After months of drafting and negotiations, New York’s $175 billion state budget has finally arrived and it includes funding for public transportation, new election laws, innovative changes toward criminal justice reform and enforcing congestion pricing in the New York City.
Today, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office held a briefing to reiterate new legislation that were included in the state’s budget. An emphasis on improving the city’s democracy was addressed, as employers will now have to give employees a three hour mandatory paid time off in order to vote.
Congestion Pricing
Perhaps the biggest takeaway was the congestion pricing that will finally hit the streets of Manhattan by 2021. Since the early 20th century, there have been proposals for congestion pricing or at least a limit for vehicles traveling into or within the central business district of Manhattan. The congestion pricing will charge drivers an approximate fee of $11 for whoever enters the central business district, which starts at lower Manhattan and runs until 60th street.
As a result, traffic jams in Manhattan will be reduced and the money generated from driver fees, which the city estimates to be $15 billion will go towards funding to fix the crippled Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) system.
New York will follow in the footsteps of Singapore, Stockholm and London as the other three major cities in the world with congestion pricing in their central districts.
Criminal Justice Reform
One of the major challenges facing lawmakers is the battle against criminal justice reform and today Counsel to the Governor, Alphonso David spoke on it, “We passed historic reforms to our criminal justice system. Because of those reforms, 90% of the people who are charged with offenses will remain out of jail. We effectively ended cash bail for all misdemeanors and non-violent felonies,” said David.
According to David, the end of cash bail for misdemeanor and non-violent felonies will go into effect on January 2020.
In addition to the new changes to the criminal justice system the city also passed the speedy trail reform, which will reduce the length of pre-trail detention. “We’ve seen over the past several decades that individuals are staying incarcerated and waiting to see judges for several years. We have now implemented reforms to prevent that from happening,” David said.
Ban on Plastic Bans
New York will follow in the footsteps of California and propose a ban on single-use plastic bags. A ban that was written off by Gov. Cuomo and legislators back in 2017 will come into fruition March 2020. The ban will forbid stores to provide customers with single-use plastic bags, which are non-biodegradable and have been blamed for everything from causing wildlife deaths to preventing recycling efforts.
Keeping unnecessary plastic use out of the city has been a point of emphasis for council members over the past couple of years. Last year we saw lawmakers introduce a bill that would place a ban on plastic straws throughout the city, which companies such as Starbucks have backed up and will stop using plastic straws by 2020.
