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As the nation’s economic uncertainty continues with a volatile stock market, higher gas prices and inflation, New York state’s budget forecast has also suffered a reversal of fortune.
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While the Hochul Administration is touting increased financial commitments to clean energy and climate preservation in the new state budget, at least one environmental advocacy group says the spending plan offers mixed results. Among the disappointments, legislation that would phase out fossil fuel heating sources in new construction was left out.
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The new state budget replaces New York’s troubled ethics commission with a new entity aimed at lowering the number of scandals in state government. But critics said the measure doesn’t go far enough and could replicate some of the same problems the current commission created.
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More than 90% of refugees coming into New York settle in Upstate communities, including more than 16,000 refugees in Buffalo since 2002.
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The budget boosts pay for health care and home care workers, shaves 16 cents off the cost of a gallon of gas through December and helps New Yorkers with unpaid rent and utility bills.
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Gov. Kathy Hochul, as a part of a conceptual budget deal, announced several changes to bail reform, discovery reform and raise the age on Thursday.
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The agreement includes some changes to the state’s bail reform laws, the renewal of a popular pandemic-era rule that allows restaurants to serve alcoholic drinks to go and a temporary halt to the state’s gasoline taxes.
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“It’s as close as you can get to an agreement without the bills being printed,” Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris said. “We are moving on from those issues onto the rest of the budget.”
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Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said the extender ensures that 62,000 state employees who work at hospitals, prisons and other institutional settings will be paid on time Wednesday.
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New York begins the week without a state budget. The spending plan was due last Friday, but Gov. Kathy Hochul and the legislature failed to come to an agreement.