"Today the New York State Senate completed the passage of the Enacted Budget for Fiscal Year 2009-10 Budget, taking the first steps toward getting our economy back on track. After more than 30 hours of rigorous and thoughtful debate this week, we passed nine budget bills that finally reverses decades of fiscal irresponsibility.

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From the office of the Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith comes this:

A plan to establish a "green" jobs development institute, put federal money to work creating tens of thousands of new infrastructure jobs and getting more than 1,000 new cops on the street are just some of the job creation efforts included in this year's budget passed today.

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Listed below are the members of the Senate Majority Leadership Team and the stipends the positions carry. TEMPORARY PRESIDENT AND MAJORITY LEADER Senator Malcolm A. Smith $41,500 CHAIR OF SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE Senator Carl Kruger $34,000 VICE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE Senator David J. Valesky $34,000 VICE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE FOR URBAN POLICY AND PLANNING Senator Pedro Espada Jr. Click to continue reading...

Newly elected State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith and Senators William Stachowski and Antoine Thompson met today with Mayor Byron Brown in Buffalo to discuss concerns facing Upstate, as well as ways the new Senate Majority can work with local leaders to spur economic revitalization. The visit comes less than 48 hours after Smith [. Click to continue reading...

The Senate Democratic Conference emerged from their meeting tonight with the announcement that Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm A. Smith will serve as Senate Majority Leader, securing a Democratic Majority for the first time in 43 years. Under the leadership of Senator Smith, the Senate will move New York in a new direction, taking steps to create [. Click to continue reading...