AM Fahy Statement on Assembly One House Budget Proposal
ALBANY, NY (Mar. 15) — Today, Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D — Albany), Chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, applauded the Assembly’s one house budget proposal for making bold investments in the future of New York’s postsecondary education system:
“The Assembly’s one house budget proposal makes bold and overdue investments in the future of our higher education system in a welcomed shift from previous spending plans. As the new Chair of the Higher Education Committee, I am particularly grateful to Speaker Carl Heastie for his responsiveness on this budget proposal, which promises to be one of the most far-reaching and transformative for the higher education system in recent memory.
An increase of more than $275M in state operating aid for SUNY and $246M for CUNY will ensure that our nation’s largest public higher education system remains strongly competitive and affordable. An expanded $700M Endowment Matching Fund accessible for SUNY and $470M for CUNY will help direct even more world-class research, private and public, and open a new source of funding that our institutions are able to tap into. Reducing campus hunger, alleviating fees paid by graduate students, and providing more funding for students with disabilities across New York will ensure that we are providing a world-class experience from cradle to career and meet student needs with targeted funding.
Critically, an increase in Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) income eligibility limits, changes for independent students, and a 4% increase in community colleges’ base amount funding for state community college aid will allow a new generation of New Yorkers and even more store to achieve their dreams of securing a higher education. Further, the Assembly provides for an additional $400M in capital project funds for SUNY and additional $725M for CUNY over the Governor’s proposal for critical facility infrastructure, labs, and more, ensuring SUNY and CUNY campuses are world class, state-of-the-art facilities.
Separately, I am thrilled to see inclusion of a $500,000 traffic study to re-envision the state’s Harriman Campus’ transportation network and reintegrate it into the City of Albany as part of the planned $1.7B upgrade and consolidation of the Wadsworth Public Health Labs there. Finally, the one house budget proposal includes legislation I sponsor (A.2533 of 2022), changes that enhance New York’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) will enable undocumented immigrants who pay taxes and file with an individual tax identification number (ITIN) to receive the EITC, which is among the strongest and most effective evidence-based anti-poverty programs, and extend supplemental payments for one additional year.”
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