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Let there be no suspense: New York’s state budget will be late this year.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders made clear on Thursday that a final spending plan won’t be in place ahead of the start of the state’s fiscal year this Saturday, acknowledging they remain at odds over issues like Hochul’s controversial housing plan and her proposal to once again scale back the state’s 2019 bail reforms.
It will mark the second consecutive year that Hochul and lawmakers missed the April 1 deadline.
“It’s becoming clear that the budget will not be meeting the April 1 deadline, but as I have said all along, it’s not about a race to a deadline, it’s about a race to getting the right results,” Hochul said Thursday in an interview with New York State Public Radio’s Karen DeWitt.
As part of her budget proposal, Hochul, a Democrat, included what she’s called her housing compact: A plan to create 800,000 new units statewide in part by allowing the state to step in and approve housing projects if a city, town or village doesn’t create enough new units on its own.
She’s also proposed altering the state’s bail laws to ensure judges don’t have to impose the “least restrictive” measures to ensure someone returns to court in bail-eligible cases.
But the Senate and Assembly’s Democratic majorities have resisted both measures. And Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) acknowledged on Thursday that the vast majority of budget talks to this point have focused on those two issues. Other thorny measures, like Hochul’s plan to relax New York City’s charter school cap, are still yet be negotiated.
What now?
Heastie told reporters there hasn’t been any consensus on what the size of the budget will be, in part because they haven’t agreed on what will make it into the final spending plan. Hochul’s proposal, first unveiled in February, clocked in at $227 billion.
“We haven’t even decided what the shopping list is,” Heastie said. “Until you decide what the shopping list is, then you go back and you figure out if you have the revenue to pay for the shopping list.”
Unlike some of the federal government’s budget showdowns over the years, New York’s lapsed budget has few practical effects in the short term — assuming they approve a short-term bill to authorize spending, as they have in past years.
With no final spending plan in place, Hochul and lawmakers have until the end of Monday to approve at least the temporary measure in place to ensure state workers get paid, according to the state comptroller’s office. About 57,000 employees at regional state institutions — including mental health facilities and state prisons — are scheduled to receive their direct deposits on Thursday.
“Without a new budget, all our same tax policies are still in place,” said Patrick Orecki, director of state studies for the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit that analyzes the New York state and city budgets. “The state will keep collecting money as it has. It just needs the legal authority to then spend that money.”
While the practical effects of a slightly late budget are minimal, the symbolism may be greater. Blowing past the budget deadline doesn’t send a good message to state taxpayers, said Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, a western New York Republican.
“I think it’s about confidence in state government, confidence that the state government that you elected can function,” Ortt said. “That the trains can run on time, so to speak, right? That things can get done.”
Additional hurdles
Hochul, Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) all expressed hope that a budget agreement could be reached soon.
But there are potential complications on the horizon: Passover begins on Wednesday and Easter follows on Sunday, limiting when lawmakers would be willing to return for a vote next week.
“I do not intend to be here on Easter and nor do my members,” Ortt said.
But even without those scheduling issues, Hochul and leaders of the Senate and Assembly don’t appear close to a resolution.
On Thursday, a reporter asked Stewart-Cousins to name a budget issue where the three sides are in agreement. Stewart-Cousins pointed to the budget’s debt service bill — a measure that ensures the state pays its debts and, in most years, is treated as a foregone conclusion.
Her response drew some chuckles in the room.
“You’re laughing, but the federal government isn’t willing to do this,” Stewart-Cousins said, referring to the ongoing federal battle over raising the debt limit. “So, I mean, this is not a small thing when you think about it.”
Next, Hochul and lawmakers will have to decide when they want to pass the budget extender, and for how long. Under state law, the legislators will have their pay withheld until a final spending plan is in place.
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