Final state budget bills expected to be debated until early Wednesday before passage

PHOTOGRAPHER: The Associated Press

In this February file photo, New York state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, left, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, listen to Gov. Kathy Hochul present her executive state budget in the Red Room at the state Capitol in Albany. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

ALBANY — More than a month overdue, state lawmakers began to debate the final state budget bills Tuesday afternoon and are expected to pass them in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a “conceptual” agreement on this year’s budget last Thursday following weeks of discussions on a number of policy items, such as further changes to the state’s bail reform laws and a controversial ban on fossil fuel utilities in new building construction starting in 2026.

Hochul used “messages of necessity,” which bypass the required three-day waiting period for bills, and state lawmakers began to pass budget bills Monday. The remaining bills, containing most of the policy issues, were introduced Monday night. The bill or bills that contain the majority of the policy items are commonly known as, “the Big Ugly.”

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, told reporters Tuesday that members are expected to stay late and pass the bills, rather than return Wednesday to pass the rest. Republicans, who are in the minority in both chambers, have criticized the rushed process. When Senate Republicans previously held the majority, the process was largely the same.

The speaker also brushed off criticism about the late budget.

“A good budget is more important than an on-time budget,” he said.

State Sen. James Tedisco, R-Glenville, said Monday he would be voting “no” on the bills due to the rushed voting process.

A report released annually by the New York Public Interest Research Group, a good-government organization, shows messages of necessity have been used for decades to pass the state’s budget and end-of-session agreements. The legislative session is scheduled to end in June.

NYPIRG Executive Director Blair Horner said the rushed late-night votes are “business as usual” in Albany’s budget process.

“It’s a widely used and abused practice,” he said. “When they negotiate a deal, they want to move on it as fast as they can before someone blows it up.”

Horner added one of the reasons the voting process on the budget bills takes so long is because there’s still confusion on what is and isn’t in the budget.

“How could they know everything when the deal was just hammered out and the ink is not yet dry?” he said.

Despite the hours-long debates on the floor, Democrats currently control both houses of the state Legislature and the budget bills are expected to pass as usual.