Looks like it’s time for Albany’s annual spending festival — i.e., when lawmakers sneak through pricey bills to score points with special-interest groups before wrapping up their legislative session.
This year’s close of business is set for next Thursday. Like every year, there’s no shortage of legislative goodies meant to pay off unions and other friendly helpers.
In The Post this week, Pat Bailey noted a few of the bills.
One would give government workers more paid time off for cancer screenings, on top of the paid time they already get for that — plus paid sick time, vacations and personal days. Another would boost disability pensions for cops.
There’s also the bill Empire Center President E.J. McMahon warns would make it nearly impossible to rein in health-care costs for public-sector retirees (see the preceding page). These measures alone could cost taxpayers millions far into the future.
Yet another 18 bills — pension sweeteners, health-care boosts, expanded unemployment benefits — would squeeze taxpayers to the tune of $600 million a year, according to Gov. Cuomo’s budget folks. We’re talking real money here.
The end-of-session mischief doesn’t stop there. There’s also the push to jack up the minimum wage, which would make it more expensive for businesses to hire workers.
And “campaign-finance reform,” which would force taxpayers to pick up much of the tab for political campaigns, entrench incumbents and open the door to a whole new pot of money for politicians to steal.
Cuomo sold his support for these last two measures to the Working Families Party in exchange for its backing in his re-election bid. Let’s hope he at least keeps his vow to veto the other bills, should they reach his desk.
Pity that just once Albany couldn’t use this time to sneak through some end-of-session tax or spending cuts. Even New York pols might find this attractive if they would only think of it, too, as pandering — to the people they are sworn to serve.