Stretching NY budget ‘deadline’ to the limit
Top Dem: No payroll disruptions till Monday
Gov. Hochul and state lawmakers failed to strike a budget deal on New York’s overdue 2023 fiscal plan Wednesday, with critics slamming the “top secret” negotiation process as “appalling” and “undemocratic.”
Lawmakers are looking to add another $4 billion in additional spending to Hochul’s record $216 billion plan, but details on the final proposal remained elusive as sources speculated that negotiations could extend beyond Friday.
“This is extraordinarily bad, even by Albany standards,” said John Kaehny, executive director of the watchdog group Reinvent Albany. “This is a governor who said she was going to change the culture in Albany, but she made it worse, not better.”
After blowing past last Friday’s budget deadline, Hochul and the Democratic-controlled state Legislature on Monday passed a lastminute budget “extender” to fund payroll obligations through midnight Thursday.
But state Sen. Michael Gianaris, the powerful deputy Democratic majority leader, told reporters Tuesday that lawmakers actually have until Monday before payroll is disrupted.
The delay is due to legislators hashing out details of the controversial criminal-justice policy as well as “a host of non-budget issues that were thrown into the mix.”
“Every one of them is complex and controversial, and people have passionate feelings about them and sorting through them and pulling them apart takes days for each one,” Gianaris said.
Bail reform
One measure still on the table is the expansion of Kendra’s Law, which permits court-ordered Assisted Outpatient Treatment, or AOT, and community supervision in cases of serious mental illness. The amended provision could include the involuntary commitment of people with mental illness following a judge’s decision.
Lawmakers are also close to a deal on rolling back the state’s controversial bail-reform laws, mulling changes such as making more hate and gun crimes bail-eligible.
They’re deliberating a measure that would allow judges to consider an individual’s criminal history to determine whether a suspect could cause harm to a person or group of people.
For the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium, Hochul’s $1.4 billion project will be funded with state taxpayers covering $600 million and residents of Erie County, where it will be built, chipping in another
$250 million. The team’s billionaire owners — Florida residents Terry and Kim Pegula — will foot $550 million of the price tag.
Also on the table is a plan to bring casino gambling to New York City. It would require the state Gaming Facility Location Board to issue a Request for Applications to open three new casinos — with two or possibly all three located within the five boroughs.
“You have the minimum cost of the license fee that will be at minimum, $500 to $750 million each,” said the chair of the state Senate’s Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, Joe Addabbo (DQueens).
Measures still under consideration include:
▪ An extension of the pandemicera “alcohol to-go” law.
▪ Relief for high prices at the gas pump.
▪ A plan to revamp the state’s embattled ethics agency, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics.
▪ More spending for home-care workers, child care, distressed hospitals, SUNY and CUNY students and potentially a state-funded deal to provide health insurance to undocumented New Yorkers.
One item currently not under discussion is extending mayoral control of New York City schools.