N.Y. Budget Misses April 1 Deadline, Dealing Blow to Hochul
N.Y. Budget Misses April 1 Deadline, Dealing Blow to Hochul
(Bloomberg) -- The first state budget of Kathy Hochul’s tenure as New York governor is officially late.
Held up by negotiations over bail reform, to-go drinks and New York City casinos, the governor has failed to meet an April 1 deadline to hash out a more than $200 billion deal with a Legislature intent on asserting its power after years of acrimonious battles with her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo.
If the budget isn’t passed by Monday, paychecks for state government employees will be delayed, according to state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.
A delayed budget will provide ammunition to competitors in the June Democratic primary and the November governor’s race. It will also raise questions over the political acumen of Hochul, who took office in August after Cuomo resigned over multiple sexual harassment accusations.
Hochul promised a more collegial relationship with her fellow Democrats in the state legislature and many lawmakers say she’s fulfilled that pledge. But that doesn’t mean the budget negotiations have run smoothly or without controversy.
On Thursday, lawmakers in both the state Senate and Assembly were preparing to leave the Capitol for much of the weekend, because leaders’ failure to reach consensus on the broad outlines of the budget left the hundreds of rank-and-file lawmakers with nothing to vote on.
“It seems to me almost inconceivable that there’s a way for us to complete all these budget bills on time,” said Manhattan State Senator Liz Krueger, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee.
Flush With Cash
Hochul, who proposed a $216.3 billion spending plan in January, has extraordinarily favorable negotiating circumstances, at least fiscally. Because of better-than-expected tax receipts and billions of dollars in federal pandemic aid, the state is flush with cash. No spending cuts are required to balance the state’s books.
Legislative sources familiar with the negotiations said the extra money was a blessing but that it actually may be complicating the deal-making process. A governor’s first budget is often difficult, but Hochul has so many new initiatives and programs she’s trying to fund and create that the logistics and details are actually slowing the process somewhat. It’s also unclear what her top priorities are, hindering the horse-trading that typically accompanies the process.
In a statement released Thursday evening, as it became clear the budget deadline would not be met, Hochul said she was having “productive conversations” with legislative leaders, and insisted “we are getting closer to agreement, with consensus on major policy items.”
“New Yorkers should know that progress is being made and that we will put in the time it takes to reach an agreement that delivers for them and moves our state forward,” Hochul said.
Early in his governorship, Cuomo consistently met the April 1 deadline. He delivered late budgets three times during his 11-year tenure, all within the last five years, including the 2020 and 2021 pandemic years and 2017, when real estate tax breaks held up a deal. At the beginning of his tenure, he called on-time budgets a sign of a functioning government, relishing in the change from previous governors who allowed negotiations to languish into the summer.
Sticking Points
New York’s criminal justice laws are among the largest sticking points, including changes to the state’s bail and discovery laws.
Democratic Assemblywoman Latrice Walker said Hochul made a tactical negotiating error in letting details of a 10-point proposal to change the state’s bail, discovery and mental health laws leak to the public, before most lawmakers had had a chance to review them.
Tightening restrictions on arrested individuals awaiting trial is controversial, because there’s little data tying the 2019 bail law to increases in crime, and some Democratic lawmakers argue changes will result in an increase in incarceration of mostly poor and nonwhite New Yorkers.
“The baseline of the conversation is about the 10-point plan, which was leaked, as opposed to being shared to most of the members of our conference, which we believe is a huge problem,” Walker said during a briefing on Wednesday. “It was a definite mistake in the process.”
Lawmakers are also haggling over the details of a plan to allow restaurants to serve alcoholic drinks to-go, and whether to grant new casino licenses for the operation of casinos in New York City and neighboring suburbs. The governor and legislative leadership are working out details of a possible gas tax rebate, and a deal to subsidize a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills, along with measures to significantly expand child-care subsidies for middle-class New Yorkers and provide health care for undocumented New Yorkers.
“It’s great to see government doesn’t have the same air of bully-ness,” said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who is challenging Hochul in the June Democratic primary, during a briefing in Albany. “That should be the floor, not the ceiling. I’ve also been saying, unfortunately, the policies are going to be the same. Or worse, some of them are worse than then we had from the previous government.”
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