New York State Budget

Local legislators in Albany are hoping to do away with an annual back-and-forth for state aid.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul was at NOVA Bus in Plattsburgh Tuesday touting the new state budget and what she says are its benefits for the North Country region.

Democrat D. Billy Jones, who represents the 115th Assembly District, talked about the New York budget’s benefits and the arrest of former Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin on federal corruption charges

Early Saturday morning, the Legislature approved the state’s $220 billion budget. The budget agreement was eased by billions in federal governmental financial support, as well as swelling state tax revenues. The state’s huge budget surplus made the budget negotiation process easier to manage, but it was still late – and Albany had to resort to its bag of tricks to get it done.

New York State has a new $220 billion budget.

Like many of New York State’s budget deals, this year’s is late. How late is anyone’s guess, but if recent history is any guide, an agreement will come soon. Among the major contributing factors to the missed budget deadline are the governor’s last minute demands for changes to the state’s criminal justice law and her agreement to use hundreds of millions of tax dollars to pick up the lion’s share of costs for a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills NFL franchise.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers gave up on the chance of meeting the state’s budget deadline of Friday when final agreements on the spending plan and related items failed to emerge in time. The Senate and Assembly adjourned until Monday, when they say they will try again to reach an accord.

This week, Albany may well finalize a deal on the state’s upcoming budget, an agreement that is supposed to be in place by April 1. The final budget will clock in at some $216 billion – the largest in state history. This year’s budget negotiations have been one of, if not the most, secretive in memory. The information black-out makes it essentially impossible for even the most astute Capitol-watcher to know how the budget deal will play out.

Government watchdog groups are making a push to include ethics reform in the New York state budget. Governor Kathy Hochul promised to overhaul the state’s troubled ethics oversight commission, but so far, the proposal has not been agreed to by the Legislature.

Talks on the New York state budget are in the final stages. This year’s sticking points aren’t about spending but on unrelated policy items, including making changes to the state’s landmark 2019 bail reform laws.