• Analyzing Governor’s Budget, LAC Finds Much to Praise

    January 18, 2012
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Contact: Tracie Gardner
    Director of NYS Policy
    (212) 243-1313 / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

    NEW YORK, January 18, 2012 -- The Legal Action Center is pleased to support Governor Andrew Cuomo's budget plan for 2012-2013, which provides a sensible path for New York State in answering the needs of people with HIV, people with addiction and mental health issues, and people involved in the criminal justice system.

    After an analysis of the budget proposal, released yesterday, LAC is pleased to report that the governor has closed an estimated $3.5 billion deficit without significant reductions or cuts in criminal justice, addiction or HIV services.

    Read more:
    LAC's full budget analysis is now online!
    In particular, LAC applauds elements of the plan that:
    • Close juvenile justice facilities as part of an effort to move New York City youths convicted of nonviolent crimes from state facilities upstate to more cost-efficient city-run facilities in the city;
    • Incorporate recommendations from last year's Medicaid Redesign Team process that aim to make the state's health system perform better and cost less;
    • Advocate enactment of the Health Exchange so that 1 million uninsured New Yorkers will gain coverage; and
    • Provide $25 million for the Civil Legal Services Program through the Judiciary budget to address a central deficit that goes to the heart of the courts’ mission: providing equal justice to the millions of litigants who appear each year without counsel in eviction, foreclosure, domestic violence, consumer debt, and other cases involving the essentials of life.

    "Given the economic challenges our state faces right now, the governor is making a critical and much-appreciated commitment to services that will make New York safer and healthier," said Tracie Gardner, LAC's director of state policy. "To all New Yorkers with criminal records and those with or at risk for substance use disorders, HIV/AIDS and mental illness, this budget shows that the state cares."

    LAC will continue to analyze budget details as they become available.

    The Legal Action Center is the only public interest law and policy organization in the United States whose sole
    mission is to fight discrimination against and protect the privacy of people in recovery from alcohol or drug addiction,
    individuals living with HIV/AIDS, and people with criminal records.

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