[00:00:18] Speaker A: Welcome to Uptown Chats, a podcast where we share stories about environmental justice by and for everyday people. Your co host, Jaren, and I'm your.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Other co host, Lonnie.
[00:00:27] Speaker A: And today we're going to talk about everyone's favorite or least favorite topic, money.
Isn't that right?
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Yeah, it depends on what context we're talking about money. If you're talking about spending money for things that you want, that's fun. But if you're talking about spending your own money that you don't necessarily have, then not fun.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Yes. It's all about perspective. But before we get to that, do you mind reading wex mission statement?
[00:00:54] Speaker B: We act's mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and or low income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: Boom. So now that we got that out of the way, we get to talk about money. And it's perfect because not only is it tax season, it's also budget season. Right? So before we get carried away with talking about budget and tax season, we would like to introduce our very special guest today, who's actually been on the show before. Brianna, would you like to introduce yourself?
[00:01:26] Speaker C: Sure. Thanks, you guys, for having me back. I'm Brianna. I'm our state legislative manager here at we act, and that means I get to talk about and cover everything New York state. And today we'll get to talk about the budget.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: Yeah. So once again, I will be playing the role of the person who does not know anyone. And it's not really me playing the role because I actually don't know that much about the budget. But we'll be talking about the city budget here in New York City, thanks to Lonnie, who is really knowledgeable about things going on in the city budget. Brianna will be covering the state budget side of things because honestly, it's really complicated. And anytime I start to talk about or even think about what's going on in the budget, I'm like, okay, where do I start? What's happening? So I figure we can go through, maybe top down and try to understand what's going on with this budget season. So where should we start? City budget? State budget? Maybe we'll just start with talking about what does it look like? How does the budget get decided at each of those levels? Should we rock, paper, scissors? Who wants to go first?
[00:02:26] Speaker B: Go ahead, Brianna. Cool.
[00:02:27] Speaker C: All right, so the state budget is really interesting because when you think budget, you think, of course, money and spending and where it's going but really, the state budget is a place where not only are we talking about that, but we're also talking about policy and what pieces of legislation do we want to be including in the budget. So not only is it about spending, but really about what can we get done early on in legislative session that can pass through the budget so that we're not waiting until June to get something done that really should be done early. So it's really finicky and tricky to know as an advocate what we're pushing for in the budget process and what we should be strategizing to push for later on in the year, because they run on two different timelines, and the timelines I'm talking about are budget season and legislative session. Season. Legislative session season deals with policy not necessarily having to do with spending or fiscal impact. And budget is what it sounds like having to do with. How are agencies spending their money? Where is New York state's $229,000,000,000?
[00:03:52] Speaker A: That's a lot of money.
[00:03:53] Speaker C: Yeah. Going to. And all that money comes from your taxes. It also comes from federal aid and from other state revenue raising programs like Cap and invest. We had a bond act recently that was voted on very favorably by New York City residents. So you all did that. And that got us some funding for priorities relating to environment. And this year, we are seeing another way that we can really talk about. Are we going to be reallocating that money? That means investing in certain programs, divesting from certain programs, or as advocates, are we going to ask for? Overall, the governor should increase the amount of money that we have to spend. And the way she can do that is by asking the federal government for more money, or we need to tax the wealthy. I mean, we have some of the wealthiest folks in the country living in New York state. I think. LJ, I know we talked about this, but Elon Musk net worth is. I just googled it, $210,000,000,000. Our estate revenue was $229,000,000,000. And that's more than New York City, right? 210,000,000,000.
[00:05:09] Speaker B: Yeah. New York City is only 109,000,000,000.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: So Elon should basically have his own, basically be funding an entire state.
[00:05:16] Speaker C: Exactly what it sounds like. So that is a lot, a lot of money we were talking about here and the way it works and the timeline we can go through a little bit.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: Yeah, that would be helpful.
