{"id":3182,"date":"2025-05-12T07:54:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T11:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/?p=3182"},"modified":"2025-05-12T07:54:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T11:54:59","slug":"new-york-has-a-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/new-york-has-a-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Has a Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After weeks of debate, Governor Hochul and state lawmakers hammered out a budget deal \u2013 a full 38 days late, the latest agreement<\/a> in 15 years. Despite the lateness, the governor has been barnstorming across the state touting her policy victories. The four most notable \u2014 changes to the evidence discovery process<\/a>\u00a0before criminal trials, changes that make it easier to confine individuals<\/a> with suspected mental illness for psychiatric evaluation, additional penalties for wearing masks<\/a> while committing crimes, and\u00a0banning student cellphones<\/a> in the classroom \u2014 had been the primary reasons for the budget delay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actual budget<\/a> was more or less the same as the one that the governor advanced in January. The final budget was a bit more than the governor proposed \u2013 $254 billion or $2 billion more \u2013 but was a full 5 percent<\/a> more than last year\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the immense size of the budget, it contains a lot of spending that is notable. As a result of how the governor conducts budget negotiations, there are a lot of \u201cnon-budget\u201d policy changes included as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of spending, the state\u2019s new budget tackles a wide range of issues. New Yorkers will receive \u201cinflation refund<\/a>\u201d checks projected to cost the state $2 billion \u2014 up to $200 for individuals, $400 for families \u2014 for middle-class New Yorkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state will spend billions to pay off its Covid-era unemployment benefits debt<\/a> owed to the federal government and increase unemployment benefits for the first time in six years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the area of higher education, the governor\u2019s proposed \u201cNew York Opportunity Promise Scholarship,\u201d was approved<\/a>. That plan allows community college students aged 25 to 55 who do not have a college degree to attend community college for free if they enroll in certain programs within high-demand fields, such as technology, cybersecurity, nursing, and teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Legislature restored Governor Hochul\u2019s proposed cuts to college opportunity programs<\/a>, which provide assistance to educationally and economically disadvantaged students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the area of the environment, the final budget invested $1 billion<\/a> in climate programs. That amount \u2013 while significant \u2013 was far less than the \u201ccap and invest<\/a>\u201d program would have generated had it been allowed to proceed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state\u2019s Environmental Protection Fund got a boost to $425 million<\/a> this year, a $25 million increase. The budget continued the existing spending level of water infrastructure at $500 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The electric bus mandate was pushed back<\/a> two years in the budget agreement, giving school districts more time to transition from fossil-fuel-powered vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York City mass transit system received revenues from the new budget. It included a payroll mobility tax hike<\/a> on city companies with yearly payrolls of $10 million. New York City suburban areas businesses with big payrolls will see their rates go up too. The hikes \u2014 which will help pay for the $68 billion plan to modernize the MTA\u2019s decaying trains, stations and infrastructure \u2014 follow the outlines revealed in a deal<\/a> between the governor and state legislative leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A myriad of other \u201cnon-budget\u201d issues were loaded into the final budget agreement, many negotiated in secret. From making changes<\/a> to how the state regulates religious schools\u2019 compliance with education requirements to changes<\/a> to the state\u2019s public financing system, the budget was chock full of new measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The budget also delayed the state law that restricts the outside income of state legislators, allowing them to continue to \u201cmoonlight.\u201d The budget included a change in how lieutenant governors are elected<\/a>: From now on, there will be no primaries for that position; lieutenant gubernatorial candidates will run as one ticket with the political party\u2019s candidate for governor as is done for president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The budget gives the governor broad authority to make midyear budget cuts<\/a> in order to respond to potential fiscal shortfalls resulting from federal budgetary changes that may result from actions by the President and the Congress. Similar powers were granted to then-Governor Cuomo<\/a> during the Covid<\/a> emergency, but the new language has some more rules in place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the budget also includes a $10 million fund to pay the legal fees of state officials<\/a> who are investigated by the Trump administration. Those covered include state workers who are implicated in a federal proceeding as a result of their job duties. In addition, it also applies to cases where a federal proceeding is \u201cunrelated to the employee\u2019s state employment or duties but is reasonably likely to have been commenced because of or in response to the employee\u2019s state employment or exercise of their duties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The budget spends a lot and changes a lot of laws. Whether this budget will hold up to the realities of the upcoming year and was worth the waiting, only time will tell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After weeks of debate, Governor Hochul and state lawmakers hammered out a budget deal \u2013 a full 38 days late, the latest agreement in 15 years. Despite the lateness, the governor has been barnstorming across the state touting her policy victories. The four most notable \u2014 changes to the evidence discovery process\u00a0before criminal trials, changes […]<\/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-3182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3182","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=3182"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3183,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3182\/revisions\/3183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}