This past January, the Assembly began the year by enacting sweeping reforms[1] of the Assembly rules, among them was setting out a timetable to bring about an on time budget by:

·        agreeing to what revenues are available;

·        expressing the Assembly’s priorities in our budget resolution; and

·        immediately convening public Joint Budget Conference Committees to work out differences between the Assembly’s budget and those passed by the Senate

The adopted budget incorporated the plan I presented several years ago to cap Medicaid growth.  It includes a state takeover of Family Health Plus which provides $23.5 million in savings for Westchester taxpayers in the coming year.

While this is good news, I fully intend to continue pushing for my hard cap which the Assembly passed in our version of the budget, which would have provided $7.8 million more in savings for Westchester County this coming year.

Other steps to ensure quality health care while protecting taxpayers include:

·        slashing the governor’s sick tax on nursing homes and cutting his tax on hospitals in half;

·        agreeing to a Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21^st Century to determine the best way to protect services by eliminating costly excess capacity; and

·        ensuring regional needs would be part of any health care determinations

The Legislature rejected the governor’s attempt to make it more difficult to enroll in the Family Health Plus program. The final budget will allow the program to continue providing families with quality, affordable health care they need.

The Legislature led the fight for an on-time and responsible state budget that protects our families and invests in New York’s future. We partnered with the governor to deliver a bipartisan budget that benefits all New Yorkers.