[00:05:28] Speaker C: Is we start off in October and we go to April 1, which is when the budget is due, starting off in October. That's when you're lobbying. That's when you're setting up meetings with agencies. That's when you are talking to the right people to hear and really raise the concerns of your issues that you're advocating for as to where you want the money to go. And hopefully by April 1 we get a budget. The budget sometimes does get delayed, but there are guardrails against that, meaning that if the budget is delayed, no one gets paid. So folks in the capital of Albany are very upset if you're coming to them after April 1 and the budget is late because it means they haven't had any income for the last month or so and they're really struggling. So we really need to get budgets done on time. And how do we get budgets done on time? Well, the budget is really decided by three key people. That is Andrea Stewart Cousins, who is the Senate majority leader, which means folks here listening. You have a senate and assembly representative. She is kind of the leader for everyone who is your senate representative in New York state. And we also have hasty, Carl Hasty. He is the speaker of the assembly and he is the leader for your assembly representatives in New York state.
Now, Andrew Stewart Cousins and Hasty will meet with Governor Holkel before April 1. And the only way that a budget gets passed is they come to a unanimous agreement and they decide on what is essentially called the big ugly, a.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: State bill that, it's funny every time.
[00:07:14] Speaker C: Exactly, because things can get ugly. I've never been in the room, but I've heard about it. So that is when you can get their spending bill and other legislation, like I mentioned, that can have little to do with the budget thrown together into this big bill.
That is ultimately what becomes the final bill. Before that, though, there is the BPRHA caucus, which stands for the black, puerto rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus, including 77 legislators across the state from both the Senate and the assembly that oftentimes represent environmental justice. Communities are people of color themselves. Now they, before the budget finally gets passed, put out their own version of the people's budget, which is oftentimes the most progressive budget we see come out. That is a huge platform for the rest of the state to see and kind of set the tone for what folks are paying attention to this coming year and what they're prioritizing. So once that comes out, which is usually like very early January or late December, then you'll get the one house budgets. And those come after hearings from the public, which will influence each the Senate and the assembly budgets that are released before we even get to the final version of the budget, which gets cited again by Andre, Stuart Cousins, Carl Hasty and Holco.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: That's super helpful. I feel like there's so many moving parts in this whole process, and being able to put a name to those different folks who are involved in the process is helpful to just help with the clarity of it. So we're right now in the process where there's this negotiation around what's going to end up in the big ugly, as you called, or is that something that's on the horizon? This is the time where folks are kind of meeting with legislators and saying, this is what's important to me. This is what I feel like it should be prioritized in the budget, and they'll sit with that information and then come together and decide, okay, this is what we heard, this is what we should be incorporating. And then that's when they get to come together and duke it out, essentially.
[00:09:26] Speaker C: Exactly.
Each person I mentioned, they have their own things that make them tick and their own influences as well. So unfortunately, it isn't simply a matter of how much pressure you put. You also have to pay attention to who exactly they are listening to and what they care about.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: Got you.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: I imagine it can be pretty hard to figure out how to navigate this budget process, but I appreciate you putting it that way because it makes it much easier to understand where folks are maybe being influenced by. But maybe let's pivot and hear a little bit about the process at the city because I know it's not exactly the same and see some understatements. It's very different.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Drastically different.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: Great.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: Even the fiscal years, I think, are different for the city and the state because you said you started your budget work in October, Brianna.
[00:10:15] Speaker C: Yeah. If you're good at your job, you start in October.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: We are both very good at our jobs and I started in the summer of there. It's a, there's a stark difference between how the city does its budget and the state does. One of the big things that is, the big difference that Brianna mentioned at the state level that doesn't have the city level is that there is a complete separation between legislation and budget. When we talk about budget to city, we are talking about dollars and cents and we're talking about money. These are programs, these are capital projects. We're only talking about that we don't have to work through trying to get through legislation through the budget or any of that process. The legislative process still goes on while we talk about the budget. So bills are introduced you can still advocate for certain legislation and things alongside the budget process, which for the city, the budget process starts in January. And that's when the mayor usually just releases his preliminary budget, which is his priorities, what he wants to spend on. And what we're talking about now with Mayor Eric Adams is what he wants to cut is like the big conversation that we're having at the city. Right.
