Governor Kathy Hochul has signed the New York state budget more than a month after it was due. The $254 billion spending plan was held up for weeks as lawmakers debated several policy initiatives touted by the governor.
Multiple lawmakers who spoke with WAMC said they did not have details on many of these policies weeks into negotiations. At least one is fed up with the process: State Senator James Skoufis, a fellow Democrat from the 42nd District, blasted Hochul in statements online and on the Senate floor, calling her working relationship with the legislature “authoritarian.” Hochul’s Press Secretary Avi Small has fired back online by describing Skoufis’ statements as an “embarrassing, juvenile stunt from a camera-hungry clown.”
Skoufis say he wants the legislature to change how it works with the governor’s office. He spoke with WAMC Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Jesse King.
