New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers are poised to pass measures meant to bolster housing production and protect renters from eviction, crack down on retail theft and restore some Medicaid funding the governor previously had on the chopping block.
Just as soon as they agree on the pesky specifics known as “bill language,” that is.
Hochul, a Democrat, on Monday announced she and legislative leaders had reached a handshake deal on “the parameters of a conceptual agreement” around a $247 billion state budget, which is now nearly three weeks past the April 1 deadline.
Negotiations over the details have continued since, even as a cyberattack on the Legislature’s bill-drafting system disrupted the process on Wednesday.
State elected officials are trying to hammer out exact language in a series of dense bills that lay out the budget and its accompanying policy tie-ins — where every period and comma are scrutinized to ensure the legislation does what Hochul and lawmakers intend. They’re hoping to finalize the spending plan soon, as lawmakers are scheduled to be on recess next week for Passover, which begins on Monday.
The governor and Democratic-led Legislature introduced three of the remaining nine budget bills early on Thursday morning, giving the public a first glimpse at the particulars of some of the measures Hochul had earlier previewed.
Here’s a look at what we do know is decided in the burgeoning budget agreement, along with what’s mostly decided and what’s still under negotiation.
Mostly decided: Housing package with tax break for developers, tenant protections
This is the marquee item in this year’s state budget, and it’s been two years in the making.
Lawmakers last year rejected Hochul’s plan to strong-arm local governments into creating more housing by threatening a state takeover of certain local zoning decisions if they didn’t comply.
Now, Hochul and legislative leaders have reached consensus on a less forceful plan that also includes new eviction protections for a portion of current renters, a priority for Democrats.
While the exact details were not yet available as of Thursday morning, Hochul said the plan will include a revamped version of a lucrative, long-term property tax credit for New York City housing developers who create affordable housing.
On WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” on Wednesday, she said developers will have to commit to keeping 25% of units below market rate for lower-income tenants to qualify for the new tax break.
Existing tenants will also get some form of what’s called “good cause” eviction protections, meaning a landlord won’t be able to evict them without a bona fide reason, such as nonpayment of rent. The protections will also allow tenants to challenge rent increases above a certain percentage to prevent price gouging. Hochul told show host Brian Lehrer that it’s 5% plus the rate of inflation.
But tenant activists aren’t happy with the mostly final deal. They say it includes far too many exemptions that exclude too many tenants, including a “portfolio exemption” for landlords who own a small number of units. Housing advocates say that will be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce, particularly since many buildings are owned by limited liability companies whose actual owners are not publicly named.
Decided: Cannabis crackdown
Hochul and state legislators are including bigger, blunter cannabis enforcement tools in this year’s budget to make it easier for authorities to shut down unlicensed shops.
Last year’s state budget raised fines on illicit vendors, but as Gothamist has reported enforcement has been slow going.
In response to pleas from New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the budget directly empowers municipalities to seek court orders to seal unlicensed dispensaries. The budget also establishes certain cases where officials can immediately padlock a shop suspected of selling weed illegally, and then hold a hearing, instead of the other way around.
And if any landlords are informed their tenants are selling cannabis without a license, they have just a few days to start eviction proceedings before the landlord is fined up to five times the rent they’re charging.
Undecided: Mayoral control of NYC schools
This appears to be the most significant issue remaining for Hochul and lawmakers to negotiate, and there’s no guarantee it will make it into the final budget.
Hochul reintroduced the issue in closed-door bargaining sessions over the weekend, pushing for an extension of mayoral control of the New York City school system, which is due to expire in June and requires state approval.
Since then, she and legislative leaders — along with Adams’ office and the United Federations of Teachers union behind the scenes — have been discussing a short-term extension with potential strings attached. There was still no deal as of Wednesday night.
Lawmakers are pressing for a mechanism to ensure Adams’ administration complies with looming class-size mandates — something Hochul says she supports in theory. “We’re structuring a very complex deal here, but I think ultimately, again, is everybody happy? Never,” Hochul told WNYC’s Lehrer. “That’s not the world we live in, you know that. But compromise is important, and I think we’ll get to a good place.”
Decided: Retail theft
Assaulting a retail worker is about to become a low-level felony in New York.
One of the budget bills introduced overnight includes a measure establishing the crime of assault on a retail worker. It will apply when someone causes injury to a retail worker, reasonably knew they were a retail worker and did it with the intent to keep them from doing their job.
Another section of the bill will create a new misdemeanor, fostering the sale of stolen goods. That charge will apply when someone uses an internet marketplace or physical space to sell retail goods they “know or should have known” were stolen.
Hochul said on Monday that the budget will include roughly $40 million for a law enforcement crackdown on retail theft, as well as a $3,000 tax credit for business owners who make security upgrades. Those measures are expected in yet-to-be-introduced budget bills.
Mostly decided: Health care spending
Budget bills on health care spending hadn’t been released as of Thursday morning. But Hochul has agreed to restore about $800 million of the $1.2 billion in Medicaid cuts she initially proposed to curb costs from the massive public health insurance program, after both the state Senate and Assembly rejected the cuts.
Health care providers are still waiting to see whether they will get significant boosts to the rates they are paid by Medicaid for their services. Hospitals launched an aggressive campaign to raise rates this year.
The governor said on Monday she was still seeking to save money on health care, especially for the state’s aging population. The budget includes measures she says will cut back on “waste, fraud and abuse” in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, a popular but expensive program that’s been in her crosshairs this budget session. It allows people who are older or have disabilities to independently hire caretakers at home — including friends or family members — rather than having to go through a staffing agency.
The budget legislation will require New York to select just one company to administer the program, down from several hundred currently. Advocates and people with disabilities camped outside Hochul’s office early this week to protest any cuts to the program.
“This alone will save us $500 million every single year, and allow us to start putting controls and guardrails in place for what has historically been a very underregulated program,” Hochul said on Monday.
Meanwhile, both she and legislators are hoping a budget trick borrowed from California will give New York more wiggle room on health care spending. Hochul says the state will seek permission from the Biden administration to pursue the maneuver, which involves taxing certain health plans and then paying them back through Medicaid with a mix of state and federal dollars.
The move was initially estimated to generate about $4 billion, but state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat who chairs the Senate health committee, said legislators are now anticipating much less than that.
Decided: Hate crime expansion (but not for graffiti)
Hochul said during her State of the State address in January that she wanted to expand New York’s hate crime statute to include everything “from gang assaults to graffiti.” Now, lawmakers have agreed to add gang assault to the statute, but not graffiti.
The budget includes legislation to add about two dozen offenses to the hate crime law, which allows prosecutors to seek stiffer penalties for a crime if it was motivated by the victim’s race, religion, gender or other protected traits.
Along with first- and second-degree gang assault, the new hate crime measure will include charges like criminal obstruction of breathing, sexual misconduct and certain rape charges, among others. It does not include graffiti, though prosecutors often apply criminal mischief charges in such cases, which can be charged as a hate crime.