This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated April 14, 2023
New York State’s budget was due as the calendar flipped from March to April, but it was late, yet again. And so, the Governor worked with the state legislature to pass a one-week extender on April 3, so bills could be paid and state workers receive their paychecks as the two sides further negotiated the budget, but yet again, a new budget was not passed as the workweek ended on Friday, April 7.
This is not new for Hochul, as her first go-around with the state budget as governor in 2022 also missed the deadline and wore into April, though this year’s deliberations have now exceeded last year’s delay. That budget was notorious for some of the things Hochul put her foot down on, thus creating the budget being overdue, including her taxpayer-funded, sweetheart deal for the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium.
This year’s process seems to also be held up by demands Hochul is making that have no support from the majorities of the State Senate and Assembly. Keep in mind, both of those chambers in the state legislature have Democratic super-majorities, yet Hochul, also a Democrat, again seems to be approaching budget talks with members of her own party as largely an adversarial bargaining session where there is little compromise from her side of the bargaining table.
The legislature was scheduled to be on holiday break during the first two weeks of April. A budget extender was passed on April 3, which ensured that the state’s bills could be paid and state workers would receive their paychecks, but by Friday April 7, still with no budget signed, Comptroller DiNapoli informed the governor that unless lawmakers were back in Albany on Monday, April 10 to pass another extender by noon, 83,000 state workers would not receive their paychecks that week.
In addition, regardless of these extenders, state lawmakers, by law, do not get paid until a budget is passed, which is to say, they have a personal stake in getting this done. Yet, to their credit, they appear to not be giving in to Hochul’s hardball tactics and, instead, digging in to do what is right. The governor, on the other hand, is denying them their pay due to this late budget, while also jeopardizing the pay of tens of thousands of average, hard-working, municipal employees.
Another aspect of this debacle is that it is keeping the legislature from their other business while they attempt to hammer out a deal with the governor, weeks beyond when this should already have been put to bed. Following the scheduled holiday break during the first two weeks of April, some of which legislators needed to travel to Albany to pass extenders to keep the lights on and ensure workers get paid, there are only 25 days left in session for this year. That is just 25 more days for committees to meet, bills to be advanced, debate to occur, and pieces of legislation to get passed into law, as the session ends June 8.
Hochul, yet again, dragging out the budget far beyond the deadline, will have many other ramifications beyond just what is ultimately in the new state budget. Much of the harm she will have done through this unnecessarily drawn-out ordeal will be in what does not get done this year.
Early last month I wrote about how Hochul’s preliminary budget proposal included the elimination of the regional charter school cap, which would for all intents and purposes only affect New York City, as we are the only school district that is at our regional cap. Ramming this through in the budget would instantly open up about 100 new charter school licenses within the five boroughs, which would be terrible for public schools, bad for charter schools, and hurt students, whether those in public schools denied space and resources, or those in charter schools that close mid-year as they inevitably cannibalize each other. Unsurprisingly, many weeks later, despite the legislature not budging on their opposition to Hochul’s charter cap proposal, that has still reportedly been one of several sticking points for her.
No budget is perfect and, ultimately, nobody is ever totally happy with all that is contained within it, but the governor needs to relent on her unreasonable demands that legislators have made clear are not in the interests of their constituents across the state. Hopefully, by the time this goes to print, the budget has been passed, but in the disappointingly possible scenario that it has not, Hochul needs to finally budge and get this done, accepting that she cannot get everything she wants, and finalize the budget for the good of all New Yorkers.
