November 6, 2009

     Gov. David Paterson is calling the state legislature back to Albany for a special session Monday to find ways to cut the budget and possibly vote on legalizing same-sex marriage.
     The governor's agenda includes addressing a more than $3 billion deficit with mid-year cuts to school aid and health care.
     While our local legislators agree the state has problems, they have their own ideas about how to fix them.
     “State spending has to be lowered, state spending is out of control,” said Republican Sen. George Winner.
     Winner says cuts are long overdue.
     “We have no option.  We have to balance our budget under our constitution.  And if that means whacking some state agencies some more, it'll be necessary to do that,” he said.
     Winner says he's willing to work with the governor, but wants to make sure expenses don't get passed down to local governments or schools.
     But Assembly Democrat Barbara Lifton said, “We've already done a lot of cutting, people don't seem to realize that."
     Lifton is concerned about mid-year cuts.  She says there are alternatives -- like the state's "rainy day fund."
     “Do we really need to cut, or could we defer the payment for a month when more revenues will be coming into the state?" asked Lifton.
     As for Paterson's call to pass a same-sex marriage bill...
     “We've passed it twice in the Assembly,” said Lifton.
     “I think that's one of the furthest things we should be focusing on right now,” said Assembly Republican Tom O’Mara.
     Lifton has voted for the same-sex marriage bill; O'Mara has voted against it.  It has yet to pass the Senate.
     Sen. Winner says he won't support it, and he doesn't think it has enough votes to pass, if it does come up in special session.