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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Almost lost in the inauguration day news coverage was Gov. Cuomo announcing what's being described as a doomsday budget if the state of New York doesn't get a lot of new aid from Washington. According to the New York Times summary, the doomsday budget scenario would cut about $2 billion from funding for schools, $600 million from Medicaid and more. It would raise income taxes up to two percentage points on the wealthiest New Yorkers, those with taxable income of $5 million and up. We'll talk about that and the state running out of COVID vaccines and opportunities for the new Democratic Party super-majority in the State Senate with the Senate Majority Leader now, Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

Her own Westchester district covers the Hudson River Towns from Yonkers to a little North of the Tappan Zee/Mario Cuomo Bridge and East through Scarsdale White Plains and towns to the Hutchinson River Parkway. Leader Cousins, it's always a pleasure. Welcome back to WNYC.

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: It's always good to be with you.

Brian Lehrer: Can I start with the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, some of your reaction yesterday, personally and politically?

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: Well, I think it was just a relief. It really was. I exhaled and I do believe so many people around the country and around the world exhaled as well. It was amazing reaffirmation of what our values should be, what our ideals are. I believe it was just even-- Obviously, it was very unique because of the situation that we're in. Still, the cohesive message of unity, of rebuilding and again the reaffirmation and of course, the incredible sight of seeing the very first woman vice president get sworn in, first woman of African descent, of South Asian descent. I felt like I was walking down that Pennsylvania Avenue with her.

I'm so sure so many people felt that. Then this amazing poet laureate who just blew everybody away with her wonderful poem. At only 22 being able to capture in everything in her essence, in her words and in the magnificence of even that yellow jacket that she wore. The sun [laughs] finally rising on what should be and could be the greatest nation in the world for all to take a look at and follow. Obviously, we had our issues. We will have our issues, but I think these are ideals worth fighting for. I was very, very relieved by it. Also, just briefly, we talked about Dr. Martin Luther King because we celebrate King Day.

I offered a resolution on King Day and just tying in the fight that King had for all these rights, including our voting rights and how the hope and the promise and what he'd fought for and what actually happened was manifested in the election results and certainly the participation of African Americans to the point where we do have a new day dawning. It was quite a day.

Brian Lehrer: You mentioned the poet, Amanda Gorman. I should tell our listeners, of course, yes, everybody was blown away by her and her poem. Because of that, we're going to re-air the full poem at around 11:30 this morning. Listeners, heads up if you want to hear it again. We have a very special guest to discuss it with, the poet and essayist, Elizabeth Alexander, who did the reading at Obama's first inaugural, similarly poignant moment. She's now head of the Mellon Foundation. Elizabeth Alexander, joining us at 11:30 to listen along with the rest of us and then discuss the full reading by Amanda Gorman from yesterday, which we will re-air.

We are with Andrea Stewart-Cousins right now, the New York State Senate Majority Leader. On what you just said about the resolution pertaining to King Day and everything that's going on in the country, a resolution is an expression of a sentiment. It's not a bill that enacts something into law. Is that what you proposed and what concretely are you doing with this new Senate super-majority to advance voting rights and racial justice in general?

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: Well, the resolution is something that we offer every year. The cause is just an important acknowledgement of the work that Dr. King has done. No, it's not legislation, but it definitely is a sentiment that we continue to adhere to. Every year, Brian, since I've been the Majority Leader, I have begun the session with some, again, reaffirmation of voting some enrichments of the enfranchisement because we pay homage to how we got there. This year was no different. It was part of looking at the elections of November, et cetera and the fact that we were still counting absentee ballots long after other people had finished.

We passed legislation that would allow for the counting of ballots in the same way that we count the mail-in ballots. That will ease up a lot of the suspense, we'll be able to start counting our absentee ballots sooner. Just so your listeners know, we weren't able to do that until about seven days after Election Day. That's going to be changed as well as the absentee ballot drop box. Making sure that there'll be the absentee ballot drop boxes in secure locations that will be more accessible to people. We want to do a constitutional amendment. We, for the very first time, had this mail-in, no excuse absentee voting. It is actually amendment to our constitution that has to happen.

We were able to do it because of COVID and passed temporary legislation to allow this pandemic to allow for the mail-in voting. We want to see no excuse mail-in voting as part of what we do. We passed it last session. It's a constitutional amendment change, it's a constitutional change so you have to pass it in two consecutive sessions. We passed it a second time this session. It will then go to our voters in November. If they agree, which I do hope they will, that we should have mail-in no excuse absentee voting. It will become part of what we do in the State. We are continuing to press to make sure that people are able to vote in New York and exercise their franchise.

Brian Lehrer: Very good. New Yorkers, we can take some phone calls for your State Senate Majority Leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, 646-435-7280. Call your Senator, 646-435-7280. Call the Senate Majority Leader, 646-435-7280, or tweet a question @BrianLehrer. In light of what happened at the Capitol and the muted response by law enforcement there, at least at first. There's a question nationwide, obviously, about extremist and white supremacists, people with those leanings within the ranks of our law enforcement. Are you concerned about that? If so, what can legislators and other public officials do to root it out to the extent that it exists, if it does, in New York?

