Your guide to the 2024 State Budget fight

This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. Sign up for their newsletter here.

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Between now and April 1, New York’s lawmakers will negotiate how to spend the state’s billions. They may or may not hit their April Fool’s Day budget deadline. Along with allocating state funding, they have to sort out a host of contentious policy issues, from health care workers’ wages to tenants’ rights. A key question is, of course, how much it will cost to run the state: Governor Kathy Hochul proposed total spending of $233 billion, while the Assembly and Senate want to go up to $246 billion.

They do agree on some things: providing billions to manage the influx of asylum seekers, for example, and overhauling the way kids learn to read. But in many areas, they differ sharply, like on what defines a hate crime and how much to spend on clean water projects. The answers depend on how the looming negotiations go.

This process is notoriously murky. Not only are discussions largely secret, but it can be hard to figure out where the various parties’ priorities lie. There isn’t any government body that prepares a comparison of the different proposals.

That’s where we come in. The New York Focus team has been analyzing the Governor, state Senate, and state Assembly’s spending and policy proposals since they came out, and now we’re presenting our findings to our readers as budget season kicks into high gear.

Topline Figures

Where They’re Split

TOTAL SPENDING: Hochul’s budget proposed a total of $233 billion in spending. When inflation is factored in, that’s essentially the same size as last year’s budget, which clocked in at $229 billion. The largest spending categories in her budget are education and health care, as is the norm historically.

The Senate and Assembly both proposed a significantly larger budget: around $246 billion each, with the biggest chunk of that difference being additional health care spending in both cases.

TAX HIKES: While the legislature has pushed to raise taxes for super-wealthy New Yorkers and large corporations, Hochul has repeatedly rejected the idea of hiking tax rates.

The Senate and Assembly proposals would increase current rates by half a percent for the next four years, to 10.8 percent for New Yorkers earning over $5 million a year and 11.4 percent for those earning over $25 million. The legislative proposals would also implement a three-year increase in the tax rate for corporations with an annual income over $5 million: to nine percent, up from the current rate of 7.25 percent. This would raise over $2 billion in additional revenue, according to the Assembly’s estimate.

Hochul called the proposals a “non-starter” Tuesday.

Where They’re Close

RESERVES: The Division of the Budget is seeking to end fiscal year 2024–25 with a balance of nearly $44 billion, approximately half of which would be “principal reserves” to protect essential services in the event of an economic downturn.

Under Hochul’s proposal, the rest would be designated for reducing future budget gaps and preparing for future costs, such as tax refunds and liabilities, capital projects, and potential labor agreements.

Unlike in previous years, the legislature is on board with putting roughly that amount in the bank; both the Senate and the Assembly proposed around $43.5 billion in year-end reserves.

Where They Agree

ASYLUM SEEKERS: One of the biggest spending boosts in Hochul’s budget was a proposal to allocate over $2.2 billion to services for asylum seekers this year, up from $1.3 billion last year, and to set aside money for that purpose in future years. That cash pool pays for shelter and permanent housing, medical care, and assistance to migrants in obtaining work authorization, among other services.

The Assembly and Senate accepted this proposal.

Education

Where They’re Split

MAYORAL CONTROL: Hochul proposed extending New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s control over the city’s public school system for four years. The city’s mayor has controlled the school system since 2002, when the state legislature gave the mayor the authority to appoint the school chancellor and a majority of the board of education.

The Senate and Assembly dropped Hochul’s proposal.

The United Federation of Teachers, the union that represents the city’s public school teachers, opposes extending Adams’s control of the system, pointing to his record of cutting school budgets and opposing reductions in class sizes.

SCHOOL DISTRICT AID: Hochul proposed cutting the expected increase in funding for local school districts, which is consistently the largest category of state operating spending. Her proposal adjusts a formula used to calculate funding levels, allocating $454 million less for local schools than originally planned last year. (Total education spending would still rise under her proposal.) It also eliminates a provision that has protected school districts from funding cuts, even when enrollment declines. Under her proposal, if school enrollment in a district goes down, state funding could, too, with wealthy districts slated to lose more funding than poor ones.

The Senate and Assembly omitted these cuts and proposed funding levels over $1 billion higher than the governor. The chambers also proposed studying the funding formula for support to schools, signaling that the legislature might be open to changes in future years.

CHILD CARE: Hochul proposed $1.7 billion in total funding for child care, while the Senate and Assembly proposed $2 billion.

Hochul’s budget included no new funds for child care worker compensation. Both chambers proposed an additional $220 million for child care workforce retention grants, nearly doubling the state’s total workforce investment, according to the advocacy group Empire State Campaign for Child Care.

Both chambers proposed requiring local social services districts to provide child care at additional or different hours than a parent or caretaker spends at work, training, or educational activity — a measure Hochul vetoed last year based on a questionable cost estimate.

