NYSAC - New York State Association of Counties

NYSAC Weekly Wire

Re-caps the week's events, legislative action, and other news that impact county government.

January 29, 2010

Countdown to Conference: 10 Days Until NYSAC Legislative Meetings

There is still time to register for the NYSAC Legislative Conference, which will take place at the Desmond Hotel in Albany from February 8-10, 2010. 

We have a comprehensive and timely workshop program of workshops and training opportunities, which will be complemented by addresses from most of our statewide and state legislative leaders. Governor Paterson will be a keynote speaker at the NYSAC Legislative Luncheon on Feb. 9th at Noon in the King Street Ballroom of the Desmond Hotel & Conference Center. Other conference speakers that will be featured throughout the three day conference are NYS Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch, Senate Minority Leader Brian Kolb and Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

Look for more information on our website at www.nysac.org.

Counties to State Lawmakers: Focus on the Future

This week marked the beginning of a series of budget hearings that will respond to Governor David Paterson’s Executive Budget Proposal and add new perspectives to state budget negotiations. How state lawmakers negotiate this year’s Budget will reverberate for many years to come.

“Now is the time to reduce spending, reform the state’s local mandate structure and re-evaluate the public services we provide in New York State” said Stephen Acquario, Executive Director of NYSAC, during his 2010-11 Executive Budget testimony.

“For too long, our state budgets have shifted costs to property taxpayers and future generations. We have mortgaged our future with short term fixes and we are calling for that to stop,” said NYSAC President Tom Santulli, Chemung County Executive. “Now is the right time to cut State spending and reduce mandates to lower the property tax burden and foster job growth in our communities. If we don’t do it this year, when will we?”

President’s Budget out on Monday, Congress Considers Stimulus Part II

On the heels of the release of the New York State Executive Budget, President Obama will reveal his tax and spending plans for the nation on February 1st; the common theme will be austerity.  As presented in his State of the Union address, the President does not plan to “quit” on his big initiatives (health reform, climate change, etc), but he is going to temporarily pivot to job creation and fiscal discipline.  The President’s Budget is likely to flat line spending for most non-defense, non-homeland security programs and include a sprinkling of program eliminations and increases for targeted priorities such as education. 

Concurrently, the President is calling on Congress to move quickly on a second stimulus bill targeted toward job creation and retention.  The House has already passed a $180 billion bill that includes nearly $50 billion in direct aid to states largely split between a six month extension of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act enhanced Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage provisions (through June 30, 2011) and a continuation of aid to school districts.  The bill also contains $37 billion for a variety of transportation programs (mainly roads, bridges and mass transit) and $40 billion in aid for unemployed workers.  The Senate has been considering a smaller bill in the range of $100 billion or so. 

Given the President’s renewed outreach to Republicans it is likely that both of these bills will undergo significant change to encourage bipartisan support, especially in the Senate.  Additional tax cuts targeted to small business will likely be added and possibly some temporary broad-based tax reduction initiatives. A big unknown at this time is how much of the stimulus package will be offset to help make it deficit-neutral. The House has targeted expiring and repaid TARP funds as an offset.  The final balance of spending and tax provisions will be critical as aid to state and local governments could get pinched to make room for other spending initiatives or tax cuts. The second stimulus package could be wrapped up over the next several weeks and NYSAC intends to keep pressure on the State and Congressional Delegation to ensure there is appropriate balance, and that local government concerns are addressed.

Obama announces $151 million to New York for high speed rail system.

President Barack Obama announced the grant Thursday, as part of $8 billion in rail funding for 31 states. The federal stimulus money will be used for a variety of projects, including repairs to the current railroad infrastructure.  

While the state had initially asked for more funding, the amount it will receive is still more than enough to put the project in motion. The 110-mph trains, with a route planned from Niagara Falls to New York City would reduce travel time from Buffalo to Albany to 3½ hours, and from Buffalo to the NYC to around six hours. Additional funds are expected from the U.S. Department of Transportation, as the president has asked that they make high-speed rail construction a top priority.

U.S. Supreme Court opens Political Speech to Corporations and Unions

Citizens United was a nonprofit corporation whose budget was about 12 million a year, most of which consisted of funds donated from individuals and to a smaller extent monies from for-profit corporations.

In 2008 Citizens United released a film called Hillary: The Movie, which mentioned the senator by name and depicts interviews with political commentators and other persons, most of whom were critical of the senator.  Hillary was released to Theater and DVD, and in an attempt to widen the distribution, Citizens Union entered into a contract with cable providers to release the film to digital cable subscribers through video-on-demand at no charge.  In preparation for the release on-demand, Citizens created a few short commercials to be released on broadcast and cable television. 

Federal law prohibited any broadcast, cable or satellite communication by a union or corporation using their general treasury funds which is publicly distributed, refers to a clearly identified candidate for Federal Office, is made within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election and advocates the election or defeat of that candidate  

Citizens United wanted to make Hillary available through video-on-demand within 30 days of the 2008 primary election and therefore in December of 2007 sought declaratory and injunctive relief against the FEC.  The District Court denied Citizens United’s motion from preliminary injunction.  It thereafter went to the Supreme Court. 

The U.S. Supreme Court noted the distinction in the law which allowed wealthy individuals as well as unincorporated associations to spend unlimited amounts on independent expenditures related to political speech, but that the current system disfavored associations which had taken on the corporate form from engaging in the same speech.  The Court made the determination in a 5-4 decision to overrule 20 years of precedent in allowing all corporations and unions to now pay for ads that support or oppose candidates.   

President Obama, in his state of the union address, claimed the Supreme Court's decision would "open the floodgates" for foreign companies to "spend without limit in our elections."  

Pelletier Institute to Offer Orientation Session for Newly Elected and Appointed County Officials

The Pelletier Institute, a joint educational program of NYSAC and Cornell University, will be offering its annual Orientation Session for Newly Elected and Appointed Officials on February 8, 2010, as part of the NYSAC Legislative Conference at the Desmond Hotel and Conference Center in Albany. Over 300 newly elected and appointed county officials have attended this orientation session since its inception.

The 7 hour session provides those new to county service, and those existing county officials looking to brush up on their knowledge and skills, with an overview of the complex issues they will face as county leaders. For further information and registration materials visit the NYSAC website at www.nysac.org or contact Jeff Osinski, NYSAC Research Director by calling the NYSAC Office.

Next Week

NYSAC County Clerks to convene at their annual Winter Conference in Albany from January 31-February 2, 2010

The State Assembly and State Senate will be in Legislative Session on Monday and Tuesday.