July 20, 2007
ALBANY BREAKTHROUGH
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"Like watching sausage being made" — the Big Ugly comes into view |
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and legislative leaders announced Thursday that they had worked out a deal on a range of leftover "to do" items, including creating commissions to study and possibly implement congestion pricing for New York City and legislative and judicial pay raises. They also agreed to restructure the financing of state political campaigns in 2009.
Spitzer's announcement is here ; Senate Majority Leader Bruno's announcement should be here; Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's announcement is here.
The deal is likely to be memorialized as a specialized sub-species of Albany legislation known as a "Big Ugly".
AIDS activists hope and anticipate that this year's Big Ugly will include legislation to restore SSI invisibility to about 1,000 low-income households that include a disabled child and a parent with AIDS who receive a rent enhancement to prevent homelessness.
Executive and legislative staff have signaled their willingness to move the AIDS SSI invisibility measure, which has already passed the Assembly. We'll have more details on the ugliness of the Ugly — and hopefully on the beauty of disability benefits for 1,000 kids who need them — next week.