With the state budget 24 days late, state lawmakers were back in Albany Wednesday to pass yet another budget extender to fund state government through Tuesday. The hope remains that a handshake deal is within reach Friday with remote conferencing over the weekend — ideally setting the stage for voting on a budget package next week.

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie met with Gov. Kathy Hochul for just under an hour Thursday afternoon. Stewart-Cousins exited the elevator back to her third floor office to a wall of reporters with one question: Do we have a handshake deal?

“No, not yet,” she said with a hint of a sigh.

But Stewart-Cousins and Heastie both indicated progress.

“I believe by the end of next week we will be passing bills,” Stewart-Cousins told reporters.

“We’re getting closer,” Heastie said.

While a deal still appeared within reach by Friday, multiple lawmakers told Spectrum News 1 that it doesn’t feel like it, with policy issues still unresolved.

So what’s the hold up?

In part, it’s that this year’s budget wildcard — the governor’s late-in-the-game push for legislation surrounding the use of face masks in the commission of a crime, appears to have seen a resurgence after Hochul seemed to indicate over the weekend that she may be backing off the proposal.

“We didn’t know whether this should be done in the budget or in session which others are suggesting so that remains to be determined,” she said Saturday.

Heastie implied that it’s now become a thorn in the side of a budget process that many feel has gone on far too long.

“That is probably the furthest thing from having any resolution. We’re trying to figure something out,” Heastie said earlier in the afternoon.

Multiple lawmakers expressed frustration that the goal post on the mask issue is still on the move. They say the Senate in particular remains resistant, but Stewart-Cousins would only say that talks continue.

“We’re working on seeing if we can get to some agreement that is reflective of the concerns of everyone,” she said.

Different proposals for how to deal with concerns surrounding antisemitism on one hand — but religious expression, the right to protest, and immigration policy on the other — continued to float around Thursday.    

In the Assembly, sources say there seems to be an interest in getting something in the budget, even if it is diminished, in part to check the box. Other lawmakers were concerned over the message that such legislation would send to the Trump administration given their policy around immigration and pro-Palestinian protests.

At this point, they say the governor’s initial proposal for a separate crime of "masked harassment" has been watered down to multiple alternatives.

Assemblymember Alex Bores told Spectrum News 1 that includes the "penalty enhancer" proposal lawmakers have discussed in recent days, but also something entirely different.

“Could it be something that would be a sentencing increase, or increasing the actual charge if someone were to commit a different crime, but do it while wearing a mask,” he said.

That second proposal appears to function similar to the way a hate crime is prosecuted relative to the original charge.

“Tying the way we treat masks similar to how we treat hate crimes,” he said. “If you commit an offense but you do it for bias reasons or bigoted reasons, that could increase the penalty, maybe that’s the same way to think about doing an offense but wearing a mask while you conduct it.”

It remains to be seen if any legislation relating to face masks will make the final package. 

Another issue that generated controversy over the past week is Hochul’s proposal to expand merit time as a means to deal with the staffing crisis at state prisons. The New York Post first reported that Hochul was considering expanding the program to some violent offenders, with the exception of murder, rape and other sex offenses. The governor’s office stressed at the time that the proposal applied only to those with "excellent disciplinary records’ and that the Governor ‘will not allow anyone who demonstrates a public safety threat to be released early from prison."

Stewart-Cousins indicated that the proposal to expand credits is still on the table, but the expansion of eligibility to those individuals may have been dropped from the conversation.

“I’m not sure that’s the case anymore,” she said.