Allegro
Legislative Update
Volume CII, No. 5May, 2002
BROADWAY RETURNS $1 MILLION IN AID
DISASTER UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE EXTENDED
CITY COUNCIL URGES ADDITIONAL CUTS TO CITY AGENCIES
COUNCIL URGES END TO PREDATORY LENDING
NEW YORK STATE BUDGET LATE AGAIN
BROADWAY RETURNS $1 MILLION IN AID
New York City provided millions of dollars of emergency aid to keep the lights bright on Broadway after Sept. 11. In March, the League of Broadway Producers returned $1 million to the city. The mayor’s office has reallocated the funds to the Alliance for Resident Theaters/New York, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the American Music Center and four additional organizations that run arts education programs.
Last December the city spent $2.5 million to purchase 50,000 tickets to Broadway shows; they were distributed to rescue workers and families of victims of the terrorist attacks. Another program rewarded consumers who spent $500 in New York City during the first half of January.
DISASTER UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE EXTENDED
On March 25, President George Bush signed HR-3986 into law, providing an additional 13 weeks of benefits to those who lost their jobs as a result of Sept. 11. Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) was established in 1988, to aid persons who become unemployed as a direct result of a major disaster. Two types of claimants are eligible to file DUA claims: those who have insufficient earnings to establish a benefit year under normal unemployment guidelines, and individuals who are self-employed.
CITY COUNCIL URGES ADDITIONAL CUTS TO CITY AGENCIES
New York City Council Speaker Gifford Miller has drafted proposals that would generate savings of more than $50 million, by making additional cuts in city agencies’ budgets. He is proposing eliminating a deputy commissioner and an assistant commissioner from each city agency, and eliminating legal and public-relations units, for a savings of $9.1 million. Miller notes that the city could save $1.8 million by eliminating the Mayor’s Office of Contracts, which duplicates functions of the Corporation Counsel. He also proposes merging the Business Services, Employment and Consumer Affairs departments, for savings of $1.8 million, and reducing the Corporation Counsel’s approximately $100 million budget by $14 million.
COUNCIL URGES END TO PREDATORY LENDING
Legislation that would prohibit New York City from investing municipal dollars in banking institutions and their subsidiaries who engage in predatory lending has been drafted by New York City Council members Leroy Comrie, James Sanders, Philip Reed, Yvette Clarke and Hiram Monserrate, along with Speaker Gifford Miller.
Predatory lenders often operate in the mortgage lending and consumer finance industries, targeting low income, minority and elderly consumers, particularly those who have little access to traditional sources of credit. Consumers are pressured into accepting high-cost loans, usually secured by a mortgage on their home. Many end up losing a lifetime of equity in their homes and, in some cases, losing those homes.
Among the practices predatory lenders engage in are financing excessive fees into loans; charging higher interest rates than a borrower’s credit warrants; making loans without regard to the borrower’s ability to pay it back; requiring prepayment penalties on subprime loans; and permitting borrowers to opt for balloon mortgages.
The legislation would authorize the City Comptroller to investigate financial institutions that are currently conducting business with New York City and explore their current lending practices. Violations of the law can result in the nullification of their contract.
NEW YORK STATE BUDGET LATE AGAIN
This is the 18th consecutive year that New York State has failed to pass a budget by the April 1 deadline. On March 26, the State Legislature passed emergency spending bills totaling $4.7 billion for the new fiscal year, before taking a two-week break for religious holidays. The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) criticized lawmakers for taking the break, noting that it sends the wrong message about the urgency of adopting a timely state budget.