All Articles Tagged "andrew cuomo"
Cuomo Backs Higher Tuition at Top SUNY Campuses
(New York Times) — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Monday that he would support allowing the flagship campuses of the State University of New York to charge higher tuition than the rest of the system, a stance that could pit him against fellow Democrats who worry that lower-income students could be priced out of the top schools. The governor said he would support a State University proposal to set a five-year schedule of tuition increases at all SUNY undergraduate campuses, and would allow the four research campuses — at Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo and Stony Brook — to propose their own, higher undergraduate tuition increases, subject to legislative approval. “There is no cookie cutter,” Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference. “Some may decide that they need to increase tuition; some may decide they don’t. We’re trying to flip the model.” Under the new model, he said, “we’re not going to tell you what to do.”
Cuomo Helps Groups Mobilize for Gay Marriage Bill
(New York Times) — Gay rights groups, which suffered the stinging defeat of a same-sex marriage bill in New York State in 2009, will publicly mount a new campaign for the legislation starting this week, relying on the popular Democratic governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, to overcome Republican resistance and their own history of poor coordination. Under the supervision of the governor’s staff, the groups intend to raise more than $1 million for a media blitz, hire a powerful political consultant close to the Cuomo administration and deploy field organizers to the districts of more than a dozen key lawmakers to drum up support, according to interviews with those involved in the effort. In contrast to their failed drive for a marriage bill two years ago, the advocates envision a short, disciplined and intense run-up to a vote in the State Legislature, raising the prospect that gay couples may be allowed to wed in New York by early summer.
After Budget Comes the Hard Part
(Wall Street Journal) — After crossing the budget line with remarkable ease with the on-time passage of a $132.5 billion spending plan, Gov. Andrew Cuomo now may have to break a sweat. A batch of issues that have long simmered in the statehouse—but were moved to the back burner during budget talks —are about to flare. Some, like a cap on local property taxes and the battle over gay marriage, are among the most high-profile of Mr. Cuomo’s unmet campaign promises. Others, like the debate over rent regulations, are urgent priorities for lawmakers. All of them are converging in the last three months of the legislative session. In other words, after winning in checkers, Mr. Cuomo is moving on to chess. Gay advocates and lawmakers say they expect the governor to unveil a same-sex marriage bill sometime this month. The Assembly has voted to legalize gay marriage twice already. The Senate, under Democratic control in 2009, rejected the measure.
Democrats Press Cuomo on Rent Regulations
(New York Times) — A coalition comprising nearly every Democratic state lawmaker from New York City urged Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in a letter, posted below, on Wednesday to press for extending and tightening the state’s rent regulation laws as part of the budget deal he is negotiating with the Legislature. “If the state does not act, millions of working- and middle-class New Yorkers will be at immediate risk of losing their homes,” warned the lawmakers, about 90 of whom signed the letter to Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat. “We ask that you act boldly on tenants’ behalf by requiring these reforms to be a part of any budget agreement.” The state budget is due at the end of March. The rent regulations, which limit the rent that landlords can charge on more than one million apartments in New York City and its suburbs, are set to expire on June 15, raising fears that hundreds of thousands of tenants will face substantial rent increases and be forced to move.
Cuomo’s Minority Team
(The Network Journal) — From the standpoint of minorities, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s gubernatorial quest did not have an auspicious beginning. Nor was there much excitement from Blacks and Latinos when he announced his first round of appointments. But over the last several months, Cuomo has made a number of key appointments that should go a long way to assuage the disgruntled, including the creation of a transition committee to recruit and to recommend candidates for various positions. Among those selected for the transition committee were Elinor Tatum; Lloyd Williams, CEO and president of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce; City Council member Inez Dickens; Assemblymen Keith Wright and Hakeem Jeffries; Walter Edwards of the Harlem Business Alliance; former City Comptroller William Thompson; State Senator Bill Perkins; former U.S. Attorney Zachary Carter; Tarrus Richardson and Chloe Drew Council of Urban Professionals; James Francis of Paradigm Asset Management; and former State Comptroller H. Carl McCall, who co-chaired the committee with Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez.
