A bit of Albany’s internal drama spilled into public view Thursday, with conflicting messages from Gov. Kathy Hochul and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, both Democrats leaving New Yorkers reading news tickers in coffee shops, airports and car dealerships wondering: is there a budget deal or not?
After Hochul held a news conference announcing a “general agreement” on key items, Heastie said “there is no deal.”
Technically, there is not. That would require the Democrat-led Legislature to pass budget bills and Hochul to sign them into law. We’re at least days away from that.
We’re stuck in a Planet Albany in-between: the wilderness that exists after the governor announces a “handshake” agreement on major policy proposals and top-line items, but before an enacted state budget, when frustration grows among lawmakers and staff as outstanding spending items remain unresolved.
On Thursday’s show, Capital Tonight broke down what this means in the context of Hochul’s negotiation habits, and what is still left to address as the process drags on.
Hochul acknowledged in her remarks that there is still work to be done, but repeatedly used past-tense language to describe negotiations, including the same “We Got It Done” branding on her presentation graphics that rubbed lawmakers the wrong way last year.
“We got it done,” she said. “Over the next few days, the Legislature will be conferencing and voting on the budget bills.”
She then went on to tout consensus with the Legislature on her push to change car insurance laws in a bid to lower rates; a rollback of the state’s landmark 2019 climate law in a classic Hochul-vs.-Legislature budget clash; a loosening of the state’s environmental quality review to fast-track projects on previously disturbed land in an effort to spur housing development; and finally, a sweeping immigration package that limits formal collaboration between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and state and local governments and prevents ICE agents from wearing masks – all part of a $268 billion spending plan that is $8 billion larger than her January proposal.
“I’m proud to say that we did. We’re delivering on affordability, on safety, on childcare, on the environment and on housing. This budget was the culmination of an ambitious agenda I laid out in January,” the governor said.
Just moments after Hochul wrapped up taking questions from reporters following her speech, Heastie called a news conference contradicting the governor, insisting things aren’t as close as Hochul is portraying.
“There is no budget deal,” he said. “Even on the policies we put out there today, some of these things are incomplete. We don’t even have full language on the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act or what to do about utility rates. I think it was very premature for the governor to come out to make this announcement.”
Heastie wasn’t alone – “The speaker is correct,” Deputy Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris said before the Senate met to pass yet another budget extender.
Heastie’s frustration stems from what is ultimately a successful tactic for the governor, but one that earns her scorn from fellow Democratic lawmakers and good-government groups alike: her willingness to hold up the budget and the process of negotiating the state’s expenditures as a leverage tool to get a sizable portion of nearly all of the policy proposals she weaves into the executive budget plan thanks to New York’s executive driven process. He has lamented that current process compresses the period of time that lawmakers have to address non-budget items unburdened by the background noise of high stakes negotiations. This year, the legislative session wraps on June 4.
The speaker told reporters that in a Wednesday evening meeting with the governor, he didn’t sign off on anything resembling “We Got It Done.”
“I told her last night I was comfortable saying to you all, ‘we were close’ – it is close, but this is what’s wrong with this process. I’m only going to talk about policy and then, when the Legislature has given me what I want, then we’ll talk about money. There are so many open issues on money,” he said.
He added that he will refuse to call members to conference until more clarity is reached on spending items and indicated he will push for changes next year.
“This thing – thinking you can starve the members out – it’s over,” he said.
Hochul often frames conceptual agreements carefully as more of a status update than a fully hammered out deal, but that has never stopped lawmakers from getting annoyed. When asked for her perspective on changes to the budget process, Hochul often points reporters to what she has accomplished in “overtime.”
“Everything I’ve stood for and fought for is for the betterment of the people of this state,” she said earlier this month. “The necessary bail changes, which took two late budgets to get through, the necessary discovery changes, the involuntary confinement to help people who are living off the streets without proper care, cellphones, the cellphone ban, which has been extraordinary … I’d prefer to be done on time. My hands are ready to shake, but we’ve just got to work through some more details because my priorities are very important to me.”
Heastie says enough is enough, but many point out that the Legislature has unused levers to push back against the governor – from veto overrides as a show of legislative strength to passing a constitutional amendment, to smaller, inside-baseball tactics the legislature could use to resist policy items.
Although he complains similarly about the process every year, according to the speaker, there is more to come:
“I’m saying this to y’all very clearly: I’m never doing this again. Budgets are supposed to be about money, not policy.”
