A federal jobs bill expected to pass next week in Washington is expected to bring $2.3 billion in budget aid to New York state, and another $700 million to help counties and New York City.

Sen. Chuck Schumer says the aid could help the state and counties to avoid cuts in spending, layoffs, or increased taxes. The assistance will extend a boost in federal Medicaid reimbursements.

The increase in Medicaid reimbursements was originally passed as part of the federal stimulus. Schumer says Monday the bill would send New York an estimated $2.3 billion over the first six months of 2011, with upstate New York and Long Island counties in line to receive an additional $200 million and New York City getting $500 million.

Nationwide, states would get $24.7 billion.

Source: AP

With 59 largely unenthusiastic ayes, the State Senate on Wednesday approved a package of bills meant to combat political corruption and require elected officials to disclose more about their outside financial interests.

Despite more than three hours of debate and grousing from many senators that they felt the bills were at best a half-step toward meaningful change, only one senator voted no.

Earlier in the day in the State Assembly, there was an equally indifferent embrace of the legislation. Though the main bill easily passed, 137 to 2, only a handful of Assembly members spoke in its defense.

For many legislators, voting on the ethics measure posed a conundrum: Do they take the risk of going on record against one of the most significant reform measures to come before the Legislature in years, or do they set their concerns aside and vote for a bill that many consider imperfect?

Source: NY Times continue reading this article here

Gov. David Paterson today signed the Green Jobs/Green New York Act, a program that creates revolving loans and green jobs training programs for weatherization projects.

The loan program is expected to attract middle-class homeowners and small businesses that will pay back the loans from money saved on their energy bills. Loans will be capped at $13,000 for residential properties and $26,000 for commercial properties.

Source: Albany Biz Journal Continue Reading This Article Here

State Assemblyman Jim Tedisco authored a bill requiring rich New York inmates to pay state and federal governments the cost of housing them in prison.

“We have a lot of people in our society who have extensive personal wealth and who have broken their trust with the justice system,” Tedisco told FOXNews.com Tuesday.

Tedisco, who said he’s been considering the bill for a long time, called convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff’s 150-sentence in federal prison the “tipping point.”

The assemblyman said the bill was also inspired by reports of a wealthy inmate convicted of fraud hosting an extravagant bar mitzvah for his son while serving time last December in a New York City jail. City taxpayers paid overtime for the corrections staff at downtown Manhattan’s “Tombs” prison. The officers oversaw inmate Tuvia Stern’s 60-person celebration featuring a Kosher caterer on china plates and a live band.

“To use a city jail as a frat house for parties hosted by wealthy inmates and their connected friends is completely inappropriate,” Tedisco said in a press release issued Monday. “This legislation holds criminals accountable while providing relief to our beleaguered taxpayers.”

The cost per day to house a federal inmate is $70.75, according to The Federal Bureau of Prisons.

New York state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli estimated in 2007 that it costs counties close to $1 billion a year to cover inmates’ daily costs.

Tedisco’s bill will charge white-collar criminals on a sliding scale based on the amount of assets they have. Inmates with $200,000 or more in assets must foot the entire bill, while those with a net worth of $160,000 to $200,000 pay 80 percent of the tab. Those whose net worth is below $40,000 would not be required to pay anything.

The asset bracket does not include the value of an inmate’s home or any equity found in it, and is calculated after deductions for an inmate’s mortgage payments, tax bills or payments for child or spousal support.

“This is a great way to further deter criminals from committing crimes and prevent the corrupt use of taxpayer funds in our prisons,” said Tedesco, who has served in New York’s state assembly since 1983.

Despite the bill’s title, the measure would only affect inmates housed in New York state prisons and would have no impact on Madoff, who is incarcerated at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex, in Butner, N.C.

But Greg Amorosi, a spokesman for Tedisco, said the assemblyman is hoping his measure will garner national attention.

“We would like to see our federal legislators pick it up,” he said, adding that Tedisco will present his case to New York Sens. .

Source: Fox News

Mayor Bloomberg has vetoed a bill to lift the residency requirement for thousands of civil servants, including agency lawyers, Housing Authority employees and workers in numerous administrative jobs.

The Council officially received the veto Tuesday and plans to override it at a future session.

The mayor objected to the bill’s two-year city residency requirement before workers can move out.

Source: NY Daily News

A bill being pushed by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to consolidate local governments cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday but not before some lawmakers raised objections.

Five members of the 20-member Assembly Local Governments Committee urged caution, saying the proposed petition process to abolish governments could be perverted by nonresidents.

They also called for a larger number of signatures to make petitions valid, for referendums to coincide with general elections and for the financial consequences of consolidation to be known before balloting.

The bill, unveiled last week in Melville, seeks to streamline the process whereby voters can collapse towns, villages and special districts. Supporters said it’s a way to reduce property taxes.

Last night, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told Newsday some of the objections had been addressed, and others he pledged to discuss with Cuomo.

The committee adopted the measure in a 16-4 vote and sent it to the Ways & Means Committee. The bill also was introduced Tuesday in the State Senate, where the main sponsors are Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) and Betty Little (R-Queensbury).

In the Assembly committee, the five members from Long Island were split. Robert Barra (R-Lynbrook), Michael Fitzpatrick (R-St. James) and Phil Ramos (D-Central Islip) backed the bill, and Marc Alessi (D-Shoreham) and Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck) opposed it.

Alessi questioned why the bill didn’t cover school districts and said committee members were given insufficient time for review.

Still, committee Chairman Sam Hoyt (D-Buffalo) noted Cuomo worked closely with Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith to write the bill, which was inspired by a Newsday series.

The measure is expected to pass because of the leaders’ support.

Source: Newsday

A new bill requiring chain pharmacies in the city to provide translation help along with their pills isn’t going down too well with some critics.

The City Council bill calls for pharmacists to speak any foreign language spoken by 1% or more of the people in any community district.

A Department of Consumer Affairs’ representative testified the bill would impose “an especially cumbersome and expensive set of obligations” on both businesses and the department.

Councilman James Oddo (R-Staten Island) said the bill is too onerous.

“What’s next? Should we require restaurant owners to provide menus in dozens of languages?” he grumbled.

Backers of the bill, proposed by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, said Monday that many patients with limited English proficiency are at risk when they take medications without understanding the directions or caution guidelines.

Source: NY Daily News