You know, the process lasts from January to the end of June, and our fiscal year starts in July. So that's when all of the things that are resolved from then, from January to the end of June, then we start. July is when we start basically following that budget. Got it. So it's kind of wonky. So we have been advocating for what we call fiscal year 2025, which starts in July. But right now we're in the phase where the preliminary budget has been issued. And so everyone's going through, looking at it, poring over budget documents, trying to figure out what's there, what's not there, what are they trying to save, what has been cut from the budget. And really doing that analysis for pretty much January and February and in pretty much March and April, what's going to happen is the council is going to do some analysis, they're going to do some deeper digging into a lot of things. And this is one thing that also differs a lot from the state, is that there's much more access to voice your concerns about the budget as an everyday person.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: Why is that?
[00:12:29] Speaker B: Because we have a process where we have a bunch of public hearings that identify specific concerns through all the conversations from, like, residents, advocates, city agencies testify about certain things. And you also even have large corporations or organizations that can also weigh into this. So basically, it's a chance for city council to hear what everyone's concerns are as they're doing their analysis. So it's a part of their research is, what do the people want? What are the people thinking, and what are they advocating?
You know, the city council, particularly the speaker, Speaker Adrian Adams, and then the finance committee, which is a group of city council members who are assigned this committee, who is chaired by council member Justin Brannon.
They kind of come together, and they really understand, all right, what is city council saying are the priorities? We've heard everyone, we've done our own analysis. We've listened to city agencies and advocates. So what is the priorities that a city council has? And then what they will do in that same process is they will send out a formal response to what the mayor put out in January. And that formal response can say a lot of things. It's saying, like, you're being ridiculous.
You're cutting way too many things, or you're spending money on the wrong thing. City council thinks the money should be spent this way.
And then the mayor comes back, reviews all of that, and says, okay, well, here's what I'm willing to do. And then puts out another document called the executive budget, which is then the one that the mayor is saying, like, I've heard everything from you guys. Now, here's this budget that I'm putting out. And then they go through a little bit of a negotiation process. Between the mayor's budget negotiation team and the city council and a lot of back and forth. There is some closed door stuff that happens as well. But this process is done pretty much in the open in lots of ways, where it's just like, you know that it's going on. You'll see a lot of reporting about what are some whispers or what some things people are talking about. But basically, those group of people, city council Speaker Adrian Adams, the mayor, and the baron's budget negotiation team, all get together, and they just duke it out, and they try to figure out what they can compromise on. And then one day, we are told in June there is an adopted budget. And there has been usually what they call a handshake deal is done between the speaker and the mayor. And then the next day, the world finds out what's actually in the budget. So that's kind of like a bit of the process for the city, which is different, but very kind of straightforward and a little more linear. And it obviously is a little bit more open.
[00:15:12] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, I love a good analogy. What I'm picturing in my mind as you're explaining this is like a parent coming out and being like, all right, this is your allowance. And the kids are like, no, that doesn't sound fair. This is what I want included in my allowance. We need this, this, this, and that. And the parents, like, I'll think about it. And then they just make up their mind anyway with maybe a little bit of influence. How much of an influence is there actually from this response? So basically, the mayor, like you said, comes out with their thoughts, and then city council responds. How much of an impact does that normally, or that you've seen, does that translate into changes that the mayor actually ends up making? At the end of the day, it.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: Can be extremely impactful. And that's why it's so important for the work that we do here at we act and other coalitions and other folks in different spaces, whether it be environment justice and climate justice or it be housing justice folks, or if it's police reform groups. The idea is the more people that come out and stake what they really want to see, and they can convey that to usually city council, more so than the mayor directly. But by way of city council, we kind of get our messages across. And there are times where there have been drastic changes in the budget. I think one of the budget seasons that I was a part of doing this work, there were extreme cuts to Department of sanitation, our DSNY here in New York. So they pick up the trash and all the different programs that go along with that. And there was a huge fight with then chair of the sanitation committee, council member Sandy Nurse at the time, and some of the city council, of really restoring all of that funding because the mayor basically says we're not going to put any more jobs or we're going to keep off cut services for sanitation. And, I mean, of course, the city lost their mind. Right?
