A New Deal For New York

In the 1930s, in the immediate wake of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set the country on a bold and ambitious course known as The New Deal. The programs enacted under the New Deal provided not just relief and recovery for millions of Americans but created a foundation that served to reform the American financial system and put this country on solid ground for generations to come. While the New Deal spanned multiple years and involved an array of government programs its overarching principle was simple: a belief that the people of this country are its greatest resource and investing in the worker builds a more robust and truly sustainable economy.

Similarly, we have had to, in recent years, navigate the choppy waters left in the wake of a modern day recession. In the past four years, under the leadership of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, we have put New York back on a smart fiscal track and been able to get the state working again.

As part of those efforts, this year New York has received $5 billion dollars in restitution monies from financial institutions that committed various financial crimes against the hard-working people of this state. Make no mistake, these settlement funds are taxpayer money, and, as such, should be reinvested in the very people and pockets they came from.

Under that guiding principle, the Independent Democratic Conference is offering a New Deal for New York. Modeled on the spirit of FDR’s New Deal, our New Deal has two key parts: first, a program aimed at creating jobs through large infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, rail, transit, water and sewer and parks projects; and second, a program aimed at reconnecting marginalized workers with good paying jobs.  

The purpose of the first part, The Empire Public Works (EPW) Program, is to build, repair and upgrade New York’s infrastructure to a 21st century standard. The EPW would finance projects through a bidding process to private contractors and thus create private sector jobs in construction. All projects financed through the EPW will fall under existing public contracting laws and regulations, including prevailing wage statutes.

A number of current projects would be eligible for financing through EPW, including the Tappan Zee Bridge and MTA projects. In addition, as with federal contracting rules, there will be a “Buy American” provision that will allow for slightly more expensive bids as long as the bidders demonstrate they are using all American-made steel and iron products.

By investing $3.5 billion dollars into this revolving loan fund we could potentially create up to 97,000 jobs.

The second program, the Community Jobs Program (CJP), seeks to reinvigorate our workforce by offering a bridge to those who’ve been demoralized and discouraged by job loss and lack of employment in recent years. Similar to the new found hope and dignity that FDR’s WPA brought to our grandparents’ generation, CJP is aimed at not only providing individuals in communities good jobs, but also job training. CJP would be a shot in the arm for local communities through smaller work projects like parks, libraries, community arts facilities, town halls and small business developments and have a long-lasting impact by guiding and developing an untapped resource of workers. Any projects financed through CJP that are not covered by prevailing wage will be set regionally by a wage board that will determine what wages would be appropriate locally, though these wages wouldn’t fall below a $15 an hour minimum. The bottom line is that if taxpayer dollars are used to finance the cost of these projects it is not only acceptable, but should be expected, that New Yorkers working on these projects get a good wage. With an allocation of $1.5 billion dollars, we’ve estimated that more than 40,000 jobs can be created.  

More than 80 years ago Franklin Delano Roosevelt made clear that the New Deal was a “call to arms.” How New York State chooses to invest this $5 billion dollar settlement money presents us with the same charge. These settlement funds offer us an extraordinary opportunity to make significant and lasting change in the fiscal health and future stability of New York State, and the Independent Democratic Conference believes that the best way to do this is through job creation. By reinvesting the money to rebuild New York, we’ll be building up New Yorkers.

State Senator Jeffrey D. Klein is the Independent Democratic Conference leader.