Budget talks continue, with few signs of a breakthrough
The Legislature has approved twelve emergency spending bills to keep government running. Credit: AP/Hans Pennink
ALBANY — It’s been a week since Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a budget deal but there is no agreement in sight, no actual legislation on the table and now some lawmakers say the stalemate could roll past Memorial Day.
It’s a surprising twist, given that no big fights were expected in a year Hochul and all 213 legislators are up for reelection.
It also means this will be the latest budget of Hochul’s tenure.
On Thursday, the legislature convened to approve the 12th emergency spending bill to keep government running since missing the April 1 budget deadline.
Sen. Jose Serrano (D-Bronx), the Democrats’ budget point man, acknowledged when grilled by Republicans during debate: "I don’t have a concrete idea of where we are in the budget."
"There seems to be no sense of urgency," responded Sen. Tom O’Mara (R-Elmira), the GOP point man. "It’s embarrassing."
The governor largely has been traveling the state in the seven days since declaring a "general agreement" — but leaders said that’s not been a factor.
Serrano and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) said they "hope" the Senate and Assembly can reach an actual final deal with Hochul by Monday and be voting on the thousands of pages of bills that will go into the roughly $268 billion budget by the end of next week.
But a top senator called that prospect "very slim."
"I hope we’re voting on budget bills next week but that’s not a certainty," Deputy Senate Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) told reporters.
Seven days earlier, Hochul said she’d reached a general agreement with State Senate and Assembly leaders on the spending plan — a sunny declaration that those same leaders immediately contradicted.
Hochul said there were agreements on adjusting climate laws, limiting federal immigration agents, establishing buffer zones at houses of worship, taxing second homes in New York City and capping profits on automobile insurance.
But she acknowledged that the agreement was on concepts and that all "the final details will be worked out" eventually.
Heastie countered, minutes later: "There’s no budget deal" because they hadn’t signed off on any major issues or spending details.
In the week since, not much progress has been reported. Even once an agreement is forged, it will take days, if not a week or so, to draft legislation, distribute it for public review and hold voting in the Senate and Assembly.
Hochul mostly has been away from Albany since then, traveling and touting the conceptual agreements. Legislators didn’t blame that for the lack of progress, however.
"I’m not so much worried about her presence," Gianaris said. "Things are just moving way too slow."
Newsday’s Keshia Clukey contributed to this story.