We just talked about rats in the world. Rats. And we'd like a clean city. As much as we love that gritty image of New York City, we don't like to live in a dirty city. And so there was a really big push from a lot of advocates to restore that funding, and it was mostly all restored from those cuts from their preliminary budget. Unfortunately, they got cut again.
So we are now in that fight right now. But yes, there can be significant impact in the changes from the preliminary budget to the executive budget and what's actually adopted.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: I appreciate you bringing that up. I feel like that's a nice segue to maybe talk about how the decisions that are made around the budget or even just the process of finalizing the budget. How does that shape the work that we do here? Because a lot of what we do here is in response to or in anticipation of things that are in the budget and maybe to influence what's going to happen with the budget. Right. So maybe we can start again with the state level stuff and then we'll come back to the city stuff. So what does it look like? How does the state budget influence what we do? And how do we, I guess, maybe anticipate and try to shape what happens in the budget?
[00:18:15] Speaker C: So there are like four buckets that we really pay attention to when we're going into state budget, and that's increasing funding for climate justice, affordable, resilient, healthy housing without displacement, building a community owned community, built renewable energy power grid and ending the use of fossil fuel buildings in our homes, making sure people are comfortable, healthy, safe, and overall, again, affordability.
We can't say that we're advocating for folks in our communities if they can't afford to live in our communities anymore. So we are always fighting to make sure that folks are healthy, able to live in New York City and disadvantaged communities across the states, and are making sure that we have climate justice and climate ready plans. So with that said, what we have been paying attention to in the state budget and how it affects us moving forward in our work at weact is, well, like I mentioned a little earlier, the state budget is a combination of spending and a combination of legislation. So good news is, if we're not able to get some legislation in the budget, we can likely get a second chance in the legislative session period, which runs longer than the budget period. The budget period, if it goes according to plan, ends April 1, when the executive budget is released, and when the legislative session period ends. That doesn't end until mid June. So we have a little bit more time to get legislation done. So what really does need to get done in this period is the funding ask that we're asking of the state and what we have been asking for this year. And as a result of what came out this year, I'm going to go over through a couple of things that we did like and didn't like in our budget. So the first thing is what is, on a lot of people's minds, a New York key act. This bill would eliminate a really outdated rule called the 100 foot rule, which forces New Yorkers to pay for the expansion of the gas system in New York state. And it also deletes the mandate to provide fossil fuel to residential customers. So that was included. However, the governor's proposal did cut some language that would protect New Yorkers from rising energy bill costs. Now, this is really terrible, because as of just November of 2023, 1.2 million New Yorkers owe over $1.4 billion of debt. That's pretty crazy. It's a crazy number. So the language that was cut was a really crucial cap on our energy bills for 6% of, for New Yorkers to pay no more than 6% of their energy burden, their total income should go no more than 6% on their energy bills. So that is something we're trying to get back, hopefully through the next phase of the budget process, which is the one house we can maybe get it in the. We'll likely be able to get it in the Senate. We're really trying to push for it in the assembly, which will absolutely affect what we see in the final version of this budget. And the other things that we really wanted to see that we didn't see, we're hoping we could still influence is good cause eviction. We really need to be making sure, as I stated before, folks are not subject to non reasonable rent increases and they have stability within their income. So that is something that's being led by our good friends at housing justice for all that we're really hoping we can have a plan of action for this year and get it passed. And then we have the gap fund, which is another really fun bill that we are making sure we're getting home lead, asbestos and other health hazards out of people's homes before they electrify. With oftentimes electrification or meaning like we're putting heat pumps in or we're doing more energy efficiency work around the house, they have to overcome issues that are found in old housing, like lead chipping paint, maybe some damage to the foundation of the home as a result of flooding. So making sure there's a pot of money available to New Yorkers, and particularly homeowners or business owners have a pot of money to go into that they can do some of this work to upgrade the home so they can get their house electrified, making it healthier, making it more cost efficient, and overall more comfortable to live in. Then the last two things I'll mention is we absolutely want to see more money going to Nitra housing. We need to make sure that we are doing capital projects in NYCHA and are upgrading folks'living spaces in NYCHA. So we need about $10 billion for that. And then we also need a couple of hundred million for lie heap, which is, again, having to do with energy bills and affordability. So all that I mentioned really have to do with making sure folks are not paying for fossil fuel infrastructure, are electrifying and are doing it affordably.
