On the eve of the state budget deadline, a deal remains well out of reach.
New York state Budget Director Blake Washington acknowledged to reporters Monday that the debate over changes to the state’s discovery laws has Gov. Kathy Hochul doubling down. When asked if discovery is an area where the governor was not interested in compromise, Washington answered in the affirmative.
“Yes, absolutely,” he said.
As for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and other legislative leaders putting the blame for the delay on the second floor not turning over budget language on discovery late last week for lawmakers to consider, Washington turned to the stakes of such a policy change.
“Our policy team, our counsels, our agency commissioners, are very serious about the work they do and they take time when they draft things, especially as it relates to changes to the criminal code,” he said. “These are people’s lives that we’re talking about, and we want to be very deliberate about how we deliver that.”
Washington said budget officials have teed up an extender through Thursday for the legislature to vote on. If there’s no budget by then, which is expected, the lawmakers will vote on another.
That extender will keep the necessities payed for in the short-term until a deal can be reached.
When it comes to taxes, Washington told reporters that Hochul remains resistant to any income tax hikes, but federal funding uncertainty could mean changes to corporate tax rates or the payroll mobility tax remain on the table. On MTA funding, he said discussions continue but declined to elaborate.
Washington echoed Hochul and legislative leaders as far as whether to directly address incoming or potential federal funding cuts in this budget, saying the remedy is to pass the budget now and come back for a special session to address shortfalls if necessary.
He said beyond simply leaving members of Congress to own any forthcoming cuts, the state could have to reallocate funds if there are areas where shortages must be backfilled.
“We have a statutory constitutional deadline to pass the budget. We want to deal with the facts as they are today, not what they could or could not be two months from now. So the plan is to continue to engage with the legislature and address any shortfall as it comes,” he said.
Also an unexpected curveball in this year’s budget is the fiscal impact of thousands of corrections officers walking out on a three-week illegal strike.
Washington revealed that it’s continuing to ratchet up the state’s spending every day, and he noted it is a factor in determining the final total for the budget.
“It’s going to be many hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said. “We are paying well over 100 million dollars post strike for the National Guard mission, for Nation Guard response, for other interventions we’ve taken in the facilities.”