2022 NYS Budget Wrap-Up
By Stephanie Bazell
Background on Budget:
The New York State budget is where many policies pass. This year’s legislative session is especially short due to primaries, adjourning on June 2nd.
Here’s how it works: The Governor’s office offers a proposed budget in January. Then, the Senate and Assembly hold hearings in each hold hearings regarding different topics such as education, criminal justice, healthcare, etc. and then propose their own one-house budget. Throughout March, the Governor’s office, Senate, and Assembly engage in final negotiations. This year, the final budget came out on April 9th (though votes on different portions were carried out over several days)
The budget passage was bittersweet. We won back access to TAP for incarcerated people, but in the background, there was an attempt to rollback numerous critical advances for criminal legal reform. Below, we’ll break down TAP, rollbacks, and more.
CCF Turns On The TAP!
After years of fighting, we finally repealed the ban on the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) for incarcerated people! Given CCF’s tireless work on Pell and now TAP, this will be the dawning of a new, flourishing era of college-in-prison in New York.
CCF led the amazing #TurnOnTheTAPNY coalition. We declared that education is a right owed to those behind bars. To quote the amazing TAP advocate, Ivelisse Gilestra:
“Higher education helps us reclaim our power and understand the systemic complexities involved in our oppression and incarceration. Most importantly, it can equip us to challenge the many roadblocks and policies designed to repeat this country’s devastating history.”
It is our hope that this policy’s passage will make the legislature see that they should not give into the type of fear mongering that led to the ban in the first place, and that the education provided will create the next generation of leaders to bring about the changes so desperately needed in our criminal legal system.
What you can do: Join us in celebrating! Also check out the incomparable partners and leaders that helped take NY to this victory from BPI, Hudson Link to Central Synagogue.
You may have heard about Hochul’s ten point “public safety” plan….
Late in March, Hochul leaked a memo to the New York Post on a public safety plan that would roll back advances in bail, discovery, and Raise the Age. There is victory in what advocates, including CCF, were able to stave off, and we are so grateful to our partners, who tirelessly fought back some of the worst outcomes imaginable.
Bail
The landmark 2019 bail reforms did away with pretrial detention incarceration for people accused of most nonviolent offenses. Hochul did not get nearly what she wanted. However, in this year’s budget, the reforms of 2019 were undermined in that more offenses became cash bail eligible (such as gun and hate crimes), and judges have greater leeway to jail people for repeated minor offenses. Also, many more offenses will trigger automatic arrest rather than a desk appearance ticket which means defendants will come to court much sooner in the process.
The problem here is that it targets the poor and is a response to a rising fear of crime. We know that bail has not demonstrated a connection to public safety. To learn more, check out Justice Not Fear
Discovery
We used to have the worst (of all states) discovery law in the nation. Prosecutors were not required to turn over police reports, witness statements, and key evidence until the day of trial! This led to coercive plea deals. In 2020, this was overturned making it so both prosecutors and defense attorneys have to share all materials within 15 days of arraignment. Again, our friends (too many to name) fought to ensure we did not return to the blindfolded days, and prosecutors still have to keep to a schedule. However, now if prosecutors miss a deadline, which could lead to dismissal, judges can use their discretion to decide if it was done in “good faith.”
Raise the Age
This (thankfully!) was left virtually untouched. Children should not be charged as adults.
Big takeaway from the ten point plan debacle.
No one is better than our NY Advocates. They held the line. But we need you to remember two things:
No one slept trying to fight to keep laws that had passed in place. When they have us on the defensive, we cannot get to the laws we need to pass in our still very,very broken criminal legal system (see section on what we need to fight for in this short session).
This is a sign of what is to come in NYS and nationally. It seems that a rise in crime means we forget everything we learned about how horrible mass incarceration is, even if there are no facts to support that these critical reforms hurt public safety.
We, the collective, need to be proactive and strategic in sending the message that justice is not negotiable. We need to build a movement that can sustain rises in crime.
Victories!
Child Care
The State is investing $7 billion over four years for childcare subsidies.They also brought eligibility for the subsidies for families of four up to an income of $83,250 (compared to below $55,000). See here to find out if you are eligible!
Emergency Rental Assistance and Help with Utilities
The Emergency Rental Assistance program supports New Yorkers at risk of eviction or experiencing homelessness. Although there has not been funding allocated for this program in some time, there is $800 million available in this year’s budget! To see if you qualify, click here. Money was also put aside to help people pay for their utilities. Check here for eligibility and application.
