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Already late, Gov. Hochul and lawmakers punt NY budget to next week
By
Jon Campbell
Published Apr 3, 2023
Modified Apr 3, 2023
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HANS PENNINK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
By
Jon Campbell
Published Apr 3, 2023
Modified Apr 3, 2023
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With the New York state budget already late, Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers will continue deliberating into next week.
On Monday, Hochul, a Democrat, introduced a one-week budget “extender,” which will allow the state to make payroll, pay its bills and continue its operations through April 10. The state Legislature approved it Monday afternoon.
The budget was due prior to the April 1 start of the state’s fiscal year. But, according to the State Comptroller’s Office, Hochul and lawmakers have until the end of Monday to pass an extender to ensure 57,000 workers at prisons, mental health facilities and other state institutions get paid as scheduled on Thursday.
The maneuver all but ensures passage of the full budget — which is already late and will clock in at least $277 billion — will wait until at least after Easter Sunday, with many lawmakers unable to return to the Capitol this week after Wednesday’s first day of Passover.
If a full budget agreement isn’t in place by April 10, Hochul and lawmakers would have to approve another extender to ensure state operations continue to function properly.
“I have been negotiating in good faith with the Legislature, but it is clear there is more work to be done before we reach an agreement,” Hochul said in a statement. “For that reason, I am submitting a bill to the legislature that would extend the budget deadline to April 10th, giving us the time we need to deliver a final budget that is responsive to the urgent needs of New Yorkers.”
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, confirmed the plan Monday.
"We are disappointed that all parties couldn’t come together to pass a final budget in a timely manner,” she said in a statement.
It all comes as Hochul and the Legislature’s Democratic majorities have struggled to reach consensus on the governor’s two biggest priorities: Her plan to create hundreds of thousands of new housing units statewide in part by loosening local control, and her proposal to make clear judges have discretion to set bail in violent felony and misdemeanor cases.
Hochul and legislative leaders have acknowledged nearly all of their private negotiations have focused on those two issues. But there are plenty of others that remain outstanding, such as Hochul’s plans to allow more charter schools in New York City, ban flavored tobacco products including menthol cigarettes, and allow SUNY and CUNY schools to increase tuition — proposals that Democratic lawmakers have resisted.
Advocates and lobbyists have continued to push their priorities in the hall of the Capitol, hoping to convince lawmakers to see things their way.
On Monday, environmentalists held a news conference to urge the Legislature to reject a last-minute attempt to sneak a measure in the budget that would redefine how the state counts natural-gas emissions. Last Friday, Dr. James McDonald, the acting state health commissioner, rallied with anti-tobacco advocates to push Hochul’s plan to ban menthols.
So far, the Democratic majorities in the Senate and Assembly have been wary of embracing the ban. Menthol cigarettes are often preferred by Black people, and opponents of the ban have raised concern about whether it would unfairly increase their interactions with police.
“It’s designed purposely to cool the harshness of smoking,” Dr. McDonald said of menthols. “It's even advertised about the coolness of it. It's designed to cool this experience you have when you're smoking. It really is the tobacco industry's spoonful of sugar not to help the medicine go down, but to help facilitate our kids become addicted to nicotine.”
Among those fighting against the menthol ban are associations representing bodega owners and convenience stores, who argue it will simply send people to the unregulated market.
In her statement, Hochul cited three priorities that she said must be in a final budget:
“New Yorkers are concerned about public safety, the rising cost of housing, and ensuring high-quality schools for all our kids, and any budget deal must make progress on these core issues."
Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Heastie said the bail issues is "taking up pretty much all the oxygen in the room."
"It's bail, bail, bail, " he said. "And then I guess we'll figure everything else out."
Tagged
Albany
budget
state legislature
Kathy Hochul
Politics
news
Jon Campbell
Jon Campbell covers the New York State Capitol for WNYC and Gothamist. Prior to that, he covered the Capitol for more than a decade for the USA TODAY Network. He has twice earned the Walter T. Brown Memorial Award, an honor given annually by the Legislative Correspondents Association alumni for outstanding state government coverage. Jon grew up in the Buffalo area and graduated from the University at Albany. Got a tip? Email Jon at [email protected] or Signal at JonCampbellNY.90.
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