New York legislative leaders and Gov. Kathy Hochul aren't close to reaching a state budget deal as they continue to clash on housing, bail reform and other issues with the spending plan 18 days late, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said Tuesday.
A compromise on proposed changes to the state's bail laws and housing started to take shape, but remain uncertain after a meeting between leaders and Hochul on Tuesday. The top state officials exited the meeting without taking questions from reporters.
The three-day budget extender lawmakers passed this week expires at 4 p.m. Thursday. The 2023-24 estimated $230 billion budget was due April 1.
"We could be within reach but we're not close," Heastie said Tuesday afternoon while walking from the Capitol to the Legislative Office Building. "We're going to keep working today and tomorrow and see where it goes."
The Muslim religious holiday Eid Al-Fitr, observed Thursday and Friday, will delay talks, the speaker said — likely meaning negotiations will continue into next week.
The Assembly speaker says Tuesday's meeting was a check-in with the governor about where members of the Legislature, with a supermajority of Democrats, stand firmly on issues dominating budget talks. Bail and housing continue to be the main focal points, as Hochul's proposed Housing Compact faces pushback from Democratic lawmakers advocating for incentives to expand housing like the housing access voucher program included in the Senate and Assembly's one-house budgets.
The governor's plan aims to build 800,000 new units over the next decade, but legislators are fighting hard to prevent the governor's proposal for the state to expedite qualified projects and potentially override local zoning and opposition.
"We're going to keep at it," said Heastie, later adding, "I don't think we're close on housing. ...Nothing has been finalized. I need to understand what an entire package looks like because that's what I have to talk to the members about."
The speaker continued he did not know how to respond to the governor's statement released earlier Tuesday that the housing incentives and programs the Legislature is pushing for won't solve the statewide housing crises.
"We're just discussing things," Heastie said.
Negotiations have continued for more than a month amid Hochul's insistence to change the law that ended cash bail for many criminal offenses. Leaders on Monday advanced closer to a deal to expand judicial discretion for certain felony charges.