EAF: Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund**
The Advocacy Center has been awarded money from New York State to support the emergency needs of victims of domestic violence, known as Pandemic Emergency Assistance Funds or PEAF. These funds are provided through the Federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. As with all federal funds, there are eligibility requirements and restrictions on what emergency expenses are eligible. This page provides basic information about eligibility for this emergency assistance and examples of emergency expenses that may qualify for assistance.
**not technically in NYS budget, but important knowledge
Part-time TAP
Finally there is an infusion of cash ($150 million) to support part-time students - this will apply to those incarcerated as well!
A fully staffed Parole Board
Many of you are well aware there is an enormous backlog because the parole board is perpetually understaffed. There is now money for a fully staffed parole board! (More on Parole, RAPP and advocacy days in what’s ahead)
A Partial Victory on Parole Fees
Our friends at the Fines & Fees Justice Center have been working on the End Predatory Fees Act. While the bill was not passed outright, they did eliminate the $30 a month parolees had to pay to be on parole. To get involved, check out NoPriceOnJustice.
What We Need to Keep Fighting For!
Parole Justice
Fair & timely parole (S7514/A4213A) would change the standard of parole by focusing on actions taken while incarcerated that demonstrate redemption rather than focusing solely on the original crime.
Elder Parole (S15A/A8855) would allow people 55 and above the chance to go before the parole board based on the science of aging out of crime.
What you can do: Head up to Albany or join the movement from your home at the People’s Campaign for Parole Justice!
Connecting Families (S3512/A3096)
This campaign is near and dear to CCF’s heart as we turned our attention to this campaign during COVID. The cost of keeping in touch with a loved one should NOT be prohibitively expensive. It can cost $10.42 for 15 minutes!
What you can do: Sign the petition and find out other ways to take action here.
Restoration of voting rights to currently incarcerated citizens (S3073/A.6646).
CCF is all in. No one should ever lose the right to vote. Building on our JusticeVotesNY work, we will continue to pound the pavement.
Contact us if interested! E-mail SBazell@collegeandcommunity.org as we evaluate our legislative strategy. This one requires a constitutional amendment.
The full suite of Let NY Vote Legislation
NY has amongst the lowest voter turnout of any state. Many of our confusing laws act as a form of voter suppression. We need to make voting easier and more accessible.
What you can do: Text “VoteNY” to 97779 to get involved with our friends at Let NY Vote. Also, be sure to check out the League of Women Voters NYC and NYS that does amazing things to strengthen democracy, including engaging on criminal justice reform issues!
Communities Not Cages
This is a three parter with a special tie to TurnOnTheTAPNY!
Eliminate Mandatory Minimums Act (S7871 / A.9166) Many credit mandatory minimums with creating the beast that is mass incarceration. This would eliminate them, along with the remanence of the Rockefellar drug laws and create a presumption of healing over incarceration. Incarceration should always be a last resort!
Second Look Act (S7872/A8894) Remember that draconian sentencing we were talking about that dates back to the “tough on crime” era from the 1990s? This bill would allow judges to review and reassess these sentences based on a person’s record during incarceration.
Earned Time Act (S7873A /A.8462B) This is the one that ties back to TAP. NY slashed programs eligible for good time and merit time. Among them: college in prison. This would create more of those programs and if they are not created that good time must be provided.
What you can do: Follow website for various actions!
Clean Slate (S1553C/A6399B)
Certain convictions are sealable already. This would make that process automatic.We already have such severe punishments. Convictions make each sentence a lifetime.
What you can do: Check out the campaign website and find out ways to take action
Didn’t see an issue you care about? Have questions? E-mail our Director of Policy & Advocacy Stephanie Bazell at SBazell@collegeandcommunity.org
Also check out the Justice Roadmap for many more bills! We were honored to serve in this coalition that includes organizations engaged with bill ranging from the decriminalization of sex work to codifying the rights of in person visits.
Follow Katal, as they hold regular statewide calls that give read-outs on the criminal justice landscape, beginning with a recap of the “inside baseball” with their lobbyist Malkin & Ross!
Finally for all things education follow our friends (who all helped us get TAP over the finish line) the Commission on Independent Colleges & Universities and Ed Trust-NY!