NY passes state budget

New York lawmakers have agreed to a budget for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The $153 billion spending plan will increase education aid by $1.1 billion – a 4.4 percent increase to public school districts – up the tax rate on millionaires, begin a middle class tax cut, and provide free college tuition at SUNY schools for students of families that make less than $145,000 per year. Tuition will go up for students who don’t qualify for the Excelsior Scholarship program. In other initiatives, the budget includes comprehensive workers compensation reform, forces counties to come up with and vote on a shared services plan, and raises the criminal age of responsibility to 18 – meaning 16 and 17-year-old crime suspects will no longer be treated as adults. It also includes $200 million to combat the heroin and opioid epidemic through treatment and prevention services.