[00:23:57] Speaker A: It's helpful to have some of that context. I think maybe we can direct that same question basically back at the city level. And again, there's probably lots of differences. So, Lonnie, please point out those major differences for us. And how does what happens at the city level influence and shape our work here at weact? How much of it is it responding to things, and how much of is it anticipating things and addressing them?
[00:24:22] Speaker B: Yeah, like I mentioned earlier, the biggest difference, obviously, between the state and the city, especially when it comes to the budget process, is that we're not fighting for legislation necessarily at the city level while we're doing the budget process. But that brings up an interesting conundrum, right? That means that we can pass amazing bills and laws and things that we want, but we've got to find a way to pay for those things. And if we don't have a way to pay for them, then all of that work, that hard work we did to pass those laws to help protect New Yorkers, to make New Yorkers healthy, et cetera, kind of become pointless, right? They become useless if we don't have the money to do it, or if the city's not putting the money to do it, or if the city's not getting money from the state or the federal government to implement those laws or do that work. And so a lot of times we are aligning a lot of the things that we have worked on legislatively or that we think that we have supported or want to continue to support with the need for some type of money or funding to do that work. And that's kind of where we are at the city level. We kind of take that into consideration of, like, what are we actually advocating for? And is there money that needs to match in order to do that work in the implementation process? Usually. So right now, just quickly, at the city level, we have some high level priorities. Because when it comes to the campaigning and the writing testimonies and getting people out there to show what's important to us, we can't advocate for every single thing that we're actually working on. That will be difficult. I mean, behind the scenes, there are a lot of things that I am writing testimony about or I'm talking to city council members about that are important to us that maybe not, you might not see as public facing just because kind of do some behind the scene magic to try to help get those.
[00:26:04] Speaker A: Do a lot of things at once. Essentially.
[00:26:06] Speaker B: A lot of things at once. But some of the things that are public facing are really important that a lot of New Yorkers are really passionate and concerned about right now. One is the 1% for parks.
Parks are severely underfunded in New York City, and Mayor Adams ran on a platform of actually of funding the city's parks permanently at 1% of the budget, which is very low compared to the other places across the world for how much they put into their park system.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: Really?
[00:26:34] Speaker B: Yeah, it's actually low. We're actually behind. So we are not even at that 1% of our budget. Remember, we're only asking 1% of $100 billion.
That's one big thing that we're really going to be pushing for is to get that 1%. And also to restore a lot of funding that has been cut over the past couple of years through the Adams administration, there were another strong cuts to community composting. So a lot of folks lost their jobs, unfortunately, over the holiday season because we're no longer funding the community composting program. This is your drop off sites that you go to drop off your food scraps so that they can make composting for soil enrichment.
