Democratic state lawmakers are letting Gov. Kathy Hochul know where their priorities are in what’s known as their “one-house” budget proposals that were released earlier Tuesday.


What You Need To Know

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to protect retail workers and is eyeing additional dollars for small businesses seeking security protections. She also wants to elevate penalties for those who assault employees on the job to a class D felony

  • Both chambers want to raise taxes on high income earners – the state Senate also includes a tax hike on corporations

  • The legislative "one-house budgets" will serve as roadmaps for the next couple of weeks in negotiations leading up to the state’s April 1 budget deadline

The plans will serve as roadmaps for the next couple of weeks in negotiations leading up to the state’s April 1 budget deadline.

But a three-way deal between the governor and both individual legislative chambers is needed in order to finalize the state’s spending plan.

While both the state Senate and Assembly are heavily Democratic, they’re proposing slightly different approaches on how to spend taxpayer dollars and formulate key policies.

“We are very close to the beginning of the end,” state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Westchester told reporters Tuesday.

The state Senate is expected to vote on the legislative version of the proposals by Thursday.

Both chambers estimate that there’s more money to spend, particularly on education.

“We’re taking bold steps to reverse cuts and boost support. We increased the governor’s education spending by 1.2 billion,” said Stewart-Cousins, who is opposed to Hochul’s favored idea that would change statewide education funding formula also known as a “hold harmless” provision.

Both chambers want to raise taxes on high income earners. The Democratic state Senate Finance Chair Liz Krueger of Manhattan said the upper chamber also includes a tax hike on corporations.

“The two tax increases we proposed are, frankly, quite minor compared to the size of the overall budget,” she added.

But Hochul made it clear: she’s not interested.

“Raising income taxes is a non-starter for me,” she said at a press conference backing retail worker protections in the state Capitol’s historical “Red Room.”

The governor is also keen on protecting retail workers, eyeing additional dollars for small businesses seeking security protections and wants to elevate penalties for those who assault employees on the job to a class D felony.

“This can no longer stand. It’s time to go after the organized retail rings, the same way we go after the gun traffickers or car thieves,” she said Tuesday, flanked by retail workers and business leaders.  

The state Senate rejected Hochul’s idea, instead devising a way for prosecutors to charge repeat shoplifters.

“We are all very sensitive to the problems associated with retail theft, and we want to address it. So I think it’s not so much an outright rejection as a different way of approaching it,” said state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, describing the proposals.

Even though some small business owners say they support Hochul’s vision.

“She values us. She’s not just saying it! I think the senators who are delusional enough to take this out of the bills: Where is their reality check? Like, I mean — they live in communities. Are they OK with what’s going on?” Deborah Koenigsberger, owner of Noir et Blanc in Manhattan, said.

All eyes are on a potential housing deal.

The state Senate endorsed Hochul’s favored subsidies for developers while also standing firm on tenant protections. But the Assembly is still hashing out details.

Sources told NY1 they want more buy in from labor unions.

But lawmakers are up for reelection and some argue they can’t go home to their districts without action on housing.

“I don’t think this is a thing [that] we can go back home to our constituents, particularly when we see people leaving with their feet and leaving New York State and going down 95 to other places,” said Democrat state Assemblyman Brian Cunningham of Brooklyn.

Although the state budget’s deadline is April 1, Hochul and the legislature didn’t agree to a plan until mid-May in 2023.

The governor said she prefers reaching an “early” agreement, but critics warn that even a slight difference of opinion on major topics could throw off that timeline.