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With no budget headway, lawmakers pass bill to pay state workers in NY
By
Jon Campbell
Published Apr 4, 2022
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Hans Pennink/AP/Shutterstock
By
Jon Campbell
Published Apr 4, 2022
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New York lawmakers agreed to pass a short-term spending bill Monday to ensure state workers get paid this week after officials failed to reach a broader budget agreement with Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The state’s fiscal year began Friday, but Hochul and lawmakers were unable to get a roughly $216 billion spending plan in place as they sparred over weighty issues like criminal justice reform, New York City casinos and a proposed $600 million state subsidy for a new football stadium for the Buffalo Bills.
The talks are happening entirely behind closed doors, as has long been tradition in New York’s secretive budget process where major, multi-billion-dollar decisions are hashed out by the governor, the leader of the Senate and the speaker of the Assembly.
State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office warned that some 62,000 state workers could see their paychecks disrupted this week if a budget wasn’t approved by 4 p.m. Monday. With a yearlong budget out of reach, lawmakers agreed to a short-term, $360 million plan that runs through the next three days – though the Assembly missed the comptroller’s deadline by more than an hour, raising the possibility that some workers could see their pay a day late.
“At this point, we didn’t really have much of a choice,” said state Sen. Diane Savino, a Democrat representing Staten Island. “If we don’t pass an extender, then government technically shuts down. So we have no choice. We have to do it.”
The budget extension will keep the state payroll funded through Thursday, by which point Hochul and lawmakers are hoping they can get a full budget deal in place.
Speaking to the Capitol press corps for the first time in 10 days, Hochul pushed back against the idea that this year’s budget process was particularly secretive.
“This is a very normal process and we're just going through what we believe is going to be a very good budget,” Hochul said after receiving her second COVID booster shot at the Capitol. “It'll be resolved in just a matter of days. We’re getting close.”
Much of Hochul’s negotiating team, meanwhile, has contracted COVID in the past week, though the governor said they are starting to “come back online.”
Lawmakers have expressed frustration with Hochul dropping two major issues into the budget talks in the weeks and days before the budget was due.
The first came in mid-March, when Hochul put forward a 10-point plan that she claims would improve public safety in New York. But the plan included significant changes to the state’s recent bail and discovery reforms, which progressive lawmakers are reluctant to change.
Then last week, Hochul announced an agreement with the Buffalo Bills to build a new, $1.4 billion stadium for the NFL club. Of that, taxpayers would pay $850 million – including $600 million from the state, which would need to be approved in the budget.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat representing the north Bronx, has long expressed frustration with governors forcing policy issues in the state budget when they have little to do with New York’s finances. Speaking to reporters Monday, he said that creates a tension between the state Legislature and the governor’s office. However, he expressed confidence they would soon reach consensus.
“Sometimes it's not always sunshine and rainbows in those discussions,” he said. “But at the end of the day, you have a job to do. And we’ll get there.”
Tagged
assembly
senate
budget
new york
Governor Kathy Hochul
Politics
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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