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Friday, 09 November 2007 |
- CONGRESS OVERRIDES BUSH VETO ON WATER BILL!
- NYS LEADERS AGREE UPCOMING STATE BUDGET NEEDS CUTS
- SHARING LIVES CONFERENCE LEADS TO NEW IDEAS AND NEW DISCUSSIONS
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NYSACRA News & Views
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Issue No. 42-07
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November 9, 2007
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Open Your Eyes! Watch it Now!
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NYSACRA Calendar
Executive Positions
Action Center
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Greetings NYSACRA Members!
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· CONGRESS OVERRIDES BUSH VETO ON WATER BILL!
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President Bush suffered the first veto override of his seven-year-old presidency Thursday as the Senate overrode his veto of a $23 billion water resources bill despite his protest that it was filled with unnecessary projects. The bill funds hundreds of Army Corps of Engineers projects, such as dams, sewage plants and beach restorations, which are important to local communities and their representatives. It also includes money for the hurricane-hit Gulf Coast and for Florida Everglades restoration efforts. The House voted 361-54 to override the veto Tuesday. Both votes easily exceeded the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber to negate a presidential veto. |
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· NYS LEADERS AGREE UPCOMING STATE BUDGET NEEDS CUTS
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New York State leaders agreed yesterday that the days of burgeoning tax revenue from a booming Wall Street were over and that belt-tightening would be needed to balance next year's budget.
Democrats and Republicans said it was unlikely an extra $1 billion would materialize in the treasury as it has in past springs, allowing for differences to be resolved by hefty spending increases. Twenty percent of the state's tax collections come from financial services and real estate, which have slumped with the slowing U.S. economy, they said. The Governor, the Comptroller and both the State Senate and Assembly outlined their projections for 2008-09 in separate reports released this week.
These reports were mandated by the "quick start" budget process, part of the reforms to the budget- making process passed earlier this year. It requires forecasts to be issued by the Executive, Assembly and the Senate in early November, followed by a joint report to be issued by mid-November. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said, "The state's reliance on revenue from Wall Street and our continued dependence on debt and non-recurring revenue puts us in a precarious position." DiNapoli predicted that spending would total $128 billion next year on revenue of $122.5 billion. Last week, Spitzer's budget office pegged spending at $127.5 billion on revenue of $122.3 billion. See www.nysacra.org or the email version of News & Views for links to each of the reports. |
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Comtroller: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/reports/fiscal/quickstartreport110507.pdf (15p, PDF 70kb)
PR: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/nov07/110507.htm
Gov/DOB: http://www.budget.state.ny.us/pubs/enacted/0708MidYearUpdate.pdf (344 pages, PDF 2.2MB)
NYS Senate: http://www.senate.state.ny.us/SenateReports.nsf/Public_ViewReports?OpenForm (33p, PDF 1MB)
NYS Assembly: http://assembly.state.ny.us/comm/WAM/20071105 (44p, PDF 300kb)
PR: http://assembly.state.ny.us/Press/20071105/
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· SHARING LIVES CONFERENCE LEADS TO NEW IDEAS AND NEW DISCUSSIONS
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On Wednesday, NYSACRA sponsored an exciting one-day conference in Albany, funded by the NYS DDPC, that focused on the concept of "Life Sharing". We brought three organizations from other states that have been successful in using a "life sharing" concept for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities. While this approach to community living may be somewhat new to many of us in New York, NYSACRA wanted to provide a forum that would include stakeholders - providers, families, self advocates and OMRDD staff - to hear approaches from other states and to potentially open the door to another type of residential model in an evolved system of services.
The day led to great discussion on providing innovative life sharing services in a system that seems to be focusing more on corporate compliance, unfunded mandates and quality assurance. As a result of the event, we will be convening a workgroup from the stakeholder groups to further explore this option, and others while New York's provider community continues to provide person centered services in homes and communities of choice around New York. If you would like to participate in the workgroup, please contact Joe Macbeth by e-mail at
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