As The Voice went to press, both the state Assembly and Senate passed their own budget bills that reflect a number of changes from the Executive Budget proposal.

Both houses came up with additional operating aid for SUNY. The Senate budget would provide for an additional $10 million to cover enrollment growth, as well as opportunity and high-need programs.

The Assembly’s version would add an extra $13 million for operating aid. UUP had requested $35 million to cover the cost of hiring as many as 350 more full-time academic and professional faculty.

The Assembly budget also includes: $2 million more for high-needs programs; $10 million more for Educational Opportunity Centers; $979,000 increase for the Educational Opportunity Program; and $64 million more in capital funding.

Neither house supplied any additional funding to the SUNY hospitals above the

$6.8 million included in the governor’s budget, but the Senate bill restores cuts made by the governor for graduate medical education. Both houses reinstate inflationary payments for hospitals and nursing homes.

It was expected that representatives of both houses and the governor would try to hammer out their differences in order to come with a state budget agreement by the April 1 deadline.

— Donald Feldstein