The legislative session this year ended a week late, but it ended in extraordinary fashion: A property-tax cap and legalizing same-sex marriage were adopted on the same day.
And that followed lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreeing earlier this month to sweeping reforms to the state’s ethics laws and the approval in March of the first on-time budget in six years — and the first in more than a decade to cut spending.
In his first six months in office, the Democratic governor scored victories on all his legislative priorities, a remarkable feat at a state Capitol legendary for its rigidity, political analysts said.
“The governor hit a home run in his first session,” said Steven Greenberg, a pollster for Siena College.
With his soaring popularity, Cuomo used a mix of hospitality, cajoling and a stern focus on his priorities to move a reluctant Legislature into adopting measures that had literally been collecting dust for decades.
A property-tax cap was first introduced in the mid-1990s, for example, and the state’s law on siting power plants expired eight years ago. The state University of New York had long sought the ability to have regularly scheduled tuition increases.
All were approved by the Legislature in the past week at Cuomo’s urging.
“He drove the agenda and pitched a shut out, item by item,” said Marist College pollster Lee Miringoff. “He stuck very close to his campaign message. He said what he was going to do, and people would be hard pressed to see where he came up short.”
After taking a tough fiscally conservative approach to the budget, Cuomo sought to win back progressive Democrats by expanding rent laws for New York City and its suburbs and pulling together enough votes to pass same-sex marriage in the Senate. After failing in 2009, the gay marriage bill passed the Senate on Friday night with 33 votes, one more than necessary.
“We really did deliver on the agenda, and I truly believe this state is on a different trajectory than it was six months ago,” Cuomo told reporters Friday night.
Cuomo’s work, however, is far from over. And some groups didn’t leave the Capitol on Friday as gleeful as Cuomo.
Schools and local governments warn of troubled times because of the property-tax cap, which will limit the growth in taxes to 2 percent a year or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. And while lawmakers and Cuomo agreed to some reforms to state-mandated programs pushed down to municipalities, most local officials said it didn’t go far enough.
“By enacting a tax cap without meaningful mandate relief, New York has missed an historic opportunity to provide real and sustainable property-tax relief,” said Peter Baynes, executive director of the state Conference of Mayors……
