Negotiations over late NYS budget will go even later — into next week
The New York State Assembly chamber at the State Capitol in Albany is seen on Jan. 16, 2024. Credit: AP / Hans Pennink
ALBANY — The protracted state budget process will continue into next week when legislators and the public will get a shortened amount of time to review how the $254 billion will be spent, legislators said Thursday.
The state budget was due by April 1.
The latest plan is to introduce budget bills Monday at the earliest. Those eight voluminous bills totaling hundreds of pages will reveal how the money will be spent as well as several major new policies in law enforcement and for schools, according to Democratic leaders in brief floor debates Thursday in the Senate and Assembly. Voting alone is expected to require at least two days.
The bills will for the first time detail the deals struck by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Democratic leaders of the Senate and Assembly in closed-door meetings since March. Those negotiations added $2 billion to the budget that Hochul proposed in January.
Legislators said Hochul is expected to issue “messages of necessity” next week that will suspend the state constitution’s requirement for three days of public review of the bills before voting can begin. Legislators said voting could start as early as Monday and the budget could be finally approved by Thursday, more than 37 days after it was due.
Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, said budget negotiations continued Thursday despite Hochul’s announcement on Monday of a “general agreement” on the budget. Since then, Hochul has held news conferences statewide promoting her victories in a budget deal.
“It’s not quite done yet, despite some people’s linguistic interpretation that it is done,” Krueger said.
Hochul didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Thomas O’Mara (R-Elmira) asked Krueger if the budget bills would be available to the State Legislature on Monday.
“I want to say yes,” Krueger said. “I really hope ‘yes.’ That’s the best I can offer.”
They spoke during a floor vote on Hochul’s 10th emergency spending measure that has kept the state operating since the previous budget expired March 31. In all, the “extenders” based on spending in the past budget have totaled $15.4 billion.
The late budget has impacted school districts. Because the state leaders haven’t agreed on exactly how much state aid schools would get or how it would be distributed, school boards in most areas around the state had to estimate in order to produce their own budgets before the statewide school budget vote on May 20.
“This seems to get worse and worse each and every year,” said Assemb. Ed Ra (R-Garden City South), referring to Albany’s history of late budgets. “You have an executive who goes out announcing a deal and taking a victory lap, yet we are still in Albany waiting on bills that we can vote on to actually enact a budget.”
Hochul has defended the negotiating and insisted that she wouldn’t agree to a budget without achieving her policy goals.
“Good things take time,” Hochul told reporters this week.
ALBANY — The protracted state budget process will continue into next week when legislators and the public will get a shortened amount of time to review how the $254 billion will be spent, legislators said Thursday.
The state budget was due by April 1.
The latest plan is to introduce budget bills Monday at the earliest. Those eight voluminous bills totaling hundreds of pages will reveal how the money will be spent as well as several major new policies in law enforcement and for schools, according to Democratic leaders in brief floor debates Thursday in the Senate and Assembly. Voting alone is expected to require at least two days.
The bills will for the first time detail the deals struck by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Democratic leaders of the Senate and Assembly in closed-door meetings since March. Those negotiations added $2 billion to the budget that Hochul proposed in January.
Legislators said Hochul is expected to issue “messages of necessity” next week that will suspend the state constitution’s requirement for three days of public review of the bills before voting can begin. Legislators said voting could start as early as Monday and the budget could be finally approved by Thursday, more than 37 days after it was due.
Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, said budget negotiations continued Thursday despite Hochul’s announcement on Monday of a “general agreement” on the budget. Since then, Hochul has held news conferences statewide promoting her victories in a budget deal.
“It’s not quite done yet, despite some people’s linguistic interpretation that it is done,” Krueger said.
Hochul didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Thomas O’Mara (R-Elmira) asked Krueger if the budget bills would be available to the State Legislature on Monday.
“I want to say yes,” Krueger said. “I really hope ‘yes.’ That’s the best I can offer.”
They spoke during a floor vote on Hochul’s 10th emergency spending measure that has kept the state operating since the previous budget expired March 31. In all, the “extenders” based on spending in the past budget have totaled $15.4 billion.
The late budget has impacted school districts. Because the state leaders haven’t agreed on exactly how much state aid schools would get or how it would be distributed, school boards in most areas around the state had to estimate in order to produce their own budgets before the statewide school budget vote on May 20.
“This seems to get worse and worse each and every year,” said Assemb. Ed Ra (R-Garden City South), referring to Albany’s history of late budgets. “You have an executive who goes out announcing a deal and taking a victory lap, yet we are still in Albany waiting on bills that we can vote on to actually enact a budget.”
Hochul has defended the negotiating and insisted that she wouldn’t agree to a budget without achieving her policy goals.
“Good things take time,” Hochul told reporters this week.
Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.
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