Nearly a month after its initial due date, New York state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul have agreed to a $229 billion state spending plan that will make changes to a controversial bail law, boost direct aid to schools by billions of dollars and keep personal income tax rates the same.
"A conceptual agreement has been reached," Hochul said at a press conference Thursday evening.
The state budget will also increase the state's minimum wage in the
coming years to $16 an hour in New York City and to $15 an hour north of
Westchester County. Phased-in hikes will lead to a $17 minimum wage by
2027. After that it will be indexed to the rate of inflation.
Lawmakers and Hochul have also agreed to an expansion of charter schools in New York City by allowing for 14 so-called "zombie" licenses to be revived.
The child tax credit in New York is set to expand for families with children under the age of 4, addressing the expiration of a similar program on the federal level.
After initially discussing ways in which New York's system of publicly financed campaigns — in which political campaigns match individual donations with public money — on hold, lawmakers have agreed to fund the program without a delay.
Once given final passage in the Legislature, New York's budget this year will be one of the latest spending plans to be adopted since 2010. That year, lawmakers did not approve a final budget until mid-August.
This was Hochul's second budget since taking office in 2021 and her first since she won a full term last year. Hochul struggled to include some of her key items in the budget that she made clear were priorities for her this year.
Several of Hochul's initial proposals were pared and whittled down
during the negotiations if not jettisoned entirely. A proposal to expand
housing in New York through a mix of incentives for communities to
build out infrastructure while also allowing the state to override local
zoning officials for qualified projects was rejected by lawmakers. The
proposal would have also set goals for every municipality in New York to
expand housing stock in the coming years.
Hochul wants to build 800,000 new units of housing within the next
decade. After an effort to reach an agreement ended in a stalemate,
Hochul told reporters she would continue to pursue elements of her
original plan.
The emergency rental assistance program will be expanded as well $50 million for low-income families to make housing repairs.
But the governor was able to win changes to the state's 2019 law that limited the circumstances in which cash bail is required in criminal cases after a campaign season in which crime and public safety were top concerns for voters.
Hochul also pointed to $40 million for public defenders and a pay raise for assigned attorneys providing indigent defense. She announced money for measures to combat gun violence and the State Police.
The change will give judges greater discretion in criminal cases to set bail for serious charges, loosening what's known as the "least restrictive" requirement when bail is considered.
Hochul had emphasized through the budget process she wants to address New Yorkers' concerns over crime while not undermining the initial intent of the law: addressing inequities in the criminal justice system.
On health care, the state is set to expand Medicaid spending for hospitals and nursing homes by increasing reimbursement rates.
The proposal, a 7.5% and 6.5% rise, is less than what health care
networks wanted, but more than what Hochul had initially proposed.
New York will spend $34.5 billion on education, a record setting amount
that also boosts direct aid to schools by more than $2 billion. The
budget will also provide $134 million for schools to provide free meals
regardless of a student's family income.
Hochul's initial plan to expand charter schools was reduced after objections from teachers unions.
A mobility tax to fund mass transit in the New York City area will be increased modestly, Hochul said. A two-year pilot program for free bus service on five lines will be included in the budget.
Hochul's announcement came in the evening after lawmakers left Albany and are not expected to return for several days.
Hochul called the agreement a "conceptual framework" as some legislators continue to review the specifics of the budget.
37 comments:
"She announced money for measures to combat gun violence and the State Police."
We're budgeting money to combat the State Police? Interesting. (Can no one write anymore?)
Anyhoo, a grotesquely bloated budget, chock-a-block with stupidity, boondoggles, graft, counter-productive Progressive programs that do more harm than good, and in general the usual Democrat vomiting all over the good people of New York State. How long can the wheels stay on the cart with this constant insanity? Just wait until more of the "green energy" fantasies kick in (green as in the color of dead whales rotting on the beach, being killed in mass numbers by windmill construction).
New York City and State are run by incompetents, imbeciles, grifters, psychopaths and degenerates. Every single Dem politico fits into one or multiple of those categories.
Democrats don't even try to conceal their obsession with wealth redistribution any more. They're going to cause obscene price increases on all consumers via punitive taxes, then give rebates only to the great unwashed masses who vote for them.
If you can transfer or change your career, get out of New York. The left-wing lunacy is getting worse than California.
That noise you hear is the flood of businesses and people leaving NY.
Time to pack up and move. This state will become unlivable.
We went woke and .........that’s all folks !
