After a long budget season, I’m proud that we have passed an on-time spending plan that invests in New York’s future. Some highlights from the budget will be included in this and upcoming week’s newsletters:

State Budget Updates.

K-12 and Higher Education.

Foundation Aid and Pre-K: The spending plan also includes $618 million for Foundation Aid to help fund the State's obligation to our neediest schools. This includes $15 million in additional funding for Pre-K.

SUNY Higher Ed Increases: The adopted budget includes $200 million in critical maintenance funds for SUNY.

Adult Literacy Education: The budget also strengthens supports for English language learners by including an additional $2 million to increase bilingual education grants and $770,000 in funding to increase the state's supply of bilingual teachers.

Educational Opportunity Programs: Student’s background should affect their ability to get a higher education. The budget includes $32.2 million for the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), a $5.4 million restoration. The Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), is funded at $35.5 million, a $5.9 million restoration.

Library Aid: Libraries are the bedrock of our community. The approved budget includes $96.6 million in aid to public libraries, which is an increase of $1 million over last year. In addition, the plan includes $34 million for public library construction grants, an increase of $10 million over SFY 2017-18.

Bundy Aid: The final budget includes $35 million for Bundy Aid. This state aid is often used for scholarships and is determined by the number of degrees conferred.

UAlbany Center of Excellence in Atmospheric and Environmental Prediction and Innovation: In three short years, UAlbany’s Center has helped New York State drive over $2 million of economic impact. This year’s enacted Budget includes $250,000 in funding for UAlbany’s Center for Excellence.

Municipal Priority Funding.

City of Albany Capital City Funding: I appreciate state leaders’ responsiveness to the critical financial needs of Albany by designating $12 million for aid pursuant to the recommendations at the State Financial Restructuring Board for local governments. Securing funds to address Albany’s capital city needs remains a priority, and we will continue to strongly advocate for Albany financial stability.

Consolidation of Capital Region Health Laboratories: The newly passed state budget will invest another $600 million to consolidate and upgrade the state health science labs, combined with a $150 million investment last year. The Wadsworth and state health sciences labs are critical public health research facilities, responsible for combatting infectious diseases, testing newborns for preventable illnesses, and testing public water supplies among many more essential functions. The state budget allocates this funding for the labs, which are currently in separate facilities, to consolidate to state of the art facilities in the Capital Region

Environment.

Environmental Protection Fund: The spending plan includes retaining the $300 million allocation to the Environmental Protection Fund. This includes funding for land acquisition, the Hudson River Park Trust, and environmental justice.

Appearance on VoxPop. I joined WAMC’s Alan Chartock on VoxPop call-in show Tuesday to discuss ethics reform and the possibility of a future legislative pay raise. While ethics reform was not touched in this year’s budget, I remain committed to reforms like closing the LLC loophole.

Community Updates & Events.

Guilderland Forum on Lyme Disease. The Northeast and Eastern New York in particular are some of America’s top hot spots for Lyme Disease infection. I’ll be joining town officials in Guilderland this coming Tuesday April 10th at Guilderland Town Hall at 7:00 PM. Microbiology Professor Holly Ahern, a nationally recognized expert on this subject, will explain the nature of the tick pathogens, strategies to avoid tick bites, problems with diagnostic testing, and treatment options and issues. The presentation is free and open to the public, and a video of the presentation will be available on the Town’s website.

Entering the College Zone. The registration deadline has been extended to Friday, April 13 for students in grades 7-12 who would like to participate in the Entering the College Zone event at Hudson Valley Community College on Saturday, April 28. This is a free informational event on college preparation for students and their parents.

The event, a partnership with the Albany affiliate of the Black Child Development Institute, will be from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on April 28. All students in grades 7-12 and their parents or guardians are invited to attend. The district will provide free bus transportation to and from the event, with pickup and drop-off locations at several schools throughout the district.

As always, for the latest news or for upcoming events, please visit my office online, on Facebook, on Twitter, or my Times Union blog. If you would like to reach my office, please feel free to send us a note, or give us a call at (518) 455-4178.

Pat