{"id":3178,"date":"2025-05-05T08:10:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T12:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/?p=3178"},"modified":"2025-05-05T08:10:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T12:10:40","slug":"new-yorks-latest-budget-in-fifteen-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/new-yorks-latest-budget-in-fifteen-years\/","title":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s Latest Budget in Fifteen Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April showers bring May flowers, but so far New York State\u2019s budget \u2013 due by April 1<\/u>st<\/sup><\/u><\/a> \u2013 is still not done. Despite an announcement last week by Governor Hochul that there was a budget agreement, things are not wrapped up and the hope is that a final budget will be put to bed this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time will tell. No matter what though, it will be the latest budget agreement<\/a> in 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the reason for the late budget? Responsibility can be laid almost entirely at the feet of the governor<\/a>. It was she that demanded agreements on four policy issues \u2013 which are not fundamentally budget items \u2013 that she thought were important. In addition, she advanced some of those measures late in March, almost guaranteeing that the budget would be late. It is a tactic that she has used in her previous budget negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those four measures were the agreements that the governor was referring to last week. Apparently, she got what she wanted in her plans to change the discovery process<\/a> before criminal trials, new changes that make it easier for police to confine a person<\/a> for psychiatric evaluation if they suspect mentally illness, additional penalties for wearing masks<\/a> while committing crimes, and banning student cellphones<\/a> in the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the governor, she also got agreements on policies that are directly related to the budget: one-time tax rebate checks<\/a> of $400 for families and $200 for single filers. The governor also announced that the final budget also will reduce the tax rate<\/a> for middle-income and upper-middle-income families and increase the child tax credit<\/a> to $1,000 per child under 4 years old, among items that were part of her \u201caffordability agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without the actual legislation to review, of course, there is no way of knowing what the details are for both the governor\u2019s announced agreements and the myriad of other measures that will be part of a final spending plan of $254 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a budget that big, there are lots of other issues that have not been part of the public debate. These include critical measures that impact the state\u2019s future \u2013 for example, how to make college more affordable and how to improve public participation in government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her original budget plan, Governor Hochul proposed cuts to the state\u2019s successful college \u201copportunity programs,\u201d at odds with her focus on affordability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opportunity programs<\/a>, which are designed for educationally and economically disadvantaged students, have a steady track record of success in increasing retention and graduation rates among the most at-risk students \u2013 both in public colleges and in independent ones. These programs take a comprehensive approach to college access and affordability by building in academic counseling, mentoring, and often providing waivers for related costs such as transit, textbooks, and childcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SUNY senior college<\/a> educational opportunity program students, for example, are more likely than the general student body to stay in college in their first year<\/a>. The six-year graduation rate for those students is higher as well. Similar results<\/a> exist for opportunity programs found in the independent sector. The same is true with the City University system<\/a>. Will funding to those programs be restored?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, will the state enhance support<\/a> for independent colleges? Last year, the budget cut<\/a> state support for these important institutions. This year, the state Senate has restored<\/a> that cut. What will the final budget agreement do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another underreported item is the collapse<\/a> of local news reporting. The accelerating loss of local newspapers and other media outlets has had a devastating impact on civic life. Current projections<\/a> show that the United States will have lost one-third of the newspapers that it had back in 2005.  And many of those that are surviving barely cling to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our representative democracy, an informed electorate is fundamentally important to ensure that the system works.  Many Americans have unprecedented access to information, but with lives busier than ever, it\u2019s very hard for citizens to fill the reporting and analysis void provided by local reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, New York included in its budget a tax credit to benefit local news outlets<\/a>. That measure did not help local non-profit newsrooms<\/a> \u2013 such a public radio stations. There are proposals<\/a> to both include non-profits in that tax benefit as well as increase direct financial assistance<\/a>. Given the importance of the press in our democracy \u2013 and the growing hostility to it nationally \u2013 will the final budget take steps to help secure their financial futures?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s possible that New Yorkers will know how these topics, and a long list of others, are addressed in the final budget agreement. But for future budgets, New Yorkers should make sure that lawmakers know that getting their work done on-time \u2013 like meeting the state\u2019s legal deadline of April 1st<\/sup> \u2013 is important and we expect them to do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April showers bring May flowers, but so far New York State\u2019s budget \u2013 due by April 1st \u2013 is still not done. Despite an announcement last week by Governor Hochul that there was a budget agreement, things are not wrapped up and the hope is that a final budget will be put to bed this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3178"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3180,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3178\/revisions\/3180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}