Ortt pushes budget priorities from Republicans in State Senate

Posted 6 March 2024 at 2:51 pm

Press Release, State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt

ALBANY – State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt, Deputy Republican Leader Andrew Lanza, Senator Thomas O’Mara, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee and Senator Bill Weber, Ranking Member of the Budget and Revenue Committee today sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins urging the adoption of the Senate Republican Conference’s priorities that are included in their comprehensive “A New Hope for NY Agenda.”

Rob Ortt

With the Senate and Assembly expected to vote on their One-House Budgets next week, negotiations will soon be accelerating on the FY 2025 State Budget. With this in mind, the Senate Republican Conference is urging the adoption of several key economic, public safety and quality-of-life proposals that would directly benefit millions of hardworking, taxpaying New Yorkers.

“The lack of affordability in the Empire State has clearly reached crisis proportions, with thousands of New Yorkers fleeing to more affordable states,” stated Senate Republican Leader Ortt. “The high taxes in our State have exacerbated this crisis, while also directly contributing to our poor business climate. Our conference has put forward common sense recommendations as we enter the budget process. We must address the challenges that are currently confronting the hardworking, law-abiding citizens of our state.”

At the start of the 2024 legislative session, the Republican Conference unveiled “A New Hope For The Empire State.” The 2024 agenda outlines a plan that prioritizes the needs of New Yorkers. The “New Hope” agenda reflects a commitment to responsible stewardship of tax dollars, to jump-starting our slow economic recovery, and restoring common sense to our criminal justice system. It also stands in stark contrast to Governor Hochul’s proposed budget, a misguided plan that taxes too much, spends too much, and reflects the wrong priorities.

In the letter to the Senate Majority Leader, the following measures were highlighted as key budget priorities that should be rejected in the Governor’s Executive Budget:

Reject the additional $2.4 billion in funding Governor Hochul has proposed for migrants — $4.3 billion over 2 years;
Withhold resources and funding to schools who do not protect Jewish students and/or support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. We must work to provide safe learning environments on college campuses in an effort to combat antisemitism;
Reject the Governor’s plan to alter the School Aid formula to eliminate the “save harmless” clause for Foundation Aid – a misguided change that would result in direct funding cuts for 337 largely rural and suburban school districts across the state;
Reject the Governor’s budget language allowing five more prisons to be closed. Additional prison closures would undermine public health and safety, destabilize local economies, and lead to more dangerous work conditions for New York’s courageous Correction Officers.
Reject the inadequate and inequitable funding levels the Governor has proposed for New York’s critical transportation infrastructure. We must ensure funding parity between Upstate and Downstate infrastructure funding by putting NYSDOT and MTA capital programs on an equal footing, and by supporting investment in local roads and bridges through increased Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) base aid.