For Immediate Release: March 23, 2010
New York Has a Choice Other Than Cuts That Harm People of Color
New “Race Matters” Report Says Budget Increases Racial and Ethic Disparities
Groups Call for Revenue Alternatives to Stop Over $2.5 Billion in Cuts
Senate Budget Also Increases Racial and Ethnic Disparities
Albany, NY – Proposed budget cuts totalling over $2.5 billion will increase racial and ethnic inequalities in New York, according to a new report released today by organizations from across the state. The report found that the Executive Budget exacerbates disparities through punishing cuts to critical state programs in education, higher education, health care, human services and criminal justice. The groups also said yesterday’s Senate budget resolution compounded the wrong choices in the Executive Budget, particularly with its massive cuts to education.
The groups have identified budget choices that year after year move communities of color backwards, and are pressing for revenue options that will reverse this pattern. They are emphasizing taxing Wall Street to benefit Main Street.
“Our report makes clear that state leaders have a choice other than cutting spending for education, health care, higher education and human services that communities of color depend on, often for their very survival,” said Lea Webb of Citizen Action of New York. “Communities of color have already sacrificed enough in this tough economy. Yesterday’s Senate resolution made the wrong choice by going along with the proposed cuts in the Executive Budget. We call upon the legislature to make better choices — to raise enough revenue to restore the cuts to programs that our communities need.”
The Policy and Education Fund of New York report, “Race Matters: Impact of the 2010-11 Executive Budget Proposal,” said that revenue measures and other steps must be taken to diminish the negative impact on communities of color statewide and in upstate cities in particular. The report is available at: http://ppefny.org/2010/03/race-matters-impact-of-the-2010-11-executive-budget-proposal/763.
“Our report found that in several critical areas, including education, higher education, health care and human services, the spending cuts and deferred spending in the budget would make racial and ethnic disparities worse,” said Karen Scharff, Citizen Action Executive Director. “In some areas, like the proposals to regulate health insurance rates and to close prisons and juvenile facilities, the Executive Budget would have a positive impact on racial equity. However, on balance, the budget heavily relies on spending reductions to close the state deficit. The budget makes the wrong choices for communities of color and for our state as a whole.”
“This report highlights that while the nation and state are led by accomplished people of color, the overall condition of our communities remains extraordinarily difficult and many find themselves in crisis,” said Anne Pope, Director of the Northeastern Region of the New York State Conference of the NAACP. “For example, by the end of the first half of 2009, the ‘real’ unemployment rate for Black men rose to a shocking 27.2%. In this economic climate, now is the worst time to cut programs like jobs, social services, civil legal services and health care that all too many of our communities need for their survival.”
Race Matters examines the impact of the budget on people of color and immigrants. The report finds
that in the majority of areas examined, the spending plans would increase racial and ethnic inequality:
- Education – The $1.4 billion school aid cut – the largest in state history – disproportionately harms students of color and those with limited English proficiency – undermining the goals of the landmark 2007 law passed in response to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) decision.
- Higher Education – The significant cuts to the City University of New York (CUNY) and the State University of New York (SUNY) and a new misdirected tuition policy are threatening to restrict access to public higher education.
- Health Care – Three quarters of a billion in health care cuts – to hospitals (including “charity care”), nursing homes, home care and clinics – do not protect the health care safety net.
- Human services – The proposed cuts to legal services, nutrition advocacy, subsidized job homelessness and programs for immigrants seem particularly unwise given the Great Recession.
The report also finds that the budget plan is heavily tilted towards spending reductions. It recommends additional revenue measures to prevent cuts to necessary social programs, including:
- reducing the current rebate provided to stock brokers of the stock transfer tax, and
- enacting a one-time tax on bankers’ bonuses.
However, in some areas, the Executive Budget would have a positive impact on racial equity, according to the report. In health care, for example, steps are taken to simplify enrollment in public insurance programs, and a proposal to reinstitute the right of the State Insurance Department to approve health insurance premium rate increases will increase health care affordability. (However, the Senate rejected this proposal in their budget resolution.) In criminal justice, the proposals to close some prisons and underutilized juvenile justice facilities are important steps to address the negative impact on people of color, but this is undermined by the cuts to alternatives-to-detention programs.
The report also recommends that in the medium and long-term, state policymakers consider the impact on racial equity as a part of the process of arriving at a final state budget. The over $2.5 billion in cuts detailed in the report could easily be restored if a portion of the over $15 billion in revenue measures in the report were passed.
“The proposed $1.4 billion in cuts in the Executive Budget that were incorporated into the Senate Majority resolution passed yesterday represent a dramatic and inequitable about face regarding New York’s commitment to provide every child with a sound, basic education,” said Billy Easton, Executive Director of the Alliance for Quality Education. “It’s critical that our state leaders change course to avoid the elimination of 15,000 teachers’ jobs. If these cuts go forward they will disproportionately hurt the neediest students. We need to be getting all of today’s students ready to succeed in college and in careers, these cuts will mean some are needlessly left behind.”
“Adequate funding for the State University of New York is crucial to ensuring access to higher education for students from low and moderate income families, many of whom are disproportionately students of color,” said United University Professions (UUP) President Phillip H. Smith. “The proposals to cut
$152 million from SUNY and to allow campuses to set their own tuition rates would create serious obstacles to those students who look to SUNY for an affordable college education and their opportunity for a bright future. We urge the Legislature to reject SUNY budget cuts and any differential tuition rates.” UUP is the largest higher education local affiliated with NYSUT.
“Our community members — first-generation Asian American immigrants who come to New York City as an immigrant gateway — have tremendous needs for services – everything from getting food stamps, to learning English, to getting legal help, said Wayne Ho, Executive Director of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families. “Cuts to funding for community based organizations put not only our organizations’ programs in peril, they also put our vulnerable community members at serious risk. On behalf of these organizations, CACF calls upon both the State and City government to make sure that these basic services for our vulnerable, low-income immigrants are protected. Cutting vital services and generating revenue off the backs of hard-working, low-income Asian Pacific Americans will not protect vulnerable families during these hard times.”
“A strong safety net health care system is critical for the health of all New Yorkers, especially those who do not have insurance. Since noncitizen New Yorkers are disproportionately uninsured, they are disproportionately affected by cuts to charity care funding and weak accountability of that funding,” said Jenny Rejeske, Health Advocacy Coordinator of the New York Immigration Coalition. “Even though all hospitals are required by law to offer financial assistance to uninsured patients regardless of immigration status, our member groups continue to document serious problems of noncompliance on the ground. Until every single person in New York has health insurance, the charity care pool should remain intact and be allocated to hospitals based on their compliance with the law.”
Mia Bell, Community Voices Heard leader, mother and member of the Welfare and Workforce Campaign said: “Transitional jobs are a proven way to help low income people transition into work. In New York State last year, Community Voices Heard was able to fight for over 45 million dollars in stimulus money to be used to spread transitional jobs all across the state. Why is the Governor cutting these jobs that are especially important to communities of color where people have been unemployed for a long time like in my neighborhood in the Bronx?”
Citizen Action of New York is a membership organization that organizes for social, racial, economic and environmental justice, and has seven chapters or affiliates spread across New York State. The Public Policy and Education Fund is a research and education organization concerned with issues of importance to low and moderate income New Yorkers.
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