A quick recap of this last day of business in Albany.. More will be coming as I go through all the articles in my mail box.

WXXI: 2006 Session Wraps Up With Property Tax Rebate Agreement (2006-06-23)
ALBANY, NEW YORK (2006-06-23) Governor Pataki and the legislative leaders announced agreements on a property tax rebate and other issues, on the last day that legislators were supposed to formally meet in the 2006 session.

Governor George Pataki says he’s very pleased with the way his last legislative session in office is turning out.

“We can look back on this session and say we had some excellent, excellent accomplishments,” Pataki said. “I probably couldn’t have said that last week.”

For months, Pataki and the legislature had been feuding over the budget and criminal justice issues. But in the final days of the session the governor won agreements on greatly expanding the state’s DNA database, ending the statute of limitations for rape crimes, and stiffening penalties for drunk driving.

In the final hours of negotiations, Pataki agreed to a property tax rebate sought by Senate Republicans. The governor dropped his demand that any tax breaks be tied to a cap on school district spending.

The rebates, which will range from $200 to $800, are scheduled to come this fall, just a few weeks before elections. Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno says the rebates and some other tax cuts will be financed through the budget surplus, which he says will be given back to the people of the state.

“I think it’s the right thing to do, the fair and equitable thing to do ,” Bruno said.

The Governor also gave in on legislative demands to restore nearly half a billion dollars to Medicaid spending for hospitals and nursing homes, but he says there’s also agreement on some Medicaid reforms, including a permanent limit to Medicaid reimbursement increases, better Medicaid fraud prevention, and a tax on nursing homes.

The one major item that the Governor did not immediately win agreement on was the expansion of Charter Schools in the state, from the current limit of 100 to 250 schools. The Governor says he’ll continue to push for the expansion.

The State School Boards Association says Pataki and the legislature, in their vast agreement on a number of issues, are sending a mixed message on property taxes. The School Board’s Dave Ernst says that while it’s good that homeowners will be getting a rebate check, the governor and legislature are taking a number of actions that will ensure property tax increases in the future. He says the Charter School proposal would increase taxes, because charter schools in New York have to be financed by the local public school district.

Ernst says Pataki and the legislature have also made a number of “outrageous” changes to union bargaining rules that will make it harder for school boards to win concessions in contracts. One provision awards automatic pay raises to teachers if an independent board determines that the school is dragging its feet in contract talks.

An early retirement incentive package also under consideration could cost schools, and taxpayers, money, says Ernst, who says 70 to 80% of school budgets are now comprised of salaries and benefits for workers.

As the session drew to a close, some other bills remained unresolved, including Timothy’s Law, which would provide mental health insurance coverage on an equal footing with insurance for physical ailments. And lawmakers failed to agree on a measure to civilly confine some sex offenders in mental institutions after serving their prison terms.