Push comes to budget

The Democrat-dominated Assembly and Senate, in their one-house budgets, reject three of the most important policy priorities of the Democratic governor. Under well-established legal precedent, Kathy Hochul has the upper hand in the tug-of-war. She must put on her gloves and pull with all her might.

Hochul knows the only way to make New York more livable is to build much more housing, especially in the suburbs. So she’s laid out ambitious plans to generate more units, including denser “transit-oriented development” near train stations.

The Legislature — both houses — said no, opting for weak prescriptions that won’t move the needle.

Hochul rightly wants to further adjust pretrial detention laws passed in 2019 to give judges more discretion to set bail in high-level misdemeanor and violent felony cases. While she, like us, knows that the reforms haven’t been major drivers of the post-2019 crime increase, and while she, like us, reviles an old system that locked many people up based on how much cash they had, she also knows that New York is the sole outlier among 50 states for barring judges from factoring in the potential danger an accused individual presents to society. Instead, it always and only requires judges to set the least restrictive conditions requiring a return to court, a requirement the governor now seeks to tweak.

The Legislature — both houses — said no.

And rather than keeping in place a pernicious charter cap that limits the growth of quality alternative schools, Hochul wants to let more independently run public schools open in New York City. This should be an easy one in a city that’s seen traditional public school enrollment fall in recent years.

The Legislature — both houses — said no. Meanwhile, both houses ran up the overall spending tab. The governor bumped operating funds by 2%; the Assembly and Senate, 8.7% and 10.8% respectively.

A 2001 ruling by the state’s highest court gave the governor major leverage over the Legislature. Gov: Wield that power wisely to get the overdue changes you champion passed.