THE ADVOCATE May 24,
4
2012
MINIMUM WAGE HIKE PASSES ASSEMBLY, STRUGGLES IN SENATE
By Amanda Verrette Via Legislative Gazette Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is a step closer to accomplishing his goal of raising the minimum wage this session. Assembly Labor Committee Chairman Keith Wright's bill to increase the state's minimum wage and index it to inflation passed the Assembly May 15. "This well-deserved increase will help hardworking men and women adequately provide for their families in the face of today's economic challenges," said Silver,
D-Manhattan. "The time for action is long overdue." If enacted, the legislation would raise the state's minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $8.50 in 2013 and would begin indexation in 2014. Wages for food service workers receiving tips would be set at $5.86 and also indexed to inflation according to the Consumer Price Index each year. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, at podium, several Assembly legislators including Keith Wright, Karim Camara, Francisco Moya, Ellen Jaffee and Helene Wein-
stein, Girl Scout Hanna Buckler and advocates stressed the importance of a bill to raise in the minimum wage in New York state. The legislation passed the Assembly but is meeting resistance from the Senate. Photo by Brandon B. Quinn. "Raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation is a matter of economic fairness," said Wright, D-Harlem. "Our plan progressively rewards the hardworking men and women who are struggling to make ends meet by providing them with a much- needed economic boost."
RE-DISTRICTING CONT. FROM PAGE 1 ther north, since redrawing lines in and around Ramapo would have a domino effect Ramapo Town Councilman Yitzy Ulman told the Advocate that this redistricting plan works out terribly for the town of Ramapo and their diverse needs as a community. “It is unconstitutional, says Ulman. “I believe Ramapo with almost 130,000 residents needs to be representing one district.” Part of Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt's district is involved in a new court fight over the division of the Town of Ramapo and its large Chasidic population in the recent reshaping of New York's 150 Assembly districts. Rabbitt, whose district is mostly in Orange County but has a piece of Ramapo, is not part of the lawsuit. But she says she agrees with Ramapo Councilman Yitzchok Ullman that Ramapo should occupy a single Assembly district. "I just think it should be one member who represents Ramapo," said Rabbitt, R-Greenwood Lake. Ramapo's population of nearly 127,000 makes it ripe for its own Assembly district, each of which must have about 129,000 residents. Indeed, the reform group Common Cause put all of Ramapo in one Assembly district last year when it proposed political maps based on nonpartisan principles. Ramapo is the only New York town with fewer people than an Assembly
district but multiple Assembly seats. The state Constitution lets lawmakers divide towns only if their population is more than 1.5 times that of an Assembly district — a criterion met only on Long Island. The trial over the various redistricting complaints will still move ahead, but won’t be completed by the 2012 elections. The decision not to grant a preliminary injunction was a win for Senate Republicans, who had drawn the Senate map that had been the target of criticism from good-government advocates. It’s a blow to Senate Democrats, who had lost a state-level challenge on the addition of a 63rd Senate district and were hoping that the three-judge panel would step in on the separate challenge. I am extremely pleased with this decision, and it ensures the state can administer an orderly and fair election this fall,” Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, said in a statement. The panel of judges did toss a complaint from a Ramapo town councilman who had claimed that the new state Assembly districts unfairly marginalized the Senate Republicans and Assembly Democrats jointly filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, which was granted in federal court.
תשע״ב
COUNTY BUDGET cial rate increase. It wasn’t until months later, however, that Carlucci came out as opposed to the increase. The county legislators who had passed the plan said it was necessary to save Summit Park Hospital, which employs several hundred county workers. The legislature proposed floating an $80 or so million bond – whatever the exact amount of the deficit was ruled to be – which would be paid back over 10 years by the sales tax. Carlucci noted that in spite of the sales tax hike, the county still could not even guarantee that it would remedy the situation at Summit Park Hospital in Pomona. The hospital draws approximately $10 million in red ink out of the county budget annually, according to recent analyses. “The Summit Park nursing home has been losing tens of millions of dollars and continues draining money out of the county budget,” Carlucci said. “A financial review from an outside agency has been ongoing and its results have still not been made public. The county has not been able to assure my colleagues and I that increasing the sales tax would in any way ensure that the nursing home would stay open, as well as guarantee both jobs and residents would be protected.” Rockland County legislators will get more information about the new Summit Park Hospital and Nursing Care Center
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
study when they convene Wednesday. Ron Levine, spokesman for County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef said it’s now time to look at Plan B. (According to his discussion with the Rockland County Times) He would not be specific but said that obviously entails reduction in staff and reduction of programs and services. Prior to the legislature’s proposal for increased taxes, Vanderhoef had presented an austerity budget that called for the immediate sale of Summit Park as well as massive cuts in many other programs. Carlucci also had noted in recent statements to the media that there was an unwillingness in the GOP-led Senate to pass a sales tax increase for Rockland. That unwillingness may have also stretched up to the governor’s mansion, some have hinted. In the Assembly, Ellen Jaffee had submitted a bill requesting the tax increase, but her fellow Democrat Kenneth Zebrowski did not co-sponsor it.
list c a m pPhysical er • Sumomnary
• Stati suit ing • Bath els w o T • t eball ba • Bas
דער אדוואקאט במ דבר
r bottle • Wate era • Cam r u id S • screen • Sun Repellant ct • Inse
Dr. Bekritsky, Dr. Bloom, and Dr. Gluck, suggest you schedule your Summer Physicals early.
Call 352-6800 today! the Monsey Family Medical Center wishes all our patients and the community a healthy and safe summer.