First morally then financially bankrupt.
Prove Me Wrong...
We live in Kathy Clown world right now.
NYS is dying from corruption and it serves the Sheeple right.
$16/hr minimum wage is a joke. That won’t pay for anything.
Next up, the fresh air tax. Don't believe that? Just wait.
Destroying the Middle Class is Not very equitable nor inclusive of the dem0rats.
"New York will spend $34.5 billion on education"
Big pay back to the UFT for the 100's of millions $$$ given to the Dems.
Typical corporate democrat budget. The only ones happy here are the Corporations, their right wing enablers, and stingy, greedy employers. Still getting away with paying their minions a pittance while they rape the country for huge profits, humongous CEO bonuses and golden parachutes along with the customary corporate welfare when things go bad.
@"Destroying the Middle Class is Not very equitable nor inclusive of the dem0rats."
True. And they are not even very good at it. The Republicans have done a much more effective job of destroying the middle class, and the unions, since the days of Jellybean Reagan.
@NPC_doofus, re: "New York City and State are run by incompetents, imbeciles, grifters, psychopaths and degenerates..."
You obviously must work for New York City government.
@"That noise you hear is the flood of businesses and people leaving NY."
No, that noise you hear is the din of rightwing blowholes talking nonsense and crying like spoiled kids, as usual.
"$16/hr minimum wage is a joke" Please explain why ?
I made $1.75 pumping gas in the 70's it was my first job after getting my working papers.
I knew it was a stepping stone on my career path to becoming a Car Mechanic.
Minimum wage jobs are not intended to pay a living wage.
Dem0rats are very generous -- with other people's money.
@""New York will spend $34.5 billion on education"
Lots of that will go to the cooked charter school corporations.
@"You obviously must work for New York City government"
No, He might be talking about you....
"Lots of that will go to the cooked charter school corporations"
Do you work for the failed UFT ?
Parents should have school choice...
Get Woke, Go Broke
Every time I hear someone preaching incoherently about the right side of history, they are inevitably on the left side of it. Prove Me Wrong...
@1.75 pumping gas?
That was the seventies. Before Reagan. Working people could buy a house back then. Now, that’s only for corporations and trust fund kids. You think Mechanics make a living wage now? Maybe a very small percentage. Now, being a mechanic is just another one of those “stepping stone” jobs. No health insurance, no benefits, just enough to get by if you live in a hovel. Thanks to corporations and the chamber of crooks that have suppressed wages for decades. And thanks to their army of lackey drones who tout the same old lie about “stepping stone jobs”.
Will we be allowed to gather our own bugs or will be have to buy the bugs from Bill Gates ?
What do you expect in a Marxist controlled State ? Just more taxes, more wasteful spending, overpriced, fake "Green" projects, most expensive and worst functioning public education (indoctrination) system in the world. The problem is not enough taxes, it’s corrupt spending.
Women voters love this crap peddled by Democrats. The 19th Amendment was the begining of the end of civilization in NY and the USA.
The people of New York have got to be the dumbest people on earth. Every week there are reports of hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, wasted, unaccounted for, or spent on failed projects. Mental health programs, unqualified administrators, deadbeat employees, friends of friends.....! Over the years the total amount is staggering. And this is all money COLLECTED from the taxpayers. But every election, New Yorkers vote for the people from the same Political party....and nothing changes.
When it comes to fraud, and waste, New York, and New York City will own the Crown forever.
@"The people of New York have got to be the dumbest people on earth. Every week there are reports of hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, wasted, unaccounted for, or spent on failed projects. Mental health programs, "
Yes, those mental health programs were a failure. You're still on the loose.
@"What do you expect in a Marxist controlled State ? "
NY State Marxist? How?
Seems like a generic corporate run state to me. Nothing to do with Marxism.
Just curious, did you ever go to school?
Hate to break it to you Scooter. But you had decades to vote these Marxist clowns out of your state government. And you didn't. I suggest scheduling a U haul and move to a Free State.
Nothing to do with Marxism ?
Oh right it's Climate change.
What we need is a socialist governor. Not this corporate democrat.
Yep it's all Climate Change....
Nope Nothing to do with Marxism.... Are you sure ?
"What we need is a socialist governor"
Then vote for one...
@" I suggest scheduling a U haul and move to a Free State."
No. U-Hauls are for commies. I'm loading everything I can on my pickup truck and burning the rest. Hoping to make it to the great state of Nebraska before the end of the month.
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