Budget voting starts, but the state’s not at the finish line yet

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a “general agreement” on the state budget on May 7, the latest she has ever done so. Now, two weeks later, the state Legislature has finally printed one of the remaining nine budget bills, setting lawmakers up to at least begin actually voting. But the process is still slow-going as legislators grapple with what is already the tardiest spending plan in nearly two decades.

Both the state Senate and Assembly on Wednesday took up the Education, Labor and Family Assistance budget bill, better known as ELFA. The Assembly passed it by a vote of 110-34 largely along party lines. It offers final – and official – details on a number of education and labor issues that have come up during negotiations. Lawmakers are expected to vote on the Public Protection and General Government bill on Thursday, which will include long-awaited details on new protections for immigrants, before breaking for Memorial Day Weekend. 

As the Assembly hunkered down for a lengthy debate on ELFA, Assembly Ways and Means Chair J. Gary Pretlow likened the situation to a baseball game. “We’re in a nine-inning game, and we are in the first inning,” he said on the chamber floor. 

Out of the 10 pieces of legislation that make up the state budget, only one has passed so far – the debt service bill approved ahead of the April 1 deadline in order to prevent the state from defaulting on its loans. An updated and final version of ELFA was introduced Wednesday morning, just hours before lawmakers would begin voting. The other eight bills are still outstanding.

Speaking in Manhattan, Hochul struck a somewhat blasé tone, despite the budget’s extreme and growing lateness. “My budget is done, but they’re just still voting on it,” she said to reporters at an unrelated press conference. But despite her continued insistence the budget is buttoned up outside of voting, last-minute items are still making their way into the plan, and some controversial issues are still getting worked out. 

Case in point: News broke Wednesday morning that the budget would include a new provision that would prevent lame duck New York City mayors from calling charter revision commissions that would convene after their departure from office. Although it’s a hot topic in New York City right now thanks to a commission from former Mayor Eric Adams, some lawmakers only just found out the budget would touch on the issue. 

Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon told City & State that Democrats in her chamber were first briefed on the matter on Tuesday. Despite the sudden curveball, she still said New York City members were generally on board. “Consider how (Adams) left. It was very much under a cloud,” Simon said. “I don’t want to continue that cloud.”

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters on Wednesday New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani asked that leaders add the measure in during the budget’s extended overtime. “Things come up all the time,” Heastie said when questioned about the late addition. The provision is expected to be included in Public Protection and General Government on Thursday, language for which still hasn’t been printed.

Even potential delays to implementing the New York City school class size law – a high-profile topic that deals directly with education one might reasonably expect to find in ELFA – didn’t appear in the lone new budget bill introduced since April 1. A source with knowledge of the issue said the matter is still being debated; it hadn’t come to a resolution before the bill drafting commission printed the final ELFA language.

Heastie didn’t discuss the class size law with reporters on Wednesday, but did indicate other items still need to be locked down. Asked about specifics on a new pied-à-terre tax in New York City, for example, Heastie said, “That’s next week, we haven’t closed the revenue yet.” On healthcare spending and the division of funds between nursing homes and hospitals, Heasite said, “I think it’s close, but I don’t think that’s final.”

Also related to healthcare, Heastie reiterated his skepticism that the state has the money for a remedy to help over 450,000 New Yorkers set to lose health insurance through the Essential Plan in July. But he said such a measure is “not at this point” in the state budget – suggesting that’s not out of the question.

The updated ELFA language introduced Wednesday does, however, confirm that all school districts will receive at least a 2% increase in Foundation Aid, above the minimum 1% increase Hochul originally proposed in her January spending plan. Schools voted on their budgets without final funding details yesterday.

The bill additionally confirmed prior reporting that lawmakers would extend mayoral control of New York City schools for another two years, as well as a five-year delay to a mandate for schools to roll out zero-emission buses.