Where They’re Close

CUNY FUNDING: Hochul proposed $5.5 billion in total funding for the City University of New York, a decrease of nearly $1 billion. The Senate and Assembly proposed $6.3 billion and $6.6 billion, respectively, both closer to last year’s number.

The Assembly also proposed requiring CUNY and SUNY to create a new funding formula to ensure reliable funding for community colleges.

SUNY FUNDING: Hochul proposed $13.3 billion in total funding for the State University of New York, a decrease of around $700 million. The Senate and Assembly proposed $14.3 billion and $14.5 billion, respectively, up slightly from last year’s budget.

Both houses also proposed requiring labor agreements for large-scale construction projects on campuses that cost $3 million or more.

Where They Agree

SCIENCE OF READING: Hochul proposed an overhaul to the state’s standards for reading education, mandating a shift toward the “science of reading” model, which focuses on phonics and the relationships between sounds and letters. The change would require local school districts to adopt curriculums that conform to this model, though the state can’t tell local schools which specific materials to use. The change would take effect in September 2025.

Health

Where They’re Split

INTERSTATE LICENSURE COMPACTS FOR DOCTORS AND NURSES: Hochul’s budget includes proposals to enter into compacts allowing nurses and physicians licensed in other states to practice in New York.

The Senate and Assembly both dropped the proposals. The rejection comes amid a medical staffing shortage that touches the state’s hospitals, prisons, jails, addiction treatment network, and more.

PAID COVID-19 SICK LEAVE: Hochul’s executive budget would end the state’s Covid-19 sick leave law on July 31. The law requires all public employers and private employers with more than 100 employees to grant at least 14 days of paid Covid-19 sick leave yearly. Medium-sized private employers are required to provide at least five such sick days, and small employers are exempt. New York is the only state that still has a paid Covid-19 sick leave law on the books.

The Senate accepted Hochul’s proposal to repeal the law at the end of July, except for workers in some health care settings. The Assembly dropped Hochul’s proposal altogether.

MEDICAID SPENDING: Hochul’s budget allocates $30.4 billion in state funds to New York’s Medicaid program, an increase of $3 billion over the previous year. But to bring down the pace of spending growth, she proposed a $1.2 billion cut to some areas of the program.

Her proposal slashes wages for many health aides in downstate New York who provide in-home care. Their wages generally hover around $20 an hour, but Hochul’s budget would slash that hourly rate by $2.54. The change would affect about 175,000 workers, according to the home care advocacy group New York Caring Majority.

The cuts would also reduce funding to nursing homes and lower how much the state pays to private Medicaid health plans, and the state would have to work with industry leaders to find another $400 million in unspecified savings.

The Senate and Assembly omitted all of these cuts and are instead pushing to boost funding to Medicaid significantly, increasing reimbursement rates to hospitals, nursing homes, and other providers. The Assembly’s proposal would increase state spending on Medicaid by over $7 billion. The Senate did not provide a corresponding number, but its proposals were broadly similar to the Assembly’s.

SOCIAL MEDIA LIMITS FOR KIDS: Hochul proposed the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation for Kids Act, which would require social media companies to use a default chronological feed, rather than an algorithmically curated feed, for young users to give parents more tools to control their kids’ account access. The proposal, which also had the support of Attorney General Letitia James, has brought a flurry of lobbying from big tech companies that oppose the bill.

The Senate omitted the proposal, but “strongly supports the need to add greater protections for minors against addictive social media platforms” and intends to “address the issue outside of the budget process,” according to its resolution. The Assembly also omitted the measure.

SUNY DOWNSTATE: Hochul proposed a $400 million plan to “transform” SUNY Downstate University Hospital in Brooklyn by closing its facility in East Flatbush, transferring inpatient services to the nearby Kings County Hospital, and building a new outpatient clinic.

Both the Senate and Assembly want to keep the medical center open.

The Senate proposed a commission to evaluate SUNY Downstate’s health care services, added $300 million to support the hospital’s “capital improvements pursuant to a sustainability plan,” and provided it another $100 million in operating assistance..

The Assembly’s budget summary called Hochul’s proposal “troubling due to the lack of community engagement and feedback throughout the process.” The Assembly omitted Hochul’s proposal, but included $200 million for Downstate’s operating expenses, according to the office of Brooklyn Assemblymember Brian Cunningham. Cunningham is also pushing for a commission to study how to preserve the long-term health of the hospital, as well as $300 million in a “lock box” for the center’s future expenses — but those proposals did not make the Assembly’s resolution.

Where They’re Close

COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT: Hochul’s budget includes a 1.5 percent cost-of-living increase to nonprofit human services providers. It would be the third consecutive year with an increase, though smaller than the 5.4 percent two years ago and four percent last year.

