Politics

421-a renewal tops labor agenda during 2017 state legislative session

The biggest labor issue of 2017, arguably, is close to being done even before the legislative session starts.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a deal this month between the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and the Real Estate Board of New York to renew the controversial 421-a program, which provides tax incentives aimed at creating affordable housing. The program expired in January after stakeholders were unable to broker an agreement that included a prevailing wage requirement for construction workers.

The new agreement would require average wages of $60 an hour, plus benefits, for construction workers on projects in much of Manhattan that contain 300 or more rental units, and $45 an hour for similarly sized projects on the Brooklyn and Queens waterfront. It also extends the affordability requirements for an additional five years for 421-a projects, capping rent increases for 40 years. In return, tax exemptions would be in place for 35 years. 

The state Legislature must now approve the deal, which would pave the way for the release of $2 billion for affordable housing projects. Cuomo has urged the state Legislature to return to Albany before January to approve the deal, although it’s unclear if they will. 

“We want to look at it and hopefully we can get to that sooner rather than later. I don’t know how long it will take, whether we do it during a special session or whether we do it in January when we go up,” said Assemblyman Peter Abbate Jr., who chairs the Assembly Committee on Governmental Employees and also serves on the Assembly Labor Committee. “I don’t think anyone’s ready to put a shovel in the ground right away, so I’d rather read it before we do anything.” 

State Sen. Martin Golden, a Republican who has been serving as chairman of both the Science, Technology Incubation and Entrepreneurship Committee and the Civil Service and Pensions Committee, agreed that 421-a renewal is the biggest labor issue facing the state Legislature. 

“I’m glad that the governor has made some agreements with the different groups, but it still has a lot of work to be done to get that passed, so that’s going to be one of the priorities,” the Brooklyn lawmaker said. “By letting that expire, we’ve lost over a million dollars on the streets on new construction, new jobs, new opportunities and new housing. That is lost money.” 

Assembly Democrats plan to meet in the first week in December to discuss their priorities for next year’s legislative session. Apart from any specific bills, Abbate said the conference will continue to work to help the state’s working men and women, including addressing the rising costs of health care for workers and provide fair wages for people. 

“One of the other issues we’re always looking is outsourcing,” Abbate said. “My belief is that the people within the state workforce can do a better job than when we outsource it to private firms. It seems like every time we outsource something, a job doesn’t get done right, it gets delayed and there’s always a cost override.”

Other than 421-a, the labor agenda in the state Senate is up in the air. Senate Republicans are hopeful they will have a majority, but Democrats say it’s too soon to tell which party will be in power, citing a couple of close Senate races that are too close to call. Even if the GOP maintains control, it’s unclear who will chair the powerful Labor Committee next year. The current chairman is outgoing state Sen. Jack Martins, who opted not to run for re-election, instead making a failed bid for an open congressional seat on Long Island.

Golden said ensuring workers have fair health care costs and wages are top priorities as well. State Senate Republicans will also push to extend the state’s Film Tax Credit Program, which expires this year. 

“We need to make sure we keep that alive,” Golden said. “That’s an industry that we’ve seen a $4 billion to $9 billion industry, hundreds of thousands of jobs, we’ve seen where there’s been a real return of investment on this tax credit.” 

Golden also wants to create jobs at the Brooklyn and Staten Island waterfronts and work with higher education, including SUNY and CUNY, to create digital tax credits to allow for the industry to grow. 

“We have less dollars today,” Golden said. “We’re going into a downturn in state funding, so we need to be able to build up that state funding and the way you do that is digital tax credits and other tax credits that will bring in jobs and create job energy and create a tax base from the employees.” 

Regardless of who chairs the state Senate Labor Committee, Abbate said he is not worried about the conference obstructing the Assembly Democrats’ labor goals.

“(State Senate Republicans) might say they’re not going to do it in the beginning of session, but by the end of session they sort of realize that it’s the right thing to do and they come around 90 percent of the time,” he said. “Most of our agenda does get done. Just a good example, when you looked at the minimum wage and family leave, they got done last year just when everyone was saying they wouldn’t get done. They got done.”

WHAT GOT DONE:

- $15 minimum wage

- Paid family leave

- Veteran-owned farm program

WHAT’S ON THE AGENDA:

- Finalize the 421-a deal

- Rising costs of health care and fair wages for workers

- Extending the Film Tax Credit Program

- Expanding digital tax credits

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.