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New York State Budget Deal Would Raise Minimum Wage and Change Bail Laws Give this article Log118
in

New York State Budget Deal Would

Raise Minimum Wage and Change
Bail Laws
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that she and state lawmakers had
reached an agreement on a $229 billion spending plan after
weeks of contentious negotiations.

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New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s $229 billion budget agreement with legislative
leaders included an increase in the minimum wage and changes to the state’s bail
laws. Yuki Iwamura/Associated Press

By Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Grace Ashford

April 27, 2023

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday announced that

she and state lawmakers had reached an agreement on a roughly
$229 billion state budget that would change the state’s bail laws,
increase the minimum wage and provide urgently needed funding
for New York City’s transit system.

The deal capped weeks of contentious negotiations that divided the

governor and the Democrat-led State Legislature, delaying its
expected passage by almost a month — the latest budget in over a
decade .

The broad strokes of the “conceptual agreement” were revealed by

the governor at an impromptu news conference at the State Capitol
on Thursday evening; some of the details, Ms. Hochul said, were
still being “fine tuned.”

Representatives for Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the majority leader

in the State Senate, and Carl E. Heastie, the Assembly speaker,
confirmed the deal. Lawmakers, who had already left Albany for
the week because they had not anticipated an agreement, are
expected to vote to approve the budget as early as next week.

“I know this budget process has taken a little extra time, but our
commitment to the future of New York was driving this,” Ms.
Hochul said in the ornate Red Room, adding that the process was
“not a race to a deadline, but a race to the right results.”

The negotiations pitted Ms. Hochul, a moderate Democrat in her

first full term, in an ideological tug of war against a more
progressive-minded legislature where Democrats hold
supermajorities. The outcome was a mixed bag of modest wins for
both sides, bitter bargains and toppled plans.

The governor, who won a narrow election victory last year on a

promise to combat crime, clinched one of her top priorities:
modifying the state’s bail law to give judges greater discretion to
detain people awaiting trial.

But the protracted discussions over the