The Senate proposed a total 3.2 percent increase. The Assembly proposed the same, to be “used solely to increase the wages of direct care staff, direct support professionals, and clinical staff.”

MENTAL HEALTH: The state legislature has seemingly bought into the governor’s planned overhaul of the mental health system. In a rare point of consensus, the executive, Senate, and Assembly mostly agreed on the largest components of Hochul’s spending package for mental health. All three proposals allocate over $2.9 billion in aid to localities, with some extra financing in the Senate’s and Assembly’s proposals. All three also agreed on a $596.5 million capital spending package to continue expanding state-operated facilities.

One of the only major differences in spending is an additional item from the Senate, which added $34 million to support the state’s problem-solving courts, which are designed to handle cases for people with unique needs, including those with mental health conditions.

There’s more disagreement about how insurance companies should reimburse for all of this. Hochul proposed measures that would require insurance companies to reimburse for addiction services and outpatient mental health care at the same rate as the state Medicaid plan. While the Senate accepted that plan, the Assembly tweaked it by allowing the provider and insurance company to negotiate rates, provided they don’t come up with a number lower than what Medicaid would pay.

The governor’s budget also included a proposal to impose penalties against insurance companies that violate parity laws, which prohibit insurance providers from limiting benefits for mental health and substance abuse treatment more stringently than medical treatment benefits. The Assembly dropped this measure.

PRENATAL FAMILY LEAVE: Hochul proposed establishing a right to 40 hours of paid leave for pregnant employees to attend medical appointments. This would be in addition to the 12 weeks of paid family leave that New York currently provides.

The Senate accepted this proposal with minor modifications. The Assembly’s version would require employers to let workers use paid sick leave for prenatal health needs, but it would not create additional time off for prenatal leave.

Economic Policy

Where They’re Split

MEDICAID REVENUE MANEUVER: Both the Senate and Assembly proposed a creative way for New York to win an extra $4 billion a year from the federal government to fund New York’s Medicaid program.

They would levy a $4 billion tax falling most heavily on Medicaid plans — but then increase the fees those plans collect by $4 billion, essentially making them break even, according to the Assembly’s budget proposal. When New York state spends money on Medicaid, the federal government provides “matching funds,” giving the state a dollar for each dollar the state spends from its own cash.

The legislature’s proposal wouldn’t alter the amount New York state is spending on Medicaid. But it would make it appear $4 billion larger for accounting purposes, thus sending the state that amount in additional federal funds. Other states, including New York, have used this strategy, which requires approval from the federal government.

TAX CREDITS FOR WORKING FAMILIES: Both the Senate and Assembly proposed an expansion of income tax credits for working people, setting up a potential fight with Hochul.

The Senate proposed creating a new, refundable tax credit, called the Working Families Tax Credit, to replace the narrower Empire State Child Credit. The credit would provide $550 per child to individuals making less than $75,000 and joint filers making less than $130,000 combined. For every $1,000 over those levels, the credit would be reduced by $20. The Senate did not provide a cost estimate for the new program.

The Assembly proposed expanding the existing Earned Income Credit. Currently, the credit for single people with one child phases out at $49,084. Under the Assembly proposal, it would phase out starting at $56,067. For joint filers with three or more children, the credit would phase out beginning at $78,976, up from $66,819 currently. This proposal would cost an additional $150 to $160 million annually over the next few years.

The Assembly also proposed a one-year expansion of the Empire State Child Credit, which would cost an additional $324 million.

Hochul did not propose an increase to either tax credit.

EMPIRE AI: Hochul wants to make New York the nation’s leader in artificial intelligence research. To do so, she proposed using $250 million in state funds to launch Empire AI, an artificial intelligence research consortium headquartered at the University at Buffalo.

The Assembly approved Hochul’s proposal; the Senate rebuffed it.

The Empire AI measure is part of the $1.18 billion Hochul proposed for tech- and manufacturing-related economic development initiatives, which also include NY CREATES, Albany NanoTech’s Ultraviolet Lithography Center, the Shovel-Ready grant program, and the One Network for Regional Advanced Manufacturing Partnership.

The Senate wants to pare down Hochul’s proposed tech and manufacturing subsidies. It declined to specify funding for the individual initiatives, instead proposing $930 million spread across all of them. In its resolution, the Senate stated that it would like to see financial guardrails and transparency measures implemented for all the programs.

SHOVEL-READY SITES: In 2022, Hochul created the Focused Attraction of Shovel-Ready Tracts New York, or FAST NY, program, and promised $200 million in state funds to develop shovel-ready sites, like the STAMP industrial park in Genesee County. A site is shovel-ready when the necessary infrastructure and permitting are already in place, making it easier for an interested business to set up shop. The state markets these sites to a variety of industries — including high-tech manufacturing and renewable energy — in hopes the projects will create jobs and bolster local economies.

