State lawmakers bought themselves another two days to pass a state budget, now 22 days late. They passed an extender to bridge the funding gap for state services and payroll from Wednesday when the current extender expires, through Thursday.

Deputy Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris told reporters the most likely scenario at this point seems to be a budget deal later this week with voting on budget bills spilling into early next week.

“I think next sounds like a really good week to pass a budget,” he said. “I think the hope at this point mid-week is to reach an agreement this week and pass it next, that would be a nice outcome if we can get there.

That means the grind of negotiating policy issues, which has been the sole reason for the holdup thus far, must be wrapped up this week. Same goes for how the billions of dollars the state plans to spend will be allocated, with the final number still undetermined. Therefore also up in the air is school aid, aid to municipalities, and how issues of revenue, taxes, and tax relief will be addressed.

Gianaris said he’s confident a compromise will come on changes to involuntary commitment laws.

“All that stuff will come together,” he said.

When it comes to the governor’s late-in-the-game budget push for legislation around the wearing of face masks in the commission of a crime, he said concerns of members are being conveyed to leaders. Whether that proposal will make the final package in any form is unclear, but it’s almost certain that it won’t be in the form that Hochul initially proposed.

State Sen. James Skoufis told Spectrum News 1 Monday the proposal has at the very least been steered away from a full blown criminal charge, now being discussed as a “penalty enhancer” to be considered during sentencing.

Multiple lawmakers said the modified proposal hadn’t been presented to members as of earlier Tuesday, but there is a sense it could ease concerns over mask use related to religion, immigration, and protest.

It comes after Gov. Hochul downplayed her push for the policy over the weekent, emphasizing that it was a late add and could be dealt with through legislation later in session.

Gianaris said that’s an option.

“The members of the public believe, if you believe the Siena poll this morning it’s the one issue that the public said they would prefer not to be taken up in the budget,” he said. “We have a month and a half of session left from now so we have time to do a lot of things.”

The poll also found that of Hochul’s primary budget proposals, 61-19% support restricting student cellphone use in schools, 64-24% support making it a crime to wear a mask to conceal identity while threatening someone, 43-24% support amending the state’s discovery laws and 45-31% support making it easier to involuntarily commit someone with mental illness.

A majority of those who support discovery changes said Hochul was right to hold up the budget for that issue, with a plurality supporting a budget holdup for cell phone restrictions and involuntary commitment. A plurality of those who support a mask ban said they didn’t think it’s worth holding up the budget.

Meanwhile, lawmakers like Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara continue to express frustration that discussions on fiscal matters like school aid and aid to municipalities have been held up for weeks in favor of the governor’s policy propositions, but that frustration is compounded by the fact that having to vote on budget bills stifles the opportunity for debate on individual policy pieces within them.

“We see a policy piece be put in the budget that’s a controversial piece, and on top of that once it is settled, when you vote you’re voting on school funding but you’re also voting on this policy piece at the same time, that’s really unfair,” he said.

Lawmakers will be back to pass another extender on Thursday which will provide a window into the weekend should the budget be teed up for a vote, but at least an additional extender could be required to get the budget over the finish line.