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Thanks for being with us on this episode of Power and Politics, everyone. I'm Amanda Bossard. A deal is reached. The state has a budget, and it's been signed. Almost a month after it was due, the governor revealed a more than $250 billion plan that includes policies on some hotly debated topics. So joining us now to discuss what made the cut and how Bronx sites will feel the effects is assembly member Carris Reyes. Assembly member, thanks so much for being with us here on Power and Politics. Thank you so much for having me. Great to have you with us. As I mentioned, there is more than $250 billion in this budget, so a lot to play with there. What are some of the highlights in it for you personally? Um, so you know, one of the things that we were really fighting for, uh, personally in this budget that I think affects, uh, residents of the eighty-seventh Assembly District, um, was, uh, funding for housing programs. One of the things that we've been fighting for for years that we were able actually to get in this budget was a pilot program for the housing Access voucher program which would allow, uh, families who are living in shelters or who are. On the precipice of eviction, uh, really, um, be able to find stable housing, um, another thing that we've been fighting for is Mitchell Lama funding, uh, of course not at the level that we that we really wanted to see, but we wanted to ensure that there was Mitchell Lama funding, uh, in the state budget to address some of the needs that, uh, developments like Jamie Towers, um, for example in our district is facing and so many. Michellama approach uh programs across the state are facing as well, um, and one of the things that we fought for really hard was to carve out, uh, Mitchellama developments and affordable housing developments from having to pay the shelter rent tax. Uh, we reduced that by 5% and um we expect that residents will be able to see a decrease in the actual operating costs of these of these developments which will mean. Um, less increases in the future, um, for residents in, in affordable housing developments. Those are some really important investments to highlight, especially on the topic of housing and those vouchers specifically great to hear some movement on that front because it's something we hear from Bronxites time and time again. Something we also hear a lot about is. Addressing crime, it's important to so many here in the borough, and I know that the governor's focus was on refining the state's discovery laws, and she says this will help keep cases from getting tossed out on technicalities. Do you think this is going to have a tangible impact on driving down the crime that we're seeing here in the Bronx? I, I believe so. I, I think one of the, the, um, things that we see a lot is recidivism, um, and law enforcement as long as, as well as the district attorneys have told us that that this has been a problem that we were that we tried to address in our state budget um I think the devil is in the details of course we wanted to make sure that we are not um overly criminalizing people for uh or or being punitive. For small technicalities, but we also wanna make sure that law enforcement and our district attorneys and our judges have the tools to really uh um remand people who who are not safe to be out in the streets and the reason why we made the laws we changed the laws in 2019 was because we wanted more transparency, more accountability from law enforcement. That frankly we're just taking advantage of, of people who were in in uh unfortunate circumstances um but we also wanna make sure that we are not uh creating a revolving door uh for misconduct and and bad behavior, uh, so I think that we've come to a, a place where uh there is accountability. In in terms of cases where law enforcement and the prosecution has to present evidence in a timely manner and that also the defense has that information and has to also comply with the law so I think we are in a in a good place um but if we come across um circumstances where perhaps we need to make some more tweaks to the law that is always a possibility. And then of course when we talk about crime, it kind of goes hand in hand with mental health struggles that we've seen across the city and now it appears it's going to be easier to place people into treatment with changes to the state's involuntary commitment laws. How did the state work and you and your colleagues work specifically to balance personal autonomy, free will with with making sure that those who are really in need of that help don't slip through the cracks here. Yeah, and this topic was of, of personal importance to me because I've seen uh firsthand just how we bring in people who are in, in uh mental distress uh or decompensating on the streets where the police picks them, pick them up and bring them to emergency rooms and then in the emergency room we try to stabilize them and unfortunately and. Uh back in the streets, my biggest caveat, uh, in our change is that we can't just change the law, we also have to put resources for clinical staff to be able to um support, support people and treat people when they are brought into the hospitals, but also we need to make sure that we expand supportive housing. Not just for uh young people but for elderly people um for youth people who to compensate uh on our streets and we see it on the streets we see it on the train are people who are having um mental health issues and it's not enough to just treat them when we pick them up and bring them into the emergency rooms we have to be able to expand treatment. And then lastly from me assembly member anything included in this budget that's not being talked about not making headlines right now that you wanna take a minute to spotlight and how bronxites maybe will feel the impact of those things. Yeah, I mean I think I wanna talk about some things that uh we fought really hard for and that the governor talked about uh for example we created um. A New York Opportunity Promise scholarship for 25 to 55 year olds who are going into high demand, uh, fields, um, so that they can go to school this will pay for tuition, pay for books, pay for fees um in community colleges, um, and I think you know Bell to Bell is one of the. These issues that was also very contested in this in this uh state budget which um would make sure that children are are not distracted while they are in school um but I know parents uh have expressed concerns about children not having devices on their way to school uh and we wanna um. Really reassure parents that that is not the case. Children can absolutely still have their devices and have their cell phones. They just can't use it while they are in school, uh, during instruction hours. Thank you for that clarification because I feel like that's been a question many parents have had and we'll continue to follow that process as it's implemented a long road to get here assembly member, but so many important topics covered in this budget we appreciate your time in breaking them down with us here on Power and Politics. Thank you. Educators across the borough say they're being forced to work for longer than their predecessors, and they want changes to their pensions to fix it. More power in politics in just a couple of minutes. Stay with us.

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Welcome back to Power and Politics. Educators rallying across the city this week calling for changes to the state's pension plan. News 12's Tim Harfman is in Concourse Village with more on their fight. Jessica Beck is 1/6 grade reading teacher at MS 327 in Highbridge. The 44-year-old standing alongside other educators fighting to fix the state pension plan. I can't afford it, you know, so I think I think retirement is kind of a long way off. I'll probably be working a second job. Beck's part of a group of educators. Who fall under Tier 6 of the state pension system and must work until the age of 63 to receive full retirement benefits. Putting in that amount of service, it's difficult, especially as we get older, we're retiring older. The United Federation of Teachers rallying Tuesday to have Tier 6, more like educators in Tier 4. Who can retire at the age of 55. Union members say changing the benefits not only impacts teachers, but students as well. If we can't retain workers, we're never going to improve the student outcomes and create the educational environments our students deserve, Beck says she's using her voice to set an example for her students. I am showing students that their voices. Matter not just in the school building but outside of the school building. We reached out to the Department of Education for comment. We're still waiting for a response in Concourse Village. Tim Harman, News 12, the Bronx. All right, Tim, thank you for the update there. Meanwhile, parents, if you use a voucher to pay for childcare, that money is now at risk. The city and state are fighting over who should pay for the childcare assistance program. And it's leaving families caught in the middle. The childcare assistance program helps around 70,000 New Yorkers by offsetting the high costs of daycare with vouchers that average $300 a week. The governor's recent budget set aside $350 million. Dollars for child care funding, but only if the city matches that amount. The city, however, has passed the bill back to the governor saying this has always been a state responsibility. Sources at the governor's office told us the state cannot sustain those costs without help from the city. The commissioner of the city's parks department, Sue Donahue, announced that she is stepping down on May 30th. She was appointed in February of 2022 and in her 3.5 year term. The city says that she completed 340 capital projects worth more than $1.1 billion in investments to city neighborhoods. That is all for this week here on Power and Politics on News 12. Thanks so much for watching.

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Council Member Althea Stevens and Assembly Member Karines Reyes join the show.

Power & Politics: Demands for more transparency at Administration for Children’s Services; $250B+ budget breakdown

Council Member Althea Stevens and Assembly Member Karines Reyes join the show.

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