On an unusually sticky, humid day at the state Capitol, multiple people remarked that the air in the massive stone building was as stagnant as the budget process, now more than five weeks late and lumbering toward a protracted, multi-phase “deal,” as has become common under Gov. Kathy Hochul. It would be Hochul’s fifth straight late budget.
Sources told Spectrum News 1 that Hochul and her staff were preparing Tuesday and Wednesday for a possible announcement Wednesday evening, but they ultimately pulled the plug around 5 p.m. The back-and-forth came after a handshake deal appeared within reach Tuesday afternoon before falling apart Tuesday evening, then potentially coming back together Wednesday afternoon and ultimately being pushed possibly to sometime Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie were once again meeting with Hochul as of around 6 p.m. Wednesday trying to get top-line items buttoned up. A cart stacked high with pizza boxes was seen being rolled into the governor’s office suite on the second floor of the Capitol as staffers came and went — a sign of a long night ahead.
On Tuesday, Stewart-Cousins told reporters that Hochul and legislative leaders had largely buttoned down the four major policy issues.
“We are — I would say — pretty much having conceptual agreements on the governor’s four major policy proposals,” Stewart-Cousins said, referring to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposals to reform the state’s car insurance laws in an effort to lower rates, dial back the 2019 climate law, change the state’s environmental quality review (SEQRA) in an effort to spur housing development and pass an immigrant protection package in response to the Trump Administration’s immigration policy which has been brewing since the beginning of the legislative session.
“I think we are really close to the beginning of the end,” she added.
At a news conference in Albany Tuesday, Hochul too expressed optimism that the end is in sight.
It was ultimately determined that too many major issues remained unresolved for a handshake deal Wednesday, including how the pied-à-terre tax in New York City will function and how much money the struggling city will receive; how much assistance upstate municipalities will get amid a surprisingly robust push by state Sen. Pat Fahy to expand the tax upstate; and what reforms will or won’t be made to the state’s Tier 6 pension system.
Other money issues, including education and health care spending, which make up massive portions of the total spending plan, remain open and unsettled.
It is customary under Hochul for a conceptual agreement on the major policy questions to be announced, only for budget negotiations around other issues to continue for days before budget bills come to the Senate and Assembly floors for a vote. This year has presented a challenge to that pattern in that so many of the major issues under discussion, from assistance to New York City to Tier 6, are deeply interconnected with the broader fiscal framework.
It is customary under Hochul for a conceptual agreement on the major policy questions to be announced and for budget negotiations around other issues to continue for days before budget bills come to the Senate and Assembly floors for a vote. This year has presented a challenge to that pattern in that so many of the major issues under discussion are deeply interconnected with the broader fiscal framework.
Sources say Assembly Democrats conferenced the “super speeders” bill in a closed-door meeting for New York City electeds headed by Heastie with members ultimately signaling support as it continues to play a role in budget negotiations, before being called back to discuss other budget issues. Senate Democrats conferenced for three hours and multiple members came away frustrated with how little information was available on fiscal items such as money for New York City, Tier 6 and assistance for upstate municipalities.