Senator Kristen Gonzalez Responds to Today’s One-House Vote in the State Senate

For Immediate Release:
March 16th, 2023
Press Contact: Dan Kaminsky, Director of Communications
dkaminsk@nysenate.gov

STATEMENT: Senator Kristen Gonzalez Responds to Today’s One-House Vote in the State Senate

(Albany, NY) State Senator Kristen Gonzalez (SD-59) issued the following statement today responding to the Senate’s one-house budget vote: 

Senator Gonzalez said, "Today’s vote on the Senate’s one-house budget represents the culmination of years of organizing and activism across the state. I came to Albany to fight alongside those organizers to improve material conditions for working-class New Yorkers; many provisions included in the Senate’s one-house budget do just that. 

Both the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA) and the core provisions of #GoodCause were included in the Senate’s one-house budget. The BPRA will have a significant impact on my district, which has had to deal with the disproportionate impact of fossil fuel infrastructure for generations. The provisions from Good Cause will prevent harm in working-class communities by protecting New Yorkers from unjust evictions and unreasonable rent increases.

With New York ranking as the state with the largest income gap between the working class and the rich, the Senate included a personal income tax on high-income earners and extended the corporate tax. The Senate also proposed freezing the fares for MTA users and piloting two free buses per borough, proposals that directly impact the wallets of my constituents. 

The Senate included other priorities from our communities as well, such as increasing pay for home healthcare workers, rejecting tuition hikes on CUNY and SUNY, and setting $250 million for the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP). If passed, these all would represent historic victories and make a tangible impact on working-class New Yorkers. 

We would not have gotten this far without the hard work and dedication of organizers on the front lines. Now we must continue to apply pressure as we enter final budget negotiations to make sure all of these bills make it into the final budget.
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