Just one day after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she clinched a budget deal, the Democratic-controlled state Assembly spent hours debating — and then passing — a bill that would legalize what’s called “medical aid in dying,” also known as assisted suicide.

But it’s still unclear whether the state Senate or Hochul supports it.

After five hours of debate, the state Assembly didn’t approve a budget deal Tuesday, but instead signed off on a bill that would allow medically assisted death.

The measure passed with 81 “yes” votes to 67 “no” votes.

According to the bill, terminally ill adults, with six months or less left to live and are mentally competent, could request life-ending medication.

Witnesses would need to be present, two doctors would have to sign off and a psychiatric evaluation could be requested.

“Here, we have enormous safeguards. Two doctors have to attest to the fact that there’s no coercion,” state Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, a Democrat representing Scarsdale and also the legislation’s sponsor, said. “If there’s any suspicion of coercion, it’s prosecuted and again we’ve seen no data, we’ve seen no prosecutions.”

Still, there are warnings from both sides of the aisle.

“Essentially, you’re sending a person home with a life-ending drug!” Michael Durso, a Republican state Assemblyman from Nassau County, said.

“Some people call this choice of passing peacefully, while others call it assisted suicide,” added Democratic state Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn from Brooklyn.

“My concern and opposition of this bill comes from the great risk of targeting vulnerable communities of color given the historical health disparities that they continue to face,” she added.

If passed by the state Senate and signed by the governor, the bill would become law. A spokesman for the state Senate told NY1, the Democratic conference has yet to discuss the bill this year. 

When asked where she stands, Hochul told NY1 on Thursday, “I never talk about what I’m going to do until I do it.”

For now, advocates say they’ve approached a milestone.

“Facing those and really thinking about giving power to people over that last chapter has been very difficult but I think at this point we’ve seen that enough lawmakers in Albany have engaged in the conversation,” Corinne Carey, senior campiagn director for Compassion & Choices, said.

Although public hearings were held in 2018, before Tuesday, the legislation was never voted out of Assembly committees.

Opponents, like the Catholic Church, argue the timing is off.

“Why the legislature would choose in the middle of a budget fight to run this bill?” Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, said. “Then boom! It’s on the floor. That’s really bad government. No matter what you think about the bill.”

If passed, New York would track deaths and require underlying conditions to be listed.

“There is a robust reporting requirement that requires doctors to report to the state Department of Health how many prescriptions have been written,” Carey said. “Death certificates are used to determine how to funnel resources and attention on diseases that are plaguing New Yorkers. We want to know whether people are dying from cancer.”

Ten states and Washington, D.C. have already legalized medical aid in dying.

“We all know we’re going to die, and certainly the Catholic Church we’re about getting people to heaven. We’re not about stopping death at any cost, but it’s how you do it. And do you make the physician into a killer?” Poust said.

Bill supporters told NY1 that doctors would be able to opt out of prescribing treatment.