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The legislature controlled by the New York Democrats on Sunday adopted a blanket ban on single-use plastic bags and planned to allow tolls to travel to Manhattan's busiest neighborhoods from 2021 as part of a A $ 175.5 billion budget deal with Governor Andrew Cuomo. .
The Assembly and the Senate adopted Sunday afternoon the law on the prohibition of plastic bags to start a session that could last all day and could begin early Monday, while the plan of expenditure for the fiscal year 2019-2020 needs to be put in place.
Other agreements in the budget include the closure of three state prisons yet to be determined, the elimination of the pecuniary bond for arrests for crime and non-violent violence, a permanent annual ceiling of 2% local property taxes and another billion dollars for public education.
"This budget is probably the strongest progressive statement we've made," Cuomo told reporters as lawmakers worked for hours of debate and vote on the budget. "If you have big problems, it requires great solutions."
In an agreement reached early last week but that was not officially announced until Sunday, most single-use plastic bags provided by supermarkets and other stores will be banned throughout the state as of March 1, 2020. The different counties will be able to charge 5 cents for paper bags. with 2 cents go to local governments and 3 cents to the state's environmental protection fund.
New York would be only the third state to be banned. The ban in California is in effect since 2016. All counties in Hawaii prohibit plastic bags, but this is not a state-imposed ban.
"The convenience of plastic bags just is not worth the environmental impact," said Carl Heastie, D-Yonkers. "By reducing the use of our state, we will see less waste in our communities and less plastic pollution in our waterways."
The main issues that have not been included in the spending plan include the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes. Cuomo and lawmakers said the issue was too complex to be introduced in the budget. Instead, it could be dealt with in separate legislation developed during the last three months of the legislative session, scheduled for the end of June 19.
Manhattan's toll plan, called Congestion Pricing, will be the first of its kind in the country. Leaders said a review committee would determine the amount of toll, exemptions and credits for drivers traveling to the central district business district. The billions of dollars that tolls are expected to increase will be used to repair New York City's troubled public transit system, although part of the revenue will go to Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North.
An earlier estimate estimated the toll for personal vehicles at nearly $ 12. Cuomo added that without tolls, metros could continue to degrade or metro fares and city buses should increase by 30%.
"It was the choice," he said about the balance sheet. "You need a viable public transit system."
The state budget will also include two other revenue streams dedicated to subways: a "city tax" on Manhattan homes that sell for $ 25 million or more, and an Internet sales tax levied on retailers who sell goods online.
Sources of funding for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority include a reorganization plan and other reforms requested by Cuomo for the agency that manages the city's buses, subways and suburban trains.
In addition to the removal of the pecuniary bond for certain charges, other criminal justice reforms include requiring prosecutors and defense counsel to share all the information about the case well before the trials and at the same time. speed up the time needed for a case to be judged.
The budget agreement also provides for the creation of a state commission to establish a system of public funding for the offices of legislative bodies and the state as a whole. Taxpayer funds could reach $ 100 million a year.
Mr. Cuomo and the legislative leaders also approved a bill that would give New York voters three hours of paid time to vote on polling day and extend voting hours in the primary elections from 6 am to 6 pm noon to correspond to the general election hours.
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