This year, Hochul proposed an additional $100 million investment in FAST NY.

The Assembly approved Hochul’s proposal, while the Senate rolled FAST NY into its broader $930 million pot for tech and manufacturing programs.

Where They’re Close

DISABILITY BENEFITS: New Yorkers who become temporarily disabled are eligible for a $170 weekly disability benefit, an amount that hasn’t changed since 1989. This year, Hochul proposed boosting that significantly, so that the maximum weekly disability benefit would increase to two-thirds of the statewide average weekly wage over five years. (That number would be about $1,150 today, and likely higher when the change takes full effect.) The state’s financial regulator can delay each year’s increase if it determines that it would have an outsized impact on businesses, which pay into the cash pool that funds disability benefits.

The Senate and Assembly modified this program to implement it faster and make other adjustments, though the final benefit value would match Hochul’s.

Housing

Where They’re Split

421-A REPLACEMENT AND DEADLINE EXTENSION: The 421-a tax break, which expired in 2022, offered reduced property taxes to New York City developers who met certain affordable housing unit requirements in new buildings and paid a higher-than-average wage to construction and building service workers. For the third year in a row, Hochul is seeking a replacement for it.

Hochul said that apartment affordability requirements and construction worker wages for developments participating in the program should be worked out by New York City’s government, the Real Estate Board of New York trade group, and the Building and Construction Trades Council union federation.

Projects that began before 421-a expired must be completed by 2026 in order to receive the benefits of the tax break, but Hochul proposed a five-year extension for those that may miss the deadline.

Getting the legislature to sign on will be a challenge. The Senate and Assembly dropped both of Hochul’s provisions, though the Senate signaled openness to negotiations on a package that would include them in addition to protections for renters.

GOOD CAUSE EVICTION: Hochul has repeatedly argued that bolstering tenant protections won’t solve the housing crisis, since New York’s are already some of the strongest in the nation. But many legislators argue that, with their constituents facing evictions and rising rents, shoring up renter security is a top priority. 

To that end, the Senate’s plan includes support for the “core principles” of good cause eviction, a proposed law that would enable most tenants statewide to challenge large rent increases in court. 

Hochul has expressed opposition to this proposal: Her budget didn’t include it and she has threatened to veto legislation that does. 

The Assembly’s plan doesn’t mention good cause eviction explicitly, but does say the Assembly is committed to protecting tenants from “arbitrary and capricious rent increases and unreasonable evictions.”

HOUSING ACCESS VOUCHER PROGRAM: Another high priority for legislators, and an item that could be part of a grand housing deal, is creating a state-funded program to offer housing vouchers to New Yorkers who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Hochul, who has opposed this program in the past, did not include it in her proposal this year. 

Both the Senate and the Assembly proposed funding it at $250 million annually.

CHANGES TO NEW YORK CITY HOUSING REGULATIONS: In her State of the State speech, Hochul focused on three measures besides the developer tax break that she said would boost housing construction in New York City, where the shortage of housing is contributing to a severe affordability crunch. The measures include allowing the city to repeal a law capping buildings at 12 times the size of their lot; creating a pathway for basement apartments to become legal dwellings; and creating a tax break to aid conversions of office buildings into housing. A quarter of a converted office building’s units would be set aside for affordable housing, but the governor’s team didn’t spell out precisely how affordable those units must be, or the size of the tax break.

The Senate mostly accepted the change to the size cap, dropped loosening the rules on basement apartments, and modified the office conversion tax break to require more affordable housing. The Assembly dropped all of the proposals.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING VOUCHER AND INSURANCE ENFORCEMENT: Insurance companies can refuse to cover buildings that house tenants who use rental vouchers, in turn pushing landlords to pay higher premiums or reject voucher-holding tenants. Hochul’s budget seeks to combat the widespread practice by including a measure that would bar insurers from asking whether a building or its tenants receive housing subsidies. It would also prohibit insurers from raising or canceling premiums based on those factors. The Senate accepted this proposal, and the Assembly didn’t include it.

Where They’re Close

DEVELOPING HOUSING ON STATE PROPERTY: Hochul wants to set aside $250 million this year, toward an eventual $500 million, to help redevelop state-owned land for housing. Her budget proposal includes three sites that she wants to focus on: about thirty acres of land owned by the state universities in Farmingdale and Stony Brook, and another tract in the town of Babylon. All three sites are in Long Island’s Suffolk County, which has been one of the least friendly counties in the state toward new housing. The housing on state land would ultimately be built by private developers.

The Assembly did not include this proposal, though it said it supports the concept if certain conditions are met, like including affordable housing. The Senate accepted it, with a modification to require affordable housing.

