The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Deadline passes on budget
ALBANY, N.Y.>> New York state entered a new fiscal year without a state budget Saturday as lawmakers failed to find compromises on key proposals relating to education spending and juvenile justice.
Still, top lawmakers cited prog- ress on other budget items including increased tuition assistance, funding for aging water systems and permitting ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft to expand upstate.
The work is expected to go through the weekend.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an ultimatum to lawmakers early Saturday: come to a budget agreement or he would propose extending the current budget — without any of the high-profile proposals under discussion.
“If the Legislature does not reach agreement at the conclusion of the weekend, then I will put forth emergency legislation to extend the current budget,” Cuomo said in a statement.
A key sticking point remains a proposal to raise the age of criminal responsibility so 16- and 17-year-old offenders aren’t prosecuted as adults. The change is a priority for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and other Democrats, but has raised concerns among Senate Republicans.
The ongoing dispute over the issue known as “raise the age” dashed any hope of the budget being passed by Saturday, when a new fiscal year began and the budget became officially late.
Senators began discussing the option of removing the raise-the-age proposal and other contentious issues entirely so a budget could be adopted quickly — an idea that ran into opposition
from Democrats in both chambers.
Syracuse Republican John DeFrancisco said he expects a budget to pass before Monday, but predicted that in order to do so many of the most contentious issues, including raise the age, would be “jettisoned” out of necessity. He said they could be taken up when lawmakers return to wrap up their session in May.
Removing the raise the age proposal from the budget would be a defeat for Heastie and Democrats who say the age of criminal responsibility is a civil rights issue.
“It’s a very difficult thing to ask me — would I consider a budget without raise the age,” said Heastie, DBronx. “That really means a lot to me.”
A late budget, on the other hand, is a setback to Cuomo, who had a string of on-time budgets early in his tenure and has criti- cized the late budgets of the past as a symptom of political dysfunction.
The budget deal is likely to include $2 billion to $2.5 billion for water quality and upgrades to the state’s aging water infrastructure, Republican Senate Leader John Flanagan said, as well as $163 million to make college tuition more affordable.
Cuomo introduced his $152 billion budget proposal in January. It keeps the status quo when it comes to taxes, adds $1 billion in new public education spending, includes expanded childcare tax credits and a new initiative making state college tuition free for students from families making $125,000 or less.
The governor has not discussed the budget publicly since Tuesday, when he said “more than conceptual” deals had been reached on the budget’s major issues — a claim later contradicted by events.
“If he (Cuomo) baked the cake we’re putting on icing and candles so that every- one will like it,” Flanagan, of Long Island, told reporters .
s is custom in Albany, the negotiations played out behind closed doors. Delays and disputes over the details threatened to derail budget talks at several points, most dramatically Friday evening when frustrated Senate Republicans left the Capitol for home, only to be summoned back to be ready to vote on then non-existent compromises.
“It’s Albany dysfunction at its worst and is an embarrassment,” said Assemblyman Raymond Walter, a Buffalo-area Republican.