[00:27:18] Speaker A: Like the grownyC.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Exactly. Thankfully, GrownyC did get some outside private funding to keep some of their basic operations going, but it's not enough to sustain their operations. And the city is the one who should be funding these programs. So it's a really important program that's important to us as we act in what we do in our environmental justice work. And so we're going to be fighting to restore that funding for that program. And then another thing, again, talking about those when we pass great laws, but we need to have money for them, is funding for, again, moving off of fossil fuels on our buildings. We have the equitable implementation of local on id seven, which I know I'm sure some of you heard multiple times. But basically, it's a landmark climate law that New York City passed to basically reduce building pollution throughout the city. And so there is a lot of mandates that have come out and a lot of regulations that have come around in order to do this work. But we do know that, unfortunately, there are some buildings and building owners that have some financial hardship, and they won't be able to really meet the goals, even though they really want to meet those emission limits and goals. And so they need help. And we need to make sure that the city is helping those individuals, whether it be private building owners, but also the city's buildings. We need to make sure that we're decarbonizing our schools, some of our larger polluters as far as city owned buildings are concerned, and doing all that we can to put money towards that work. And then the last thing that we're really going to be focusing on is actually funding environmental justice programs. Right. We have a whole office called the mayor's office of Climate and Environmental justice, and they do have some mandates to explore environmental justice throughout the city. And there's going to be a report coming out soon about that, first ever report for that. And there needs to be money for outreach. This program needs money, and we need to continue to fund the fund at office to make sure that they can do the work that they're supposed to do.
[00:29:26] Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, thank you for that, Lonnie. And thank you both for this overview of how this whole budget process works. I feel like I learned a lot about what's going on right now at both the city and the state level, and maybe some things I should be paying attention to. But thank you both.
[00:29:40] Speaker C: Yeah, I'll say that even though the state budget process is definitely not as transparent or bottom up as the city budget process is, it doesn't mean that your voice can't be heard.
As I stated earlier, we do advocate for legislation alongside straight spending priorities in the state budget. So that means that we are often having advocacy days, lobby days that you, as a general public member can come with us to attend to. And it makes a huge difference because your state representatives are your representatives, you are their constituents, and they really want to hear directly from you. So that makes a huge impact. And you can feel free to join us on lobby days that you see coming up in our newsletter or you see coming that we are advertising to you via email. One lobby day, I'll mention in particular is our general priorities for the Just Screen Partnership, which is a coalition of 50 plus organizations focused on getting toxins out of our everyday products alongside a whole host of other issues. But we definitely want to make sure, again, you are healthy and you're putting healthy things for your body, in your products, in your hair, on your makeup, that they all should be nontoxic. So if you care about the issue, join us. On February 27, we'll be in Albany. And if you are nervous about going to Albany, if you don't know what to expect about a lobby day like food and transportation, all that good stuff, I've actually have a video out and it's probably going to be linked in this podcast somewhere, so feel free to click on that. It's just a minute, 30 seconds about what a lobby day in Albany looks like. And I really look forward to meeting you if you are listening to this, and we can chat it up in Albany.
[00:31:38] Speaker A: Thank you, Lonnie. Any last call to action?
[00:31:41] Speaker B: Yeah, at the city level, we're going to have some stuff coming up. We're planning all of that now. Again, like I said, at the city level, there's a lot of testimony. There are rallies, there will be moments for people to go and voice their concerns and what they want to see in the budget. And you can again look out for the newsletter, our social media. Also, I encourage everyone to join a working group here at Weact. We'll give a lot of information that way, too, as you can get involved as well, whether it be through the climate justice working group, Nitro working group, healthy homes working group are probably, I think, the three major ones that are going to be working on anything that is budget related coming up in this term.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for listening. If you like this episode, if you liked learning about the budget and money and all that, make sure to rate and review the show wherever you listen to podcasts, wherever you're listening on right now. If you have thoughts about the show, we encourage you to reach out and share whatever you'd like to tell us at
[email protected]. Shoot us an email.
[00:32:36] Speaker B: And you can also check out weact on Facebook. That's at weactfordJ. That's W-E-A-C-T-F-O-R-E-J. We're also on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube at weactfordj. That's W-E-A-C-T number four, eJ. And check out our
[email protected], for more information about environmental justice. Yes.
[00:32:57] Speaker A: And until next time, show me the money.
[00:33:02] Speaker B: Okay, sure. Okay. Leave it that in.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: Great.
[00:33:07] Speaker B: Leave it in.