The Senate included an additional measure along these lines: a plan to create a corporation to oversee affordable housing construction on state-owned land. Private developers would receive tax breaks, low-cost leases, loans from the state, and streamlined approval processes. In return, they would build housing with subsidized rents meant to be affordable for middle-class New Yorkers. The Senate dubbed this program “Mitchell-Lama 2.0,” after a 1955 law that led to the creation of thousands of affordable apartments.

Where They Agree

PRO-HOUSING COMMUNITIES: After her plan to require towns to build more housing failed last year, Hochul decided to try a different approach: offering financial incentives to towns that build new housing or commit to doing so. Municipalities can take a variety of actions to become certified as “pro-housing communities,” and Hochul’s budget proposes a measure that requires pro-housing certification for communities to receive a slice of hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds for development and planning. In her January State of the State speech, she framed the proposal as a test of whether incentivizing new housing will work to boost supply.

The Assembly and Senate both approved the measure to require “pro-housing” certification for various state grants, with some minor modifications.

Transportation

Where They’re Split

LOWER SPEED LIMITS IN NEW YORK CITY: For the second year in a row, Hochul proposed allowing New York City to lower its speed limits, from 25 miles per hour to as low as 20, or 10 mph in school zones. Her proposal renews a nearly four-year-long push to pass Sammy’s Law, named after a 12-year-old killed by a driver in Brooklyn in 2013.

Hochul included a version of the legislation in her budget proposal last year, but it didn’t make the final cut. The Senate went on to pass it as a standalone bill, but it died in the Assembly.

The fight will continue this budget season: The Senate, like Hochul, included Sammy’s Law in its budget proposal, but the Assembly left it out. The Senate’s version also included new language that would exempt highways.

FARE AND TOLL EVASION ENFORCEMENT: Hochul wants to crack down on fare and toll evaders, who the MTA says are costing the transit system hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Under the governor’s proposal, the maximum fine for fare evasion on buses and subways would go from $100 to $200.

Both the Senate and the Assembly dropped this proposal from their budgets.

Separately, Hochul proposed a Toll Payer Protection Act, which would allow the DMV to block a vehicle registration or renewal if a tolling authority has already suspended the vehicle for toll evasion. She also proposed stiffening penalties for obscured license plants, banning the sale of license plate covers, and reclassifying toll evasion as a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail. (Currently, toll evasion is a civil violation.) Her office estimates these measures could bring in at least $35 million a year.

The Assembly dropped this proposal, too, while the Senate swapped in its own version of the Toll Payer Protection Act, which overlaps with Hochul’s but also includes a variety of other measures to standardize tolls and fines.

NEW YORK CITY BUS SERVICE: The Assembly and Senate both proposed adding $90 million to the budget for New York City buses. Half that amount would go toward general bus service improvements, while the other half would pay for three new fare-free bus lines in each borough, expanding a program first approved last year. The proposal matches a Senate bill called the Get Congestion Pricing Right Act, but it doesn’t actually rely on funding from the stalled congestion pricing program — its sponsors present it as a curtain-raiser for that bigger infusion of funding.

Hochul did not include this funding in her budget proposal.

Criminal Justice

Where They’re Split

GUN POLICING: Hochul is a crime-focused governor. And last year, her budget proposal’s keynote criminal justice issue was gun crime. Among other measures, she doubled the budget for the Gun Involved Violence Elimination program, or GIVE, which funnels money to aggressive gun policing units around the state, to $36 million — after having already doubled it the year before. This year, she proposed doubling it again, to $72 million.

The Assembly kept Hochul’s funding hike in its budget proposal. But the Senate dropped it, keeping the GIVE budget flat at $36 million.

RETAIL THEFT AND HATE CRIMES: This year, Hochul’s marquee crime issues are retail theft and hate crimes. On the former, she proposed the same approach as her gun violence initiatives: creating a $25 million State Police unit dedicated to retail theft; sending $15 million to local prosecutors and police to combat retail theft; and ramping up the criminal penalties for assaulting retail workers and fostering the sale of stolen goods online, among other measures. She also proposed expanding the definition of a hate crime to make offenses like graffiti and weapons possession eligible.

The legislature is pushing back. Both the Senate and the Assembly excluded most of Hochul’s ramped-up penalties in their proposals. The Senate kept the sale of stolen goods measure and added a provision that would allow prosecuting alleged serial shoplifters for multiple crimes at once. On funding, the Assembly proposed curtailing new money for law enforcement’s retail theft prevention efforts, while the Senate version would allow law enforcement to use existing pots for Hochul’s proposed retail theft initiatives.

CRIME ANALYSIS CENTERS: As part of her tough-on-crime approach, Hochul consistently funnels more money to police surveillance and intelligence programs — particularly to the Crime Analysis Center Network, a series of 11 regional hubs that gather and process intelligence and disseminate it to local and federal law enforcement. This year, she proposed nearly doubling the network’s funding, from $18 million to $33 million.

