More Democratic lawmakers continue to come out against Gov. Kathy Hochul's plan to spend $3 billion on one-time inflation "refund" checks for low- and middle-income families as she works to win back voters struggling with affordability.

As inflation continues to rise, state lawmakers have introduced legislation for affordability proposals they want in the budget that argue would better serve New Yorkers in the long term instead of Hochul's budget ask to send checks of $300 for single tax filers making under $150,000 a year and $500 checks to joint filers making up to $300,000.

"I think that most people, when they get the check, will have no idea where exactly it came from or where it's associated with," said Assemblywoman Anna Kelles, a Democrat from Ithaca.

Lawmakers are standing up against Gov. Hochul's plan with one month until the Senate and Assembly release their counter-spending plans — arguing using $3 billion in excess tax revenue for the one-time checks are short-sighted.

"We literally could, for example, pay for buying electric buses for every single school, right? A huge issue," Kelles said of the governor's proposal. "We could do that in every school."

Sen. Pat Fahy, an Albany Democrat, agrees the Legislature could better invest the $3 billion in the next budget.

"That is a one-shot; we have money right now," the senator told Spectrum News 1. "I understand the intent, but I think there are better ways to use it."

Fahy said the $3 billion could be split across multiple affordability initiatives, including $1 billion to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and raise income limits, $1 billion targeted for child tax credits for struggling families and $1 billion to cut down on the state's over $7 billion in outstanding unemployment insurance debt leftover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The senator introduced a bill last week to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit for young and older adults, and people who don't have children. It would also raise the income threshold for eligibility, and nearly double it for filers with dependents from from $11,610 to $24,960, indexed to inflation.

"We want to get workers into the workforce, this is a way to reward it, and, if you will, incentivize it," Fahy said. "And it's got decades and decades of substantiated research behind it."

The state's chapter of AARP also backs expanding the tax credit for workers over age 65, with more seniors in the workforce than ever, said AARP New York state director Beth Finkel. 

AARP wants more in the budget for low-income seniors to pay utility bills. Hochul's budget proposed $53 million more for home and community-based programs through the state Office of the Aging, like Meals on Wheels, but Finkel said AARP is pushing the Legislature to raise that $30 million more to account for inflation.

"Not to mention the staffing costs that have gone up, and yet, the state has not really addressed how to really pay for that out of the current budgets for these agencies," Finkel said.

Finkel declined to comment on Hochul's inflation refund check proposal.

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is urging caution about the state's outyear budget gaps, which swells to $11 billion in 2029. The comptroller released his annual report on the executive budget last week and said he wants the Legislature to prepare for the future and expect less support from Washington.

"There are many important initiatives there that the governor has put out on affordability like the child tax credit," DiNapoli told Spectrum News 1 on Saturday at an unrelated event in Albany. "It's hard to disagree with some of those policy choices, [but] we have to make sure we have the money to pay for all that, though, and that's what I hope the Legislature will consider."

Sen. James Skoufis said when the Legislature included property rebate checks in a past budget under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the benefit did not have its intended impact with people struggling to afford the state's high cost of living.

Skoufis, a Hudson Valley Democrat, said he and several other lawmakers want to double the enhanced STAR exemption program, which senior citizens rely on for school tax relief, as a substitute to Hochul's small checks.

"Those checks address a symptom, instead, we should be addressing the problems, the root of the cause of a high cost of living here in New York state," Skoufis said. "[Enhanced STAR] is an important but insufficient exemption...that speaks to a root problem — property taxes — to a specific group of folks who live on a fixed income to live in this state."

Leaders with the Business Council of New York State also want the $3 billion to be used pay down the state's outstanding COVID unemployment insurance debt, which small business owners continue to shoulder and pay with a surtax.

Gov. Hochul last week continued to stand by her plan to send out the one-time checks as several assemblymembers railed against the idea in conference.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters Saturday he is not against Hochul's checks, but it will come down to serious spending talks.

"It's part of the governor's proposal and we'll continue to talk about it," he said.