New York hopes for budget deal
The New York state budget is now two days late as lawmakers struggle to find agreement on education spending, charter schools and juvenile justice reform.
The Assembly and Senate planned to work late Sunday in the hopes of striking a deal.
If they fail to reach agreement by Monday, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has vowed to introduce legislation that would extend the current budget, a backup plan that would leave out popular proposals to increase college tuition aid or invest billions of dollars in the state’s aging
water infrastructure.
Under state law legislative pay could be withheld as long as lawmakers fail to pass a budget, giving them another reason to strike a deal.
Alternatively, if lawmakers reject Cuomo’s budget extender it could force a government shutdown. Many lawmakers still blame Cuomo for killing a proposed legislative pay hike last year — which would have been the first in nearly 20 years — which could be complicating the budget negotiations.
One key sticking point remains a proposal known as “raise the age” that would end the state’s practice of prosecuting and incarcerating 16- and 17-year-old offenders as adults. The change is a priority for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and other Democrats, but it has raised concerns among Senate Republicans.
Lawmakers in North Carolina, the only other state where 16- and 17-year-old offenders are prosecuted as adults, are also considering legislation to raise the age.