Less than six months in office, Gov. Cuomo has driven a trifecta of historic policy changes through the Legislature — and singlehandedly resurrected the concept of an agenda-setting chief executive in Albany.
Elected leaders often describe their actions as historic, of course. Yet the nature of democratic governance is to move in marginal steps. Rare is the policy action that, years or even decades later, will be recalled as having changed government or society fundamentally.
Most obviously historic among the Cuomo trifecta is the gay-marriage law enacted late Friday night. New York becomes the first major state to approve same-sex marriage through vote of the people’s elected representatives. Judicially mandated laws in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa redefined marriage in those jurisdictions but did little to make politicians elsewhere see electoral value in the idea. Cuomo won his victory through the give and take of legislation, which resulted in some balancing of gay individuals’ rights with traditional moral understandings. President Obama and lawmakers in other states are taking note.
It’s easy to forget what a heavy political lift this was, even in New York. When the bill came to the floor in the liberal, Democratic-controlled state Assembly, the margin was only four votes beyond the minimum 76 of 150 required for approval. Passage by the Republican-dominated Senate would have been inconceivable absent a push from a strong, determined governor.
It may be decades before the laws of the land allow gay marriage throughout America. When this issue arises in other state capitols, Albany’s action in June 2011 will shape decisions on our most fundamental social institution.
Besides writing the rules for our relationships, governments have two big jobs: raising resources and allocating them among competing services. Cuomo’s first legislative session will leave a major imprint on state and local tax and spending policies for years to come.
The budget he persuaded the Legislature to enact in late March eliminates a big budget gap this year and goes a long way toward structural balance in coming years. No governor since Hugh Carey has been able to do that. Cuomo even outdid Carey, by balancing the financial plan with no significant tax increases. Changes in permanent law regarding education and Medicaid funding will limit future budget gaps — something earlier governors have tried to achieve, without success.
Perhaps the most broadly important legacy of Cuomo’s first six months is a cap on local property taxes that ranks as among the most stringent in the nation. School and municipal taxes have risen over time by an average of 5 percent or so annually. After adjustments for pension costs and new taxable development, the Cuomo cap will likely reduce such growth by 1 to 1.5 percentage points a year.
That effect, seemingly slight, will become especially clear over the next five to 10 years as the magic of compounding (reversed, in this case) takes effect. For taxpayers, the cap will provide noticeable relief. The cap will mean tighter budgets and perhaps reduced services for both public schools and municipalities, but odds are future politicians won’t want to risk taxpayer wrath by eliminating or eviscerating it.
Bottom line: a gradual but definite reversal of a political culture in which voters have long accepted that they pay for the nation’s costliest public services.
Cuomo now stands with Carey and Nelson Rockefeller among modern New York governors who made dramatic impacts on fiscal and social policies. Like them, he recognized before others did that a new era had arrived and was ready to lead the state’s response. Other politicians of both parties and much of the permanent governing class in Albany accept this — at least for now. The largest state-employee union’s decision to accept most of the governor’s terms in a new contract is strong evidence of a changing political culture.
Some New Yorkers had reached the point of wondering whether the term “chief executive” could really apply in Albany anymore. The 56th governor lays that concern to rest. Politics being what it is, speculation about a national future has already begun. But the more immediate question is: What comes next on this powerful governor’s agenda for New York?
Robert B. Ward is deputy director of SUNY-Albany’s Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government.