The New York state legislature missed its April 1st deadline to reach a budget deal with Governor Kathy Hochul. State Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner of the 113th District, a majority Democrat, spoke about the drawn-out budget season.
School funding has been a priority for Woerner after Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul proposed changes to the funding formula for districts. In question is the future of a practice known as “Hold Harmless,” which ensures districts don’t see a decrease in funding from year to year.
“So, I would have to say that I am very pleased that we seem to have moved back to a reasonable position on funding for Foundation Aid for our school districts. Many of the school districts that I represent, were looking at significant cuts to their state aid. And that was problematic. And so while I am conscious of the fact that we have shifting demographics, there are school districts that have seen lower enrollment numbers. I also and I have long thought that we need to revisit the school aid formula to better reflect the realities of particularly rural district’s ability to locally fund education. And so, I am pleased that we're going to revisit the funding formula, and in the meantime, that we are going to continue to have the ‘Hold Harmless’ for school districts, I think that's really important,” said Woerner.
Woerner says she’s encouraged by ongoing conversations surrounding increased reimbursement rates for hospitals and nursing homes.
“Both of these institutions are, you know, these categories of institutions are critical for the health care system in our community –communities generally. And, and so I, you know, we have to give them increases the cost of the, you know, the cost of labor for our critical workforce in healthcare is gone up. The ability to attract and retain skilled, talented workers in the healthcare field continues to be a challenge. And we have to reflect that those increased costs in the rates that we are willing to pay for Medicaid reimbursement.”
Woerner adds that she’s advocating for further support of first-responder services.
“So, there's a number of proposals that have been discussed making EMS services an essential service like police and fire — critical. Providing the ability for paramedics and EMTs to treat in place. Critical fills a big gap in our particularly rural health care continuum. So, I think that I am really, really pushing hard to make sure that our EMS systems are reflected in what their needs are, reflected in this budget.”
Woerner is the Chair of the Committee on Small Business and says she would like to see the state do more to help employers. Hochul met with the U.S. Department of Labor this month and says she hopes it can provide some relief to small businesses weighed-down by unemployment insurance burdens.
“I am concerned about small businesses and what we're going to be able to do to help small businesses, you know, disappointed once again that we are not helping to reduce the UI burden that small businesses face. There's lots of conversation about providing better short term disability benefits for workers that are that are injured on the job or have other short term health care issues but we're not really stepping up to help the businesses that have to pay those costs to give them any relief. And I'm some I'm disappointed in that,” said Woerner.
Last year’s budget was delayed for weeks amid disagreement over Hochul’s ambition plan to add 800,000 new housing units statewide. Lawmakers left Albany without an agreement, and again this year housing is a sticking point in budget talks.
“I believe that we should have a state funded emergency voucher program. Because stabilizing tenants who are facing eviction because they have had a life event, they've got unexpected medical bills, they have suddenly lost their job, they have a loss of a spouse. So, there's only one income suddenly, and that has made it difficult for them to continue to pay their rent, having an emergency voucher program that can help bridge those that period of time until they get back on their feet and more stable financially. I think that is what I think that is what prevents eviction. So, I'm very supportive of that,” said Woerner.
Woerner is less supportive of Good Cause Eviction legislation. It would require landlords to provide grounds for a tenant’s removal as well as provide protection against steep rent increases. Woerner and other skeptics fear the measures may adversely affect upstate communities.
“I certainly am aware that we have landlords that are dramatically increasing rent year over year and that is creating hardships, significant hardships for people who have been good long-term tenants. And so, I do appreciate that. However I think that a statewide rent cap, which is what Good Cause Eviction is, would create greater dislocation. It would reduce the number of units that people are willing to, particularly small landlords, to offer as rental units and, and I think ultimately would have a real detriment on our overall housing market.”
Woener says she wants the legislature to turn its focus to help working class New Yorkers get away from the rental market.
“We really don't have either in the resale market or new construction those small, starter home opportunities. Whether that have a, you know, a free-standing house on a small parcel of land, or a townhouse or a condominium. Those ownership opportunities are out of reach for the, for the young couple, or for even some of the middle-aged couples and families to get into the ownership market. Likewise, older folks who are looking to downsize from their family homes, but stay in the community, they too, don't have those opportunities. So, I really see that that if we were to focus on building for that attainable first home, what we would do is reduce the demand for rental apartments, so that the demand and the supply are more equal, that would that would put downward pressure on rents, which would solve the problem of landlords thinking they can significantly increase rent, because there's such high demand for apartments,” said Woerner.
Woerner is a co-sponsor of legislation that would require registration and taxation of units rented for less than 30 days. She says it’s aimed at reversing the dynamic out-of-region investors have created in the housing market, among other benefits.
“So, you know, along with many of my colleagues, I have been pushing for a statewide database of these properties, with the requirement that the platforms, the Airbnbs, the VRBO's, those platforms, collect and remit sales tax and occupancy tax for these rentals. It creates a level playing field with our hotels, it provides resources to support tourism through the occupancy tax. And it supports resources at the local community to do the kind of health and safety checks that hotels are subjected to. So, it creates greater safety for the consumers. It provides funding to help communities provide that safety, as well as support our tourism efforts. But we need to have a statewide we need to have a statewide registry. And then and it will also help us to have an understanding of how many units are being used for this, what is the impact on the housing market? With data you can do analysis and then design strategies around how to deal with that,” said Woerner.
Woerner was first elected in 2014. Republican candidate Jeremy Messina of Washington County is also running for the seat.
