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Meet the Big Ugly: The NY state budget bill has free buses, a cannabis crackdown and more!
By
Jon Campbell
Published May 2, 2023
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Photo by Ron Adar
By
Jon Campbell
Published May 2, 2023
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What do free buses, cash bail, the minimum wage, charter schools, illicit marijuana stores and CUNY tuition have in common?
They’re all tied to a single piece of budget legislation that New York state lawmakers will put to an up-or-down vote later today.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders finally locked down the last bits of bill language for the $229 billion state budget late Monday, a full month after it was due. Lawmakers introduced a bill at around 8 p.m. that took many of the budget’s most contentious measures — including further changes to the state’s bail laws and a small expansion of charter schools — and put them in a single, 174-page budget bill.
The practice has long been commonplace in Albany, much to the chagrin of government transparency advocates. It even has a name within the walls of the state Capitol: the Big Ugly.
This year’s Big Ugly has dozens of measures that otherwise have little to do with each other, including:
- A pilot program for free buses in New York City, with one route in each borough — selected by the MTA — set to be fare free within 150 days.
- A measure clearing the way for the State University of New York and City University of New York systems to raise tuition — but only for out-of-state students.
- A Hochul-sought change to the state’s 2019 cash bail laws. It’ll make clear judges have discretion to set cash bail in violent felony and misdemeanor cases.
- A major crackdown on illicit cannabis stores that have popped up throughout New York City and the state, making it easier for state authorities to make a tax seizure and impose major fines.
- The addition of 14 charter schools in New York City, by re-assigning charters that have since gone dormant or never opened in the first place.
- A three-year minimum wage hike, gradually increasing to $17 an hour in 2026 in the city, Long Island and Westchester and $16 in the rest of the state. Then future increases will be tied to inflation.
The introduction of the Big Ugly marked the first time the public got a look at the exact details of the previously tentative state budget deal, which Hochul announced last week.
In the case of the free bus pilot, the details didn’t quite match up with what Hochul announced. At a Thursday news conference, the Democratic governor said the pilot program would last for two years. As it’s laid out in the bill, it’s actually considerably shorter: The pilot program will end six months to one year after the buses become free.
Deputy Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris (D-Queens) was a major proponent of the fare-free bus measure. Late Wednesday, he said the pilot program has to be capped at one year because of federal law and regulations — anything longer would have required an environmental review, which would have slowed down implementation.
It will be up to the MTA to pick which bus route in each borough will become free, but the Legislature laid out specific criteria it must follow. Among the factors it must consider are fare evasion, serving areas with significant commercial and employment activity, ridership and how it would serve low-income communities.
Under the bill, MTA staff will have 60 days to present the bus program to its board. From there, it would have 90 days to implement it.
Voting on the final pieces of budget legislation is expected to resume at noon.
Tagged
cannabis
new york state
new york city
Kathy Hochul
Politics
eric adams
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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