As with the GIVE program, the Assembly accepted the governor’s proposed funding hike for crime analysis centers. The Senate, on the other hand, proposed keeping funding flat at $18 million.

CHALLENGING WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS ACT: The Senate is countering Hochul’s tough-on-crime proposals with criminal justice budget legislation of its own. The chamber proposed adding the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act to the state budget, which would allow people who took plea deals to appeal their convictions, including by introducing new DNA evidence. Hochul vetoed it last year after the legislature passed it as a standalone bill.

The Senate also added a bill that would eliminate most court fees and fines. Neither Hochul nor the Assembly included either piece of reform legislation in their proposals.

PRISON CLOSURES: The state’s incarcerated population is a fraction of what it was decades ago, and the state prison system doesn’t have enough staff for all of its facilities. To continue New York’s recent trend of closing prisons, Hochul proposed a bill that would make it easier to do so: Instead of going through the legally mandated year-long process, she would be able to close up to five prisons over the next year with only 90 days’ notice.

The Senate accepted the proposal, but upped the notice period to 180 days. The Assembly excluded it from its budget proposal.

Where They’re Close

PROSECUTION AND DEFENSE FUNDING: Prosecutors and public defenders are experiencing funding crises, exacerbated by the heavy lift of implementing the state’s 2019 discovery reforms. Last year, the state budget gave $167 million in added state support to district attorneys’ offices, and only $87 million to public defense. Defense lawyers were up in arms over the disparity.

This year, the governor maintained that disparity, proposing $127 million for prosecution and $87 million for defense in her budget. The Assembly proposed similar numbers. But the Senate proposed allocating $150 million to prosecutors and an equal amount to defense and legal services.

Where They Agree

BAIL AND DISCOVERY: When it comes to criminal justice, one of the only things Hochul and the legislature agree on is what should not be in the budget.

During Hochul’s time as governor, some of the biggest sticking points in budget negotiations have revolved around the status of New York’s 2019 criminal justice reforms. The governor has tried — and mostly succeeded — to modify aspects of state law to make it easier for judges to set bail or otherwise hold criminal defendants in jail. Meanwhile, the governor and some district attorneys have tried to roll back reforms that require prosecutors to share evidence with the defense in a timely manner.

Last year, Hochul declared that she was finished pushing for reform rollbacks in the budget. She has so far kept her word. And the legislature — which did not want rollbacks to begin with — seems fine with leaving the statutes as they are.

Drug Policy

Where They’re Split

ADDICTION TREATMENT FUNDING: State funding for addiction treatment has turned into a political double bind for Hochul’s administration. While receipts from settlements with opioid companies begin to dry up, the state has hit a new all-time high for overdoses, raising questions about how New York will continue to fund addiction treatment.

The governor, Senate, and Assembly each suggested different numbers for local aid for addiction services: Hochul proposed $898 million, the Senate proposed $990 million, and the Assembly proposed $935 million.

About half of the difference between Hochul’s and the Senate’s numbers comes from the community treatment services program, which funds outpatient care, residential treatment, harm reduction, and other initiatives. The Senate’s plan would funnel about $42.7 million more into this program than Hochul’s.

Most of the remaining difference comes from a Senate proposal to spend an additional $45 million in opioid settlement funds on top of the governor’s recommendation. This extra sum includes a special carveout to fund overdose prevention centers.

OPIOID SETTLEMENT FUNDS FOR OVERDOSE PREVENTION CENTERS: In a rebuke of the governor, the Senate’s proposed budget would authorize the Office of Addiction Services and Supports to use a cut of the state’s opioid settlement funds to support overdose prevention centers. Hochul’s budget did not include this measure.

The centers, which allow people to safely use substances under medical supervision, are at the heart of a political maelstrom over addiction care. Hochul’s administration has twice rejected recommendations from the state’s Opioid Settlement Advisory Board to fund the centers, arguing that doing so could violate federal law. And while the centers reported preventing over 1,000 overdose-related deaths through August last year, opponents argue that they draw drug-related crime to their neighborhoods in Washington Heights and East Harlem.

All three budget proposals would authorize the state to spend $63.7 million of the payouts received from major pharmaceutical companies accused of fueling the opioid crisis. The Senate’s proposal includes an additional, separate $45 million pot, which can be used on the overdose prevention centers.

Whether the centers make it into the final budget is another matter. Besides Hochul’s opposition, the Assembly did not include funding for them in its proposal.

XYLAZINE CRIMINALIZATION: Hochul proposed classifying xylazine, an animal tranquilizer commonly mixed with fentanyl, as a schedule III controlled substance, joining drugs like ketamine and pentobarbital. Her proposal would also classify additional fentanyl analogs and other drugs as controlled substances. The governor’s proposal would make it a felony to possess two pounds or more of xylazine, except under special circumstances.

