The New York state Legislature still hasn't voted on a state budget, despite Gov. Kathy Hochul announcing the "framework" of a conceptual agreement on Monday.
The governor has acknowledged that details still need to be ironed out, but it is still not clear when the budget process will be wrapped up. State senators meanwhile told reporters as they left conference for the day that they plan to pass another budget extender Thursday possibly bumping the budget deadline to next week.
“We’re voting on another extender at 11 o’clock tomorrow morning, and we’ll see what happens after that,” state Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger said.
Asked if she felt the timing of Hochul’s announcement was appropriate given continued conversations, she responded with a question of her own.
“It was a confusing thing to do, don’t you think?" Krueger said.
State Sen. Zellnor Myrie attributed the delay in part to late conversations about mayoral control in New York City, finalizing a housing deal along with health care spending.
He didn’t comment on the governor’s announcement, but speaking for the Senate, he contextualized the delay.
“The leader of my house has been consistent in what she has communicated to the public, that we want to get this budget right, we are going to take the time to get it right, and we are going to take the appropriate time to do that,” he said.
In an interview with NY1’s Inside City Hall, Hochul called what is left to be finalized “minor details” and “inside baseball.”
Insisting that what is seen in a final deal will be “the same” as what she announced on Monday.
“The last two budgets we did it the exact same way, the night before I had one of my many, many, many meetings with the two leaders which have been always respectful and cordial— I have to say we have really changed the culture in Albany — I said 'Is this the handshake?' 'Yes this is the handshake' and I said 'we’ll be talking about it tomorrow.'”
On a day that also saw an apparent cyberattack that targeted the state Capitol's computer software that prints legislation, Senate Republicans railed against the overall budget’s priorities as well as the lack of a concrete deal.
“Here we are in Planet Albany with a cyberattack on bill drafting, and a budget that’s 17 days late, and a governor’s proclaimed agreement that is clearly not an agreement,” state Sen. Tom O’Mara, ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee told reporters at a news conference called to discuss the late budget.
The state budget is made up of ten separate bills and Assemblymember Ed Ra called on legislative leaders to present all bills to be voted on as a complete package rather than piece by piece as has been the case in the past.
“Our constituents want to know what is in this budget before we start voting on it, but really the need is that we have a full financial plan before we start voting so that we know how much it spends, how much it taxes,” he said.