As state budget debate continues, time runs short for other bills

ALBANY — New York lawmakers are facing a time crunch with the state budget more than a month late and the end of session fast approaching, leaving little time to take up other bills.

Thousands of local measures and bills to extend existing law are up for consideration along with proposals to overhaul the state’s election redistricting, reduce plastic packaging and ban the use of surveillance pricing at grocery stores and pharmacies. 

The Senate and Assembly continue to pass bills, but discussions over the more than $263 billion budget, which was due April 1, are sucking up the time and energy of lawmakers and their staff, lawmakers and political experts told Newsday.

The longer it takes to pass a budget, the more bills fall to the wayside with only 20 session days left on the calendar as of Monday. 

"There’s not a lot of time left to get anything done, particularly anything of consequence," Blair Horner, senior policy adviser with the New York Public Interest Research Group, told Newsday. "Given that Albany operates with so few people making all the important decisions, there’s only so much legislation you can fit through a narrow funnel."

The legislature on April 29 passed an eighth budget extender as negotiations continue between Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and Democratic legislative leaders. The extender runs through Monday.

Legislative leaders say they’re making progress, but sticking points remain over policy issues including Hochul’s plan to delay the state’s climate goals, reduce car insurance costs by targeting fraud and ease environmental reviews that can delay building projects. Legislators also are discussing a tax on second homes in New York City worth $5 million or more and how to increase protections for immigrants from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The legislative session is scheduled to end June 4. Leaders have said they don’t plan on going any later, with early voting for the June 23 primary elections starting June 13.

Hochul and all 213 legislative seats are up for election in November.

"The time crunch of having ... three weeks, four weeks at best to pass thousands of bills, it’s going to be a significant challenge for us," Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) said.

The election not only puts pressure on the timeline, but also on the legislature to pass policies they think will help garner the public’s support, political experts said.

Less time may also mean less transparency, as more policy bills can either get absorbed into the state budget or rolled into one giant end-of-session bill often known as "the big ugly," good government groups said.

"Everything is supposed to be on paper for the public to see and to comment on and for the legislature to fully absorb and understand," said Rachael Fauss, senior policy adviser for Reinvent Albany.

A numbers game

The Senate and Assembly vote on hundreds of bills each year, but only the measures that make it through both houses head to the governor for her review.

The lion’s share, about 500 to 600 bills, are passed in the last two weeks of session, Horner said. 

It’s a calculated process for leaders deciding which bills make it to the floor for a vote, taking into account the values and will of their conference and whether they have enough votes for a measure to pass. Lawmakers must also balance the needs of different interest groups, Horner said. 

And there’s a time factor. Controversial bills take more time because they often prompt a lengthy floor debate.

The Senate has 63 members and has strict time constraints on debates, so it tends to get bills passed more quickly. While the Assembly does have time limits, there also are 150 members, so by nature it takes longer to pass bills in the chamber.

The later the budget gets, the more it collides with the end-of-session push, splitting staffs’ time and creating a "distraction," Fauss said.

Budgets have been late the last four years under Hochul, though in 1997 and 1999 they ran all the way into August.

As a result, lawmakers and advocates are trying to get their bills into the budget, which is risky because bills can be traded away instead of standing on their own merit, Fauss said, adding, "Special interest groups have free rein because everything is behind closed doors."

The governor usually waives requirements for the budget bills to age for three days so lawmakers can act on them immediately, meaning there's little time for review.

It’s a concern, Assembly Minority Leader Edward Ra (R-Garden City South) told Newsday. "The ink’s barely going to be dry before they’re on the floor being discussed and passed."

Priorities, pressures

The end of session isn’t necessarily more transparent, with leaders largely deciding what gets to the floor, good government groups said. 

Bills may not make it to the floor because they "run out of time," but, "did they actually run out of time or did they conveniently run out of time," Fauss said.

Items that fall out of budget discussions could further add to the remaining agenda.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) in an emailed statement told Newsday her conference will continue to focus on providing relief for working families. "We will be looking at additional affordability legislation to support small businesses and provide meaningful assistance to our seniors and veterans."

There’s also pressure from members who are not running for reelection who want to get their last priorities passed. There are 22 assemblymembers and five senators leaving, including Gianaris, Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D-Buffalo) and Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan), a 35-year legislative veteran — all of whom will likely have some sway.

"The more popular, the more senior, the more majority party you are, the more likely it is you’re going to get some sort of gifts on the way out the door," Horner said.

Glick told Newsday her top priorities include a controversial bill that would require certain large companies to reduce their plastic packaging waste by 30% over 12 years, as well as bills to eliminate the use of harmful ingredients and chemicals in beauty products and in household products like cookware.

Among Gianaris’ priorities is passing an amendment to the state’s Constitution that would allow for mid-decade changes to congressional districts as Republicans and Democrats in other states take similar action jockeying for control of Congress.

"We’d love to get stuff done that we’ve been working on for quite some time," he said, "but there will be other people to pick up the charge if we don't."