For immediate release: November 14, 2013
Contact: Nadine Lemmon, 917-767-7698
Tri-State Transportation Campaign Executive Director Veronica Vanterpool issued the following statement in response to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s veto of the Transit Lockbox Bill (S.3837/A.5084):
Governor Cuomo’s veto of the Transit Lockbox Bill (S.3837/ A.5084) sends the wrong message to New Yorkers who ride buses and trains, and who seek fiscal transparency. The veto means that taxes and fees dedicated to public transit will remain extremely vulnerable to budget raids. The Transit Lockbox has the support of hundreds of civic and business groups, and it passed the legislature unanimously. The public and the legislature recognize that diverting specially-dedicated transit funds to plug budget gaps is simply wrong.
The Transit Lockbox is solely a transparency bill. It creates a “diversion impact statement” which details how the diversion of transit funds impacts service, safety and maintenance for transit systems across the state.
Supporters of the bill would like to thank State Senator Marty Golden and State Assemblyman Jim Brennan for their hard work championing this bill.
The Transit Lockbox is supported by these organizations.
It is a very sad day for transit riders. I thought we had a friend in Governor Cuomo and this veto makes me question that assumption. He or his advisors apparently wants to see localities, like Suffolk County, continue its long standing practice of taking state public transit money not to help largely low income riders but to lower local taxes for those with much higher incomes. That veto doesn’t sound like what a Democrat with a long history of service to the poor should be supporting.
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