Outreach & Engagement

Legislative Update March 30, 2008

March 30, 2008

Budget Update

The Legislature has been working all weekend with staffs negotiating and the Budget Sub Committees meeting.  The Higher Education Sub Committee, chaired by Senator LaValle and Assembly Person Glick, could not come to an agreement on the allocation of the $90 million given to their sub committee.

As of late yesterday, they seemed to have generally agreed to some basic parameters as follows (remember, this is all fluid, nothing is in writing and it is subject to change):

The above totals approximately $46 million and leaves only $44 million on the table for state-operating aid for SUNY and CUNY four-year campuses.

As you know, these negotiations started from a reduction point of 5.85% in state operating dollars - the 2.5% reduction in the Executive Budget plus the additional 3.35% added in during the leaders negotiations with Governor Paterson.  The 5.85% cut totals $83 million for SUNY and $37 million for CUNY.  Given that there is only $44 million on the table to fill the $120 million combined reduction, we are not in good shape going into the final innings of the budget game.

Given an estimated split of the $44 million, SUNY and CUNY campuses are still looking at an approximate 4% year-to-year reduction in state-operating dollars at the end of negotiations.

The Central Conference Committee is scheduled to meet today at 3:00pm and might begin accepting reports from the sub-committees.  The Higher Education Sub Committee is expected to report no agreement and push the entire table decision to the leadership of the Central Conference Committee.

We will keep you advised as negotiations unfold.  Interim Chancellor Clark will hold a conference call when more final details are known.