Getting closer
Gov, pols near deals on budget, bail reform
ALBANY — Budget negotiations, already complicated by the coronavirus crisis, went into overtime on Wednesday as Gov. Cuomo and state lawmakers reached a deal on scaled-back spending bills and changes to controversial bail reforms.
The governor, hours after the budget deadline came and went, appeared cautiously optimistic that the state’s financial future would soon take shape despite the delays and the economic impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic.
“We have a conceptual agreement with the leaders,” Cuomo said during a noon press conference. “They are going to go to their members today and talk to them about the agreement, and if the leaders are successful in their conferences, then we will pass the budget.”
Some parts of the budget were passed late Tuesday and more measures were unveiled early Wednesday, including language that will grant the governor the power to alter spending throughout the year if the state’s financial picture gets worse than the already projected $15 billion loss of revenue.
Sources said stalemates over proposed tweaks to recently enacted bail laws and a Cuomo-backed push to legalize paid gestational surrogacy held up the process, but deals were within sight on both issues by early evening.
Bail remained a contentious issue as advocates railed against rolling back criminal justice reforms passed last year that did away with cash bail for most misdemeanors and low-level felonies.
While Senate Majority Leader Andrea StewartCousins (D-Yonkers) and Gov. Cuomo have backed changes allowing judges more discretion, Assembly
Speaker Carl Heastie (DBronx) stood his ground.
A proposal that would add a number of crimes to the list of bail-eligible offenses and give judges more power seemed likely to be included in the budget, multiple sources said.
“This bill would make a mockery of innocence until proven guilty, greatly expand the number of people held pretrial and put more black and brown people behind bars,” said Katie Schaffer, director of advocacy and organizing for the Center for Community Alternatives.
Other measures that appeared ready for passage Wednesday included a $3 billion environmental bond act, a new taxpayerfunded campaign finance system and changes to election law making it harder for third parties to get on the ballot, a ban on single-use polystyrene, or Styrofoam, food containers, an expansion of prevailing wage requirements for construction projects, and a potential ban on all flavored vaping projects.
A big unknown heading into the night was what would happen to Cuomo’s plans to revamp the state’s Medicaid program and push cost overruns to the city and counties.
Some lawmakers were hopeful that a proposed $400 million cut to hospitals would be scrapped amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Education funding for public schools was expected to increase to $26.6 billion, up from $26.1 billion, sources said, but Cuomo would have the power to change spending depending on revenues.
The legislature was also set to green light the borrowing of billions on a short term basis for the next three months to cover delayed revenue because the April 15 tax due date was postponed until July 15th.