After a year of partisan battles with the Legislature, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, struck a more conciliatory tone in his Jan. 9 address, outlining an ambitious package to cut property taxes, expand health-care coverage and fund higher education by privatizing the state lottery.
“Join me in good faith. I will meet you with an open hand, an open door and an open mind,” Spitzer appealed to lawmakers. Many of Spitzer’ first-year accomplishments were overshadowed by clashes with Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno. Democrats control the Assembly.
One of Spitzer’s boldest proposals is for New York to be the first state in the country to lease its lottery to private investors in a plan to fund an endowment for higher education.
On health care, Spitzer proposed using state money to cover 400,000 extra children through the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program after the Bush administration last year said they were ineligible because their families earned too much. He also unveiled a “Doctors Across New York” program that would provide grants to physicians willing to move to the state’s inner cities and rural areas. They would use the money to repay their medical school loans.
Building on last year’s $1.3 billion property-tax cut, Spitzer announced he has formed a bipartisan commission to study why New York taxes are so high and whether capping property taxes levied by school districts might be a solution. He also pitched a $1 billion fund to create jobs in upstate New York.
On energy, Spitzer said he would push “15 by 15,” which would set a goal of reducing statewide electricity use 15 percent from projected levels by 2015.
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