providing mandate relief; for enacting an inflation-indexed property tax cap and a school tax "circuit breaker"; and for his appointment of Blue Dog Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand to a vacant seat in the United States Senate. Executive Chamber First days as governor Paterson ascended to the governor's office during the busiest legislative period of the year. The state is required by law to pass its budget prior to April 1. He had only two weeks to negotiate with lawmakers a proposal to close a $4.7 billion deficit and pass a $124 billion budget from the Spitzer administration. He stated in his inauguration speech that it would be his top priority. Paterson made reference in his speech to the economic woes being faced in the United States, calling them a "crisis", and promised to "adjust the budget accordingly". Since 1984, New York State has only passed a budget on time once, in 2005, leading Paterson to call for an "end to the dysfunction in Albany" in his speech, echoing a 56-page study from the nonpartisan New York University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice, which referred to the legislature as "the least deliberative and most dysfunctional in the nation". Paterson quickly signed five pieces of legislation on his first day in office: to add the New York State Department of Labor to the New York City Transit Track Safety Task Force; to eliminate a law that discouraged employers from holding blood drives; to change the way in which members are appointed to a state health and research board; to restore eligibility caps to certain senior employment programs; and to grant tax exemptions to several local development corporations in New York State. Paterson appointed Christopher O. Ward to be executive director of the Port Authority on May 22, 2008. Ward was successful in turning around construction at World Trade Center Site, and started the process of turning Farley Post Office into Moynihan Station. One day after Paterson's inauguration as the governor of New York, both he and his wife acknowledged having had extramarital affairs, one with a state employee. Same-sex marriage In May 2008, Paterson informed New York State agencies that they were required to recognize same-sex marriage licenses from other jurisdictions for purposes of employee benefits. The governor's directive was purportedly based upon a decision from New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division's Fourth Department. The governor's directive did not receive widespread