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: We obviously have to be concerned. It's part of I think our majority's thrust. We've been in the majority of taking a look at a lot of the systems and the policies and the practices and quite honestly, so much of the opposition in our last election, which I'm happy to say [laughs] in most cases were overcome. Part of it was because we have done so much, whether it's bail reform, whether it's police reform. After the tragic murder of George Floyd, New York State was probably the first in the nation to pass comprehensive police reform bills saying, okay, fine, there don't seem to be any boundaries as to what you can or cannot do. Let us start giving you some boundaries. No, you can't do a choke hold. No, there will be an investigation if there is a police involved shooting and somebody dies, regardless of what.

Also, that will have in the Attorney General's Office, a special investigations. A lot of the inquiries into police affairs are done by internal affairs, so yes, police looking at police and we think that's not really adequate. There'll be a special investigation unit within the Attorney General's Office that says, "If there is a question about police misconduct, you could do your internal affairs investigation, but we are going to do it in the state." As well as, of course, the 50-a repeal, which allows for the disciplinary records of police officers to be seen, because up till the time we passed that law, whatever, if somebody had been accused of excessive force, many times you would not know, the public would not know. So much of what had gone on remained undercover and of course, could continue to go on.

The other thing that's happening and this was part of what the Governor had talked about when we did those police reforms back in June, was the need for the different localities to work with police, with community in order to reshape, in some cases, the way policing looks and to come up with some comprehensive approach to policing that is community involved and community-oriented or else risked not getting funds from the state. We're not finished, there has to be an opportunity for us to weed out extremists and people who are somehow adhering to a philosophy that has nothing to do with public safety or public protection.

We as the legislature will continue to do what we have to do, even though it's critiqued and huge pushback. Again, that's so much part of what this King weekend is a reminder of, that you will get pushbacks when you're trying to make the changes that require serious rethinking and justice to be served. We're prepared for that.

Brian Lehrer: Boy, in a time when every day feels like a week in the new cycle. Mike Luther King Day was this week, right? It feels like, "Oh, I remember back on Martin Luther King--"

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: I know.

Brian Lehrer: It was on Monday, it was three days ago. Lorraine in Brooklyn you're on WN-- Go ahead. Go ahead, leader.

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: Go ahead. No, no, I was disagreeing with you.

Brian Lehrer: Okay. Lorraine in Brooklyn, you are on with Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. Hi?

Lorraine: Hi, Speaker Cousins. I'm calling to ask you-

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: Hi.

Lorraine: -about your position on the millionaire's tax. Gov. Cuomo in his budget said if the federal government did not invest, then he would allow or consider the millionaire's tax. At the same time, he has withheld 20% of the budget from CUNY, which has resulted in layoffs of part-time faculty and staff, growing class size and concerns about investing enough in health and safety to make it possible for faculty and students to return. It seems to me that inequality is still extraordinarily high and the millionaires have made a fortune during this terrible crisis. I'm wondering what your position is on the millionaire's tax?

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: Thank you, Lorraine. I've made it quite clear that I know we are in a terrible situation, clearly, we are in a terrible and critical situation and New York is poised quite honestly, because of the wonderful assets of so many people, so many people who are able to help in rebuilding New York and getting out of this economic crisis to do so. I've been supportive publicly of taxing millionaires and billionaires because we're in a place where, again, we can reset in terms of our priorities. Also because we are community and we are in an incredible difficult situation. We just cannot balance the budget on working people, poor people.

When I say working people, I mean middle class, working people and poor people who have already experienced so much pain as it relates to what's happened around COVID and all of these other things. At the same time and I spoke to the Governor about this and he's made it publicly. At the same time, I believe that there is a responsibility of our partners in the federal government to take a look at what has happened in New York, to take some responsibility without evoking the former president, but the reality is that so much of the crisis that we are experiencing is because of the mismanagement around COVID.

It's because of the tax reform that took away the ability for our people to deduct a whole lot of taxes that we were able to deduct before while giving it to other states, we've been a donor state, et cetera. All that being said, the federal government has to help, should help, we expect them to help, but meanwhile, we also know that the rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, the poor are getting poorer. New York is in a position to reset and just require more from those who can pay more. I'm perfectly supportive of that. I think the Governor is aware of that and we are going to try and make sense of how we go forward and hopefully, the federal government will also do that, while they give us the resources that we need in order to get out of this hole.

Brian Lehrer: Well, the caller's premise was that the governor opposes a tax increase on millionaires, but my understanding is his position just in the last couple of days has changed and that if we don't get $6 billion or $15 billion from the federal government and additional aid, tax hikes on people making $5 million a year or more would be raised by the legislature and with his signature. Do I have that correct? Has his position changed on that?

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: No. That's what he has said. I think the caller was asking what my position was regardless of-- I wanted to make it clear that I believe that we are in a position to ask more of those who have more, in addition to asking our federal government to step up. I think the Governor feels like, "Well, if they step up, then maybe we shouldn't do this or that." I think we have to have a more progressive tax structure. Again, I think we are in a position to because we are New York and because we have so much to invest in and so much to rebound from, but we will be able to do it.

