for produce, meat, farmers markets and other food hubs
Provides $10 million to create a dedicated venture capital fund for early-stage Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) tech startup companies
Supporting local governments and bolstering economic development
Adds $100 million to Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM) funding
Provides $100 million in support for various capital improvements to municipal, educational institutions and other not-for-profit-owned sports facilities
Provides $100 million for public and private museums and gardens used for scientific research, including botanical gardens
Provides $25 million for another round of NY FIRST grants to encourage recruitment or retention of researchers at the state’s medical schools to accelerate research
Protecting our environment and investing in green energy
Allocates $500 million for clean water infrastructure – rejecting the executive budget proposal of a $250 million lump sum appropriation including $50 million for projects to protect the New York City watershed
Provides $400 million for the Environmental Protection Fund
$750,000 for Grow NYC Food Access Sites
Investing in the MTA
Accepts the executive proposal of $7.74 billion for MTA Transit Operating Assistance
Includes $559.1 million for non-MTA downstate transit operating assistance, an increase of $8.3 million above the executive proposal, which reflects a $36.8 million, or 7.2%, increase from last year
Provides $90 million for MTA bus services, including $45 million for the fare-free bus pilot program and $45 million for the additional bus service, including Express Bus service
Extends the MTA free bus pilot program by one year and expands the program to three free routes in each borough, up from the current one in each borough
Provides an additional 10% discount on monthly LIRR and MNR passes for trips within New York City
Provides $127.5 million to expand the MTA Fair-Fares program
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