In light of recent votes in favor of the same budget by the majority of the members of three out of the four legislative conferences in Albany -- the Senate GOP, Senate Democrats and Assembly Republicans -- Assemblyman Steve Labriola called on his Democrat colleagues in the state assembly to "quit playing politics and get on with final passage of the budget."

Labriola explained that on Tuesday, June 8, the Assembly Democrats pushed through their latest budget proposal, similar to the senate's but minus all the parts the Democrats consider "controversial." During that process, Assembly Republicans introduced a series of amendments to the Democrats' budget bills, in an attempt to reinstate the missing portions of the senate's budget proposals. Although those amendments were defeated on the floor of the assembly, during the process majorities of three of the four legislative conferences in Albany voted in favor of the same budget proposal, leaving the Assembly Democrats as the last stumbling block to a state budget.

"I applaud the bipartisan nature of the budget process in the senate and the senate Democrats' near unanimous approval of their house's budget," said Labriola. "I can only hope that my Democrat friends in the assembly will also come to their senses soon and approve this responsible budget proposal."

Labriola explained that the senate version enacts new tax cuts, protects the STAR school tax relief initiative and includes increased funding for health care and education.

In contrast to the senate's budget, according to Labriola, the Assembly Democrats' piecemeal approach omitted $40 million for economic development funding supported by Governor Pataki and neglected to provide $18.6 million for STAR program support at the local level.

"I cannot agree with a piecemeal approach that advances only supposedly non-controversial issues and leaves everything else up in the air," said Labriola. "We are over two months past the budget deadline and this is the best the Assembly Democrats can come up with? It's long past time to get serious about budget negotiations, and this latest stunt doesn't cut it."