Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing a record-breaking $227 billion New York state budget packed with progressive spending priorities and controversial policy proposals.
The budget proposal, which Hochul is announcing in a noon speech from Albany, sets the stage for a showdown with state lawmakers — especially her fellow Democrats in control of the state Senate and Assembly — over issues like rising crime, expanding charter schools, affordable housing and future limits on gas stoves.
“We are focused on the areas that will have the highest impact to improve people’s lives, and we will use the entirety of this bold, ambitious budget to address the needs of every New Yorker,” Hochul said in a briefing book ahead of a speech scheduled for noon Wednesday.
The draft budget is roughly $5 billion higher than last year, with Hochul likely facing additional pressure from state Senate Majority Leader Andrew Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to support even more spending to strike a deal by the April 1 deadline.
New York City would receive more than $20.9 billion in state aid under the proposal, a $1.35 billion increase from last year, including “more than $1 billion in extraordinary funding” to help the city deal with the surge in migrant arrivals.
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Hochul is likely to face opposition from progressives to oppose her plans to overhaul cash bail laws, and increase the number of charter schools while avoiding increases in income taxes.
Republicans and moderate Democrats, particularly those from the New York City suburbs, meanwhile, are expected to resist Hochul’s efforts to ban gas hook-ups in new buildings and a proposed increase in the Payroll Mobility Tax.
Here is a run-down of top items in her proposed budget ahead of the introduction of formal budget bills that will provide more details about plans.
- BAIL: Hochul is proposing to expand “judicial discretion” by eliminating a requirement that judges give criminal defendants the “least restrictive conditions” ahead of trials, a standard that could supersede their ability to impose bail on repeat offenders and people who might pose dangers to public safety.
- MIGRANTS: Hochul is proposing the state pick up one-third of the costs associated with a wave of migrants sent to New York City after crossing the U.S. Southern Border in states like Texas. “This includes the State reimbursing a share of shelter and Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center costs, continuing the National Guard deployment, and funding health care needs,” reads her budget briefing book.
- SCHOOLS: New York City will receive $13.1 billion in school aid from the state under Hochul’s proposed budget, with a $569 million increase in Foundation Aid. The newly-elected Democrat is also angering progressives by backing changes that will allow dozens of new charter schools to open in New York City as well as a tuition increase for SUNY college students.
- MTA: The governor is proposing an increase in the Payroll Mobility Tax from 0.34% to .5% within the MTA Service Region plus a one-shoot funding increase of roughly $300 million to help modernize public transit. Additional money is slated to promote safety programs in the system amid rising crime.11:52
- HOUSING: The governor is aiming to spur the development of 800,000 new housing units statewide over the next decade by requiring municipalities to meet state mandates for increasing their housing stocks. “Localities that do not meet growth targets or that fail to implement an action plan will be considered non-compliant and will be required to approve proposed housing developments that meet certain affordability criteria within a set time frame,” reads the briefing book. Hochul is notably not proposing any replacement for the 421-a tax abatement program that expired last year.
- CLIMATE CHANGE: Her briefing book is vague on the specifics of a proposal to ban gas hooks in new small buildings by 2025 and larger buildings three years later. “Reducing emissions in the building sector by prohibiting fossil fuel equipment and building systems in new construction, phasing out the sale and installation of fossil fuel space and water heating equipment in existing buildings, and establishing building benchmarking and energy grades,” reads the book. But it does outline a proposal to allow the New York Power Authority to building renewable energy projects, while not requiring they do so, in an apparent effort to placate progressives pushing a bill that would require the public authority to take a leading role in green energy projects.
Budget bills are expected to be introduced sometimes before 11:59 p.m. Wednesday night.
