NYS Legislature passes a $2.4B extender as frustrations mount over late state budget

ALBANY — The New York State Legislature passed a fourth extender on Thursday, authorizing $2.4 billion to keep the state government running through Tuesday as budget negotiations "slog," new policy proposals are introduced and frustrations mount.

The emergency spending bill includes pay for state employees, including Gov. Kathy Hochul. Pay for state legislators is suspended until a budget is in place — a rule Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) proposed changing this week.

The proposal would allow lawmakers to be paid if the governor includes unrelated policy in her budget plan, effectively reducing the governor’s leveraging power over the legislature. It has little chance of passing, but highlights the tension between Hochul and lawmakers as negotiations blew past the April 1 start of the fiscal year.

"I think there's increasing frustration about the non-budgetary items that are in the budget. It's what has slowed us down and it's why we are late and the speaker is indicating his frustration," Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) told reporters Wednesday.

Hochul spokesman Avi Small in a statement Wednesday snapped back at Heastie’s proposal, saying, "If the highest-paid state legislators in America are worried about their paychecks, there's a much easier solution: come to the table and pass a budget that includes Governor Hochul's common-sense agenda."

Hochul on Thursday blamed the legislature for the late budget. 

“We didn’t have to be this late … my budget was introduced in January,” Hochul told reporters. “My major priorities have not been dropped at the last minute.”

She continued saying, “I need willing partners who approach with the same sense of urgency as I do.”

Lawmakers were originally slated to be off the next two weeks for Passover and Easter, but will now return on Tuesday.

"As budget negotiations slog, we continue to do our extenders," Ways and Means Committee Chairman Gary Pretlow (D-Mount Vernon) said on the Assembly floor, adding the "bulk of negotiations are with non-budgetary issues better known as policy."

Sticking points on the proposed $252 billion budget include Hochul’s proposed change to how quickly and how much prosecutors need to disclose evidence in the "discovery period" ahead of criminal cases, a statewide ban on mask-wearing and changes to involuntary commitment laws, state lawmakers and budget officials said.  Hochul on Thursday said she won't  sign a budget without changes to discovery.

In recent weeks, Hochul put additional proposals on the table, including language to allow the governor and lieutenant governor to run on the same primary ticket and changing the governance structure of the Nassau University Medical Center, giving her office control over the board. Hochul and lawmakers also are discussing new rules for publicly financed campaign contributions, which could become part of the final budget.

"As the rain in spring, policy issues keep falling on our heads," Pretlow said.

State Budget Director Blake Washington on Wednesday told reporters the timing of Hochul’s new proposals "is what it is," adding "there’s no nefarious purpose here. It’s just, I think, an organic process."

State leaders also are discussing a plan to fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority capital plan, which includes a "general framework" to require larger employers in the suburbs, including Long Island, to share the cost through a payroll mobility tax, he said.

School aid has yet to be decided, Washington said.

The governor has called for an $825 million, or 2.4% increase, over the current $34 billion in spending. The Assembly proposed a $2.7 billion increase in funding and the Senate more than $1 billion. The final budget doesn't typically fall below the governor's proposal, Washington said, adding that school districts can use the governor's budget as a baseline as they work on their own budgets. 

Education advocates, however, argue an untimely budget "leads to frustrating uncertainty around state aid for school districts," Brian Fessler, chief advocacy officer for the New York State School Boards Association, told Newsday in an email. "This increasing stress, coupled with anxiety around federal funding, makes it difficult for many districts to effectively budget and to responsibly message to voters and the broader school community," he said.

Assemb. Ed Ra (R-Garden City South) on the Assembly floor Thursday also stressed the need for certainty.

"We need a budget in place when we get back here next week. We need to finally put the pencils down," Ra said. 

With Yancey Roy