Both the Senate and Assembly dropped the governor’s proposal.

In a press release, Toni Smith, New York state director for the Drug Policy Alliance, lauded the move, noting that the legislature’s “intentional omission of new drug scheduling” recognizes that prohibition and criminalization “drive an unstable drug supply, increase overdose deaths, and threaten the health of New Yorkers and our communities.”

CANNABIS SALES ENFORCEMENT: The governor proposed cracking down on unlicensed cannabis sales by expanding authorities’ powers to serve temporary restraining and closing orders against illicit dispensaries. The measure would allow authorities to seize cash, seal premises, and destroy suspected contraband.

The Senate accepted Hochul’s proposal, adding new provisions that would strengthen municipalities’ authority to penalize property owners for leasing a storefront to an illicit operation.

The Assembly did not include a proposal to expand the Office of Cannabis Management’s authority.

Climate and Environment

Where They’re Split

GAS TRANSITION: For two years in a row, the Senate has tried to include a bill called the NY HEAT Act in the budget. A top priority for the environmental movement, the HEAT Act could be New York’s biggest climate bill since it enacted its landmark climate law in 2019. This year, Hochul’s budget proposal included a version of it, known as the Affordable Gas Transition Act, which adopted the HEAT Act’s core tenets. The governor proposed nixing both the “100-foot rule,” which pays for new gas lines, and utilities’ “obligation to serve” gas to every household. This could eventually allow the state to make entire neighborhoods fully electric.

The Senate replaced Hochul’s proposal with the full NY HEAT Act it already sought to include in last year’s budget. The Senate also included a target to keep energy bills below six percent of household incomes and a timeline for shrinking the gas system consistent with the state’s climate law, both of which Hochul’s version leaves out.

The Assembly dropped the bulk of the legislation, setting up what will likely be the biggest climate fight of this budget season. It did add a separate $200 million measure aiming to cap electric bills at six percent of income and signaled in its budget overview that it would be open to revisiting the 100-foot rule — suggesting that a deal could be within reach.

CLEAN WATER INFRASTRUCTURE: Hochul’s executive budget proposes slashing funding for the state’s landmark clean water program. The Clean Water Infrastructure Act, meant to upgrade the state’s drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, has been funded at $500 million annually since 2017. Hochul proposed cutting that in half to $250 million for each of the next two years. The proposed cuts come as New York is expected to receive $2.6 billion in federal funds for water infrastructure over the next five years.

The Senate and Assembly omitted Hochul’s cuts and proposed preserving the $500 million annual spending level. The Senate also included an additional $112.5 million in water funding: $100 million for the Safe Water Infrastructure Action Program — meant for municipal infrastructure repairs and long-term maintenance — and $12.5 million for a program to prevent and mitigate harmful algal blooms.

RENEWABLE ENERGY TAX CREDITS: The Senate proposed increasing tax credits for residential solar and geothermal energy, but neither Hochul nor the Assembly included the increases in their budgets.

The Senate proposal would double the maximum allowable tax credit for solar and geothermal from $5,000 to $10,000. The measure would also make the credit refundable in some cases for low- and moderate-income people and those living in communities the climate law designates as “disadvantaged.” The expanded credits are a priority for clean energy developers.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FUND: As is storied Albany tradition, Hochul sought to divert $25 million of the $400 million Environmental Protection Fund to cover the administrative costs of the various land conservation, parks, climate, and other environmental projects the fund pays for. Hochul tried the same move last year, following a pattern set by her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo. Legislators have consistently rejected these raids, arguing that the fund is strictly intended to pay for the one-time “capital” expenses of these projects, not the staffing costs, which are funded elsewhere in the budget.

The Assembly and Senate both omitted the move again this year, plus the Senate added another $25 million to the EPF, bringing it to $425 million total.

CLIMATE SUPERFUND: The most substantial climate spending proposal on the table is the Climate Change Superfund Act, which would impose a fee on fossil fuel companies for their past carbon emissions. Legislators estimate that the measure would raise $3 billion annually from fossil fuel companies to be spent on climate adaptation projects. It’s modeled after the federal superfund law that requires polluters to clean up the environmental messes they’ve made, and similar legislation has been proposed in three other states.

The Senate included it in its one-house budget — after passing the standalone bill last spring — but neither Hochul nor the Assembly included the proposal in their budgets.

The Assembly’s budget resolution notes that the chamber “is supportive of holding fossil fuel polluters accountable for costs related to climate change via a cost-recovery method; however, any such approach cannot impact consumers who are already overburdened by adverse price increases.” (The bill’s supporters argue that the fees are unlikely to be passed on to consumers, since they’d be assessed on historic emissions, not on current or future gas sales.)

