With less than a month to go before the April 1st state budget deadline, state legislators, party conferences, interest groups and other constituencies are making a final push to influence what is included in this year’s state budget. Topics like a $15 minimum wage, paid family leave and so-called ethics reform have dominated state news. While these are important issues that need to be reviewed and debated, there are several other issues that have received less attention but are every bit as important. The following are a few of those less reported issues that ought to be addressed in this year’s state budget.

In New York State, local governments are responsible for maintaining nearly 87% of the roads in the state and one-half of the state’s 18,000 bridges. In order to accomplish this, localities rely on state funding through the state’s Consolidated Highway Improvement Program (CHIPs) among other programs. In his budget proposal, the Governor calls for flat CHIPs funding and excludes a $50 million Winter Recovery fund that was included in last year’s budget. Because independent studies have indicated that we have a deteriorating transportation infrastructure in New York, the Governor is wrong to propose decreasing this funding. Instead, the final state budget should increase CHIPs funding by $250 million for total state aid of $688.1 million. Every dollar that the state invests in the CHIPs program is a dollar less that local property taxpayers will have to pay. Moreover, for every $1 the state invests in the CHIPs program, localities can save $6-$14 in long-term rehabilitation costs.

It is also important that the transportation funding that the state provides for Upstate New York is in parity with the funding provided for Downstate New York. The Governor is proposing $26.1 billion for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 5-year Capital Plan. The Governor claims this investment is necessary to meet the transportation needs of residents and visitors of the Downstate region. However, for Upstate’s transportation needs, the Governor is proposing $22.1 billion for the State Department of Transportation’s 5-year capital plan. That is $4 billion less than what Downstate is receiving. New York has challenging infrastructure needs statewide. Funding for capital plans for the MTA and the DOT should reflect parity for the regions as has always been achieved by previous Governors and Legislatures prior to 2010.

This year’s budget should also include changes to the state’s Retirement and Social Security Law that would allow all honorably discharged public sector veterans to buy back up to three years of their military service to credit their pensions. New York has an arbitrary system where some public sector veterans can take advantage of the buy-back while others cannot. For example, a veteran who served in the Vietnam War can purchase the service credit, while a veteran who served in Somalia cannot. No veteran of the hostilities in Afghanistan can purchase the service credit. Legislation to abolish this inequity passed nearly unanimously last year, but was vetoed by the Governor. This year we should make the changes in the budget and also include an appropriation to ensure any additional cost is picked up by the state and not localities. This is the least we can do for veterans who have sacrificed so much for our country.

The United State Supreme Court has held that the right to counsel for one charged with a crime is fundamental and that it is the State’s responsibility to supply counsel for those who are unable to afford one. This is known as the assigned counsel program. New York has mandated that counties pay the cost of assigned counsel program. This has led to an uneven system throughout the state depending on a county’s ability (or inability) to fund their assigned counsel program. In order to ensure that the assigned counsel program is uniform throughout the state and to relieve counties of this substantial fiscal mandate, this year’s budget should provide funding and language for the state to take over the assigned counsel program.

Over the next several weeks, I look forward to advocating for these, and other policies, to be included in this year’s budget. Formulating a state budget is one of the most important responsibilities that we in state government have. I am confident that we can address the issues set forth above, among other issues, and pass an on-time budget this year.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this or any other state issue, please contact me. My office can be reached by mail at 200 North Second Street, Fulton, New York 13069, by e-mail at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us or by calling (315) 598-5185. You can also find me, Assemblyman Barclay, on Facebook.