The big news out of New York\u2019s capital last week was that Governor Hochul and state lawmakers finally adopted a budget.\u00a0 The final budget \u2013 over one month late \u2013 with a price tag $9 billion more than last year (roughly 4.5% more) and made numerous changes to policies not closely tied to the budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Governor Hochul had jammed up budget negotiations in order to secure changes in the state\u2019s bail laws to give judges more discretion to require that defendants post bail or stay in jail after arrest. The issue of the state\u2019s rising crime rate hurt the governor when she ran for election last year and she was determined to get changes to the bail law. While the connections between bail standards and the rising crime rate are, at best, debatable, she was able to obtain the changes that she wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In another largely not-tied-to-the-budget issue, the governor and state leaders approved a measure that will require that new buildings constructed later this decade will have to rely on electricity, not fossil fuels, to power them. Environmentalists largely cheered the agreement since it will significantly limit the use of fossil fuels going into the future. New York is the first state to approve such a mandate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The $229 billion budget was approved without many significant cuts to programs as the state has been awash in cash as the pandemic ebbed and federal funding was still available. College students and their families should be happy \u2013 the governor\u2019s proposed public college tuition hike and her proposed cuts to financial aid programs for the needy were rejected. Instead, the state will provide resources to the State University of New York (and the City University of New York) to fund necessary spending. Left unaddressed in this area is adopting a state plan for reversing the financial decline at many public and private colleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The budget would also add to the \u201crainy day\u201d fund as it is expected that the state will face increasing fiscal difficulties in the years to come as federal COVID financial support dries up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now that the budget is finally finished, lawmakers now turn their attention to non-budget policy issues. With the end of session scheduled for June 8th<\/sup>, that leaves little time to grapple with complicated legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One issue that impacts the budget and will be central to state spending and policies is how to address the state\u2019s aging infrastructure \u2013 in particular roads, bridges and coastline protection \u2013 in the age of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New Yorkers have already<\/em> spent hundreds of millions on climate damages and resilience this year alone. Governor Hochul recently announced a taxpayer funded $4 million coastal resiliency project<\/a> in Jefferson County, part of a $300 million resiliency project<\/a> for Lake Ontario. And in just the first two months of this year, she announced a combined $750 million in taxpayer funds to pay for climate change-driven damages. The Long Island Regional Planning Council is projecting<\/a> $75 to $100 billion in taxpayer funds for new roads and other infrastructure improvements, thanks to worsening storms and sea level rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n