SUNY THERMAL NETWORKS: The Senate included a proposal to allocate $90 million total to SUNY Buffalo and SUNY Purchase to build thermal energy networks. The initiative is backed by the UpgradeNY coalition, which includes unions, climate and environmental groups, and building industry representatives.

Neither Hochul nor the Assembly included the proposal in their budgets.

Where They’re Close

UTILITY BILL ASSISTANCE: A few different budget proposals address energy affordability.

The biggest line item came from the Assembly, which proposed a $200 million infusion to the Energy Affordability Program — a means tested program for energy bill assistance that, to date, has been funded by ratepayers — and making the program permanent. The Senate did not propose any new funding for that program, but the Senate’s HEAT Act proposal includes a target that residential customers will not spend more than six percent of their income on utility bills. Hochul did not include the six percent target nor the $200 million for the Energy Affordability Program in her budget proposal.

In addition, Hochul, the Senate, and the Assembly all proposed $50 million in funding to ensure that households in the EmPower+ program, which helps low-income people make their homes more efficient, do not spend more than six percent of their income on electric bills. The program received $200 million last year, but this year, neither Hochul nor the legislative chambers proposed new funding for the program beyond utility bill assistance.

RAPID ACT: Hochul wants New York to build transmission lines faster. The second flagship climate proposal in her budget, along with her version of the HEAT Act, is known as the RAPID Act. It would move the state’s Office of Renewable Energy Siting, or ORES, into the Department of Public Service, which regulates energy and utilities, and task ORES with permitting transmission projects alongside the wind and solar farms it already reviews. Hochul said this reshuffle would create “a one-stop shop for the environmental review and permitting of major renewable energy and transmission facilities.”

The Senate and Assembly both took up Hochul’s proposal, but with significant changes — mainly to add more public input and outside oversight to the process. Both chambers want ORES to hold four public hearings across the state before approving any regulations, and the Senate wants the ability to confirm the office’s director. Both the Assembly and Senate also proposed creating a “Farmland Protection Working Group,” aimed at minimizing the impacts of clean energy on farms; the Senate’s version adds fees for solar projects sited on “prime farmland.”

The Senate also proposed bringing battery storage systems larger than five megawatts under ORES’s purview.

Miscellaneous

Where They’re Split

ABO FUNDING AND OVERSIGHT: For years, good government groups have been calling for increased funding for the Authorities Budget Office (ABO), the state agency that watchdogs New York state’s nearly 600 public authorities. The Senate proposed a $1 million increase in the ABO’s budget, which would bring it up to just under $4.5 million.

The Senate also proposed giving the ABO additional enforcement powers and requiring it to create a searchable database of deals for local authorities — like industrial development agencies, which give out tax breaks to businesses and developers. In 2022, New York created a database of deals for the state’s economic development arm, Empire State Development, that tracks tax incentives and job creation per subsidy deal. But according to the Citizens Budget Commission, almost 60 percent of New York’s $10.7 billion in annual economic development incentives is spent by local authorities.

The Assembly and the governor proposed to keep the ABO budget at just under $3.5 million and did not include any additional proposals.

WAGE THEFT: As Hochul’s Department of Labor has lagged in recovering unpaid wages, the governor and both chambers are split over funding for wage theft enforcement and expanding the agency’s power to recover stolen wages.

Hochul’s budget briefing book pledged that the administration would “continue to prioritize cracking down on wage theft.” But her actual budget included only a modest proposal to expand the Labor Department’s powers to do so, by allowing the labor commissioner to issue warrants for employers that violate wage theft laws. Even so, the Assembly excluded her proposal.

The Senate accepted Hochul’s proposal. It also proposed the Wage Theft Attachment Act, which allows a judge to freeze an employer’s assets if it is facing a wage theft complaint. Additionally, the Senate proposed setting up a new revenue stream for the Labor Department’s wage law enforcement, funded by the fines employers pay for violating the law.

LIQUOR LAW REFORM: Hochul proposed adopting several of the minor recommendations issued last year by a commission charged with modernizing the state’s liquor laws.

The Senate added language to include other commission recommendations, including one to allow bars and restaurants to make limited purchases of up to 12 bottles from liquor stores. In addition, the Senate added language to allow movie theaters to obtain liquor licenses.

The Assembly, which generally disfavors allowing non-fiscal policy items into the budget, omitted all recommendations made by the liquor law reform commission.

Where They Agree

PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Hochul’s executive budget proposes $100 million for the state’s new public matching funds program, which is set for its first run in 2024. The Senate and Assembly both left that amount unchanged.

Last year, the legislature considered not funding the program. (Some Democrats privately expressed concern that it would hurt incumbents or help Republicans in swing districts.) Instead, Democrats ultimately passed a bill in June making the program more favorable to incumbents. In December, Hochul vetoed that bill.