Cuomo Vows Personal Push to Legalize Gay Marriage
(New York Times) — In a closed-door meeting with gay advocates, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomopledged on Wednesday to deploy his own political popularity and prestige to push for the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York, saying he was prepared to devote his “full attention” to the cause this spring. “For me, this is personal,” Mr. Cuomo said at one point, according to two people with direct knowledge of the session. The governor’s remarks, which participants in the meeting described as unexpectedly forceful and impassioned, suggested that Mr. Cuomo and his aides intend to become deeply involved in overseeing a campaign over the next few months to permit such marriages in the state.
And they were especially striking in light of Mr. Cuomo’s long and at times fraught relationship with the gay community. The legalization of same-sex marriage still faces daunting challenges in New York, where it was defeated in the State Senate two years ago by a wide margin. But Mr. Cuomo’s commitment to using his political savvy and muscle could give advocates something they had long lacked: a unifying, persuasive leader who understands the wiles and ways of Albany. That could prove crucial now that the Senate is controlled by Republicans, none of whom voted to legalize same-sex marriage in 2009, when the Democrats held a narrow majority.
Future of NY Schools, Teachers on Line in Budget
(AP) — New York’s lawmakers will get their hands on the part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget most dear to many of them: School aid. Tuesday’s budget hearing in Albany will set the course for some of the year’s most heated confrontations between the popular new governor and the Legislature. Cuomo proposes a historic cut of 7.3 percent in school aid. Public school advocates say that will force thousands of teacher layoffs, larger classes and hurt students the most. Lawmakers, led by Assembly Democrats, are listening. A poll released Monday shows New Yorkers who support Cuomo’s hard-times budget least want to see any cuts in school aid.
Cuomo Says He’ll Push for Vote to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage
(New York Times) — Fourteen months after the State Senate soundly rejected legislation that would have legalized same-sex marriage, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is preparing to pursue another vote on the matter in the next few months. Mr. Cuomo, who included legalizing same-sex marriage in his campaign platform, said Wednesday that he intended to ask the Legislature to take up the matter in its current session, which ends in June. “We’ll be working very hard to pass it,” the governor, a Democrat, told reporters after delivering an encore of his budget address at Hofstra University on Long Island. His pledge was greeted warmly by gay-rights activists, who have waited with some uncertainty to see whether Mr. Cuomo, faced with a daunting battle over the budget, would make a charged social issue like legalizing same-sex marriage a priority. Legislation to do that has repeatedly passed the State Assembly, which is dominated by Democrats. But in December 2009, it failed in the State Senate, which was then also controlled by Democrats, by a vote of 38 to 24, an unexpectedly wide margin. It is not immediately obvious how the legislation would fare markedly better this year, given that the composition of the Senate, which is now controlled by Republicans, has not changed significantly since the last vote. But gay-rights advocates point to public-opinion polls that show more New Yorkers than ever support the legalization of same-sex marriage.
State and City Haggle Over New York Budget
(Wall Street Journal) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed state budget increases New York City’s deficit for the upcoming fiscal year by an estimated 58%, creating an “immediate $1.4 billion gap” on top of an already existing shortfall of $2.4 billion, City Comptroller John Liu plans to tell Albany lawmakers in testimony Monday. The analysis of the governor’s proposed budget by Mr. Liu, the city’s chief financial officer, shows the fiscal impact on the city is greater than Mr. Cuomo indicated but less than what Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned last week. Mr. Liu is one of a spate of elected officials traveling to Albany on Monday to deliver testimony on the budget proposal. Mr. Bloomberg will kick off the joint hearing of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Committee on Finance with his testimony. On Sunday, in his weekly radio address, Mr. Bloomberg praised Mr. Cuomo, whom he endorsed last year, for proposing some “very bold and innovative ways” to plug a roughly $10 billion state deficit. But he said he planned to urge the state on Monday to “make some key changes” to the governor’s plan.
State Prisons and Medicaid to Face Cuts in Cuomo Budget
(New York Times) — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will seek to cut more than 3,000 prison beds, roll back scheduled spending increases on Medicaid and education by billions of dollars and make steep reductions to state operations, a move likely to lead to the loss of thousands of state jobs, according to people briefed on the budget he will unveil on Tuesday. On Monday, Mr. Cuomo also said there would need to be fundamental changes to automatic spending increases that have long been programmed into future budgets, making it more difficult for governors to reduce spending in recent years despite shrinking revenues.
