Legislators passed a $1.7 billion budget extender Tuesday that will fund the government through Thursday. But multiple lawmakers who spoke to WAMC say they’re not going to meet that deadline, either, and another extender will be needed. State Senator James Skoufis, a Democrat from the 42nd District, estimates it will be a week or more before there’s a final version of the budget.
“We are making progress," he says. "I think we would all agree it’s a little bit slower than we’d like it to be, but we’re making progress.”
Governor Kathy Hochul proposed a $252 billion budget back in January. Lawmakers say there are a number of factors holding up negotiations, including concerns over spending and disagreements over multiple policy items in the budget. The issues causing the most stir are proposed changes to New York’s discovery reform laws, a cell phone ban in schools, a mask ban, and the criteria used by the state to decide whether someone with mental illness should be involuntarily committed.
With that, the state easily blew past the April 1 deadline.
State Senator Rob Rolison, a Republican from the 39th District, says he doesn’t feel like he has a lot of power in these discussions, as a member of the minority conference. But he hopes changes to New York’s pre-trial discovery laws make it through. He says cases are being dismissed because district attorneys statewide are struggling to meet the tighter deadlines established in 2019 to submit evidence for discovery, including evidence not directly tied to the case.
“Essentially, what the governor has proposed is that something that’s inconsequential, something that was not deliberately held back…there needs to be some leeway," he says.
Rolison and Skoufis both say they’re keeping an eye on funding for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The MTA is looking to the state to plug all or part of a more than $33 billion funding gap for its next capital plan, potentially by increasing the payroll mobility tax on nearby businesses. Skoufis says such an increase would not be fair for Hudson Valley businesses, especially those west of the Hudson, which do not have direct train access to New York City.
“Those of us who don’t have access to the MTA should not have to pay even more beyond what we’re already being robbed from for service that doesn’t exist in our communities," says Skoufis.
Skoufis says he’s working on getting two tolling discounts for Orange County drivers in the Senate’s budget plan, one for the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge and one for the Thruway toll plaza at Harriman.
Democratic State Senator Michelle Hinchey, meanwhile, says she’s focused on funding for universal school meals, especially as the federal government looks to cut farm-to-school grants nationwide. Hinchey, from the 41st District, says she wants to expand state funding for the Farm-to-School and Nourish New York programs to help schools and food banks get access to fresh produce from local farms.
“It’s one we’ve been fighting for, actually, for the last couple of years, but I feel really good about this year," she notes. "I’m hopeful that we can get that over the finish line, which would allow more schools to opt in to Farm-to-School program and actually get good, local food to all of our students.”
Hinchey says she’s also trying to get funding for her Safe Water Action Infrastructure Program, or SWAP, into the bill. She says SWAP would allow municipalities to receive funding for water line maintenance similar to how they receive CHIPS funding for roads and highways.
On that note, Assemblyman Matt Slater says he wants to see more money for CHIPS and other infrastructure projects in the budget. The Republican says the Hudson Valley, and especially his 94th District, struggles with “the worst rated roads and bridges in the entire state of New York.”
At the same time, he’s concerned about the overall size of the budget — the legislature’s versions were even higher than Hochul’s — and how long it’s taking to get done.
“When you continue to see us blow through the fiscal year deadlines...This is my third year here, and the third year in a row that we’ve done this," he says. "When I was a town supervisor, we had a date that we were mandated to have our local budgets in. We didn’t get the opportunity to do extenders. Under one-party rule, it really doesn’t make sense that folks can’t get on the same page.”
Also in question is how much money New York will actually end up receiving from the federal government when it finalizes its budget later this year. The Trump Administration is working to slash federal spending nationwide, and Skoufis says lawmakers have no idea how deep the cuts might be.
“It may wind up that we have to do a Budget 2.0 several months from now and come back to Albany and revisit the budget that we’re putting together," he explains. "But for the meantime, we can only deal with the current circumstances. We can’t predict for the future.”
