It’s the second to the last week of the legislative session, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers still have a long way to go before they can agree on key issues.
Rent regulations and the mayor’s control of public schools in New York City expire in June 15, as well as a tax break for real estate developers who set aside a portion of their project for affordable housing. The rent laws are tied, through legislation, to an issue important to suburban and upstate residents, the continuation of a property tax cap.
Even though both leaders of the legislature have now been charged in corruption schemes worth millions of dollars, there’s almost no chance that lawmakers will enact any new ethics reforms before they leave, to the dismay of reformers, including the New York Public Interest Research Group’s Blair Horner.
“Albany is frozen with a head- in-the-sand syndrome” said Horner. “Where they are seemingly incapable of dealing with the ramifications of the arrest of the speaker and majority leader and God knows what else is going to happen. ”
Some issues that are still being discussed include an education tax credit for donors who want to give up to a million dollars to private school scholarships for poor children and also to enrichment programs at their choice of public schools.
The last day of session is scheduled to be June 17.
