Assemblyman James F. Brennan 44th Assembly District
Jim Brennan represents the 44th Assembly District containing the neighborhoods of Park Slope, Flatbush, Kensington, and Windsor Terrace in Brooklyn. Mr. Brennan chairs the Standing Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Developmental Disabilities in the State Assembly since January 1995. First elected to the Legislature in 1984, Jim Brennan is a member of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, one of the city's bell-weather "reform" clubs.
In his thirteen years in the Legislature, Mr. Brennan has sought to champion rent and consumer protection, energy conservation, and social and economic justice. He is well known for his expertise on budgetary matters, on mental health and mental retardation, on school aid and utility regulatory matters. Mr. Brennan has consistently opposed imprudent and hurtful State budget and tax cuts.
He is the author of a major piece of budget reform legislation, the "Tax Expenditure" Budget. This law, passed in 1991, requires the Governor to submit to the Legislature an itemized list of every special tax break that exists within the State tax code as part of the Governor's proposed budget. This gives the Legislature and the public the opportunity to scrutinize each tax break and determine if it has a benefit to the public as well as to the private parties involved. Mr. Brennan also authored the exemption from the New York City personal income tax for poverty level taxpayer (1985), the exemption from the vault tax for New York City homeowners (1988), and the extension to low income senior coop owners of the sliding scale Real Property Tax exemption that benefitted low income homeowners (1996).
Jim Brennan has been a strong advocate for the mentally ill and mentally retarded, leading opposition in the Legislature to devastating cuts proposed by Governor Pataki in his first three budgets. He has vigorously fought for increased community housing for the mentally ill and the mentally retarded. The State Office of Mental Health (OMH) in October 1993 estimated New York needed 20,000 additional community housing units for the mentally ill over the next five years (to 1998). Only 3,000 units have been produced since that time due to the cancellation by Pataki of thousands of units that were in the pipeline by the end of the Cuomo administration. The current State budget is the first of the Pataki era to fully fund the Community Reinvestment Act. In addition, this year Jim Brennan was also able to secure $4 million ($2 million each) in new housing funds for the mentally ill and the retarded.
In 1997, his legislation seeking parity between physical and mental health insurance passed the State Assembly, but not the State Senate. This bill would prohibit variations in certain types of insurance benefits between the treatment of mental and emotional disorders and physical ailments.
Born and raised in New York City, Jim Brennan graduated from Yale and from Brooklyn Law School. Prior to working with the Legislature, Mr. Brennan directed the consumer protection department of the Human Rights Commission of the United Church of Christ.
Mr. Brennan maintains an active presence in his district, participating in the many civic, school, and community improvement efforts to his constituents. He has two district offices, located at 416 7th Avenue and 1414 Cortelyou Road.
