NEW YORK – In response to New York State’s budget analysis confirming the additional revenue beyond projections for the FY23 NYS Budget, the Fund Excluded Workers Coalition released the following statement from Marisol Santiago, Board Member of the Yonkers Sanctuary Movement, on behalf of the coalition:

“The FY23 NYS Budget accounted for billions in surplus and reserve revenue but left hundreds of thousands of excluded workers, immigrants, and working families out of our social safety net, hampering our recovery from the ongoing pandemic. Instead, Governor Hochul managed to find a billion in taxpayer money to subsidize a multi-billionaire. At a time when New York is facing a crisis of white supremacist violence towards Black and brown communities – state leaders must take a hard look at how this budget exacerbates long standing inequalities.

Now, a post-budget analysis by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli shows that the state took in $3.3 billion more in revenue than what projections accounted for throughout budget negotiations. The added revenue shows once again that New York is a state that can well afford to expand the safety net in ways that would primarily benefit low-income and Black and brown communities. This additional $3 billion gives the Governor and legislature one more chance to make up for this gap and secure the well-being of excluded workers and impacted communities.

From the beginning, advocates called on Governor Hochul and state lawmakers to make urgent use of surplus and reserve revenues to fund critical social programs. 75,000 pending applications in the Excluded Workers Fund, 150,000 low income immigrant New Yorkers denied access to Coverage for all, and the failure to create the Housing Access Voucher Program demonstrate moral neglect. 

Leadership must act responsibly with this surplus, and we will continue to work with lawmakers to invest funding into a permanent unemployment benefits program for excluded workers. Under no circumstances should additional revenue be frittered away in corporate tax giveaways. We must learn from the lessons of this pandemic, and we call on Governor Hochul and state lawmakers to invest their efforts in working families rather than taxpayer-funded vanity projects.”