Freshman Legislator in Albany Criticizes Budget Process

WNYC News | Apr 2, 2019

New York passed a host of progressive policies in its first-ever state budget under a Democrat-controlled legislature and statehouse, but freshmen lawmakers remain critical of the process. 

They've said that the budget is decided behind a closed door, and the talks are so rushed that issues get dropped and new policies get slipped in. "The fact that we have to kind of do this race to the finish, at the deadline -- that doesn't help with transparency," said freshman state Senator Zellnor Myrie, a Democrat whose district is in Brooklyn. 

Myrie talked to Jami Floyd, the host of WNYC's "All Things Considered," about his take on the recent negotiations, and what he hopes to change. 

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