We should also create a structure that makes sense going forward, that will continue to solidify and fortify what we consider to be priorities such as education, such as the environment, such as housing. There are things that we have to do. I believe we have the resources and the responsibility to do it.

Brian Lehrer: Have you crunched the numbers on the pushback argument that always comes on raising the so-called millionaires' tax? The critics say wealthy people already leaving New York in the pandemic and if New York City gets hiked to the highest combined city and state income tax in the country and of course, that's just in the city, the tax will go up for people making a lot of money and the rest of the state too, but in the city, it would be the highest combined income tax state and city under this proposal around 14% of one percentage point, if you take 5 million, 2 percentage points if you take in 100 million in one year.

To regular people, I think that sounds very manageable at those income levels if this is your home. It still leaves you with so much income, but if people paying that much in taxes really do flee to Florida or wherever, it theoretically could hurt state revenue more than help. Have you crunched those numbers to be confident that that won't happen?

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: Well, again, I think that we go back to a couple of things, one is that nobody can predict what will happen obviously in this new environment, but we are hoping that New Yorkers who understand who we are as New Yorkers and our vitality, our ability, our ability, again, to rebound beyond what any other city can rebound, that our millionaires and billionaires continue to invest in New York and New Yorkers. Again, this is not punishing people because they are rich, it is looking at our reality, as far as I'm concerned, the greatest state in the country and in the world and what we can do to help people. We have, for example, just so people know, in 2019, there were 700,000 cases of unemployment filed.

From March of last year to January, there were 4.7 million claims for unemployment. New Yorkers have been hit exceptionally hard. Because we have the ability through our people, which is our greatest asset, to rebuild, we're talking about having people who can do more, pay more. I'm hoping that they won't flee. I really want folks to look at it as doing something to help your fellow New Yorker. That's number one, but also I have a revenue group that does these number crunching. I'm not saying we're going to do this, we're going to do that, we're going to do this, we're going to do that.

We are going to look very clearly and seriously at the numbers, what makes sense, what doesn't make sense and of course, we have partners in government, we're not independent. We'll be working with the Assembly and with the Governor in order to make this make sense. Again, I think it's such an amazing opportunity to put our values to work, to show leadership in terms of that, as well as to bolster those things that we know need to be bolstered in order for people to succeed.

Brian Lehrer: One more call. Desmond in Crown Heights, you're on WNYC with New York State Senate Majority Leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins. Hi, Desmond.

Desmond: Good morning and thank you for taking my call. You can give me my answers offline. I've got a few points. I'm very happy that Lester Young Jr has been appointed head of the Regents board, but now we have the issue of the campaign for fiscal equity funds that have been sitting in judgment for more than a decade and the fact that New York City is underfunded. I have a neighbor who just left the city with his child because he wanted to get better education in your district. Then we need GIL programs for low-income youth so that they can have meaningful jobs that will pay a living wage and they can contribute to the tax fiscal of the state. Then with the CFP, you have all the conservatives, white supremacists and class-conscious conservatives who have derided the CFP fund as an unfunded mandate.

Brian Lehrer: Desmond, I'm going to leave it there because we're about to lose the Senate Majority Leader because I know the Majority Leader, you have a hard out at 11:00. Answer Desmond's questions to the best of your ability.

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: The best of my ability says to Desmond, I am so grateful that he and so many others are looking at how we improve educational outcomes for our children. I'm very, very committed to investing in our children. As I say all the time, there has never been a Senate Majority that is more hyper-focused on education that will be quality education, not dependent on your zip code, but dependent on the appropriate investments. We are fighting that fight together.

Brian Lehrer: You did that so efficiently. I'm going to ask you one final question on something else that's in the news. You and the Governor want recreational cannabis legalization. That was true last year too and you didn't have the votes. I see a headline on Crain's Today that says Cuomo wants stiff tax on potent marijuana. Does that refer to certain strains that would be taxed higher than other strains? In general, do you think you have the votes? I know we have about 30 seconds.

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: I think we have the votes. The devil, of course, in all of this is always in the detail. Much of what we have been trying to do, in addition to making sure that we have an educational component around certainly, drug use and abuse and all of that is making sure that, again, communities, certainly communities of colors that have been disparately and negatively impacted by the unequal enforcement of these laws, will get some benefit from not only the revenue, but the industry and being able to get business opportunities, et cetera. We are trying to make sense in all of these different ways. I do believe that we have the votes.

Brian Lehrer: Andrea Stewart-Cousins-

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: For the right packets.

Brian Lehrer: -State Senator from Westchester and the New York State Senate Majority Leader. Thank you very much. Keep coming on with us during this session. I know--

Andrea Stewart-Cousins: It's always good to talk to you and your audience. [laughs] Thank you, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Some listeners know, some don't, there's so much action every year between January and April 1st, so come on back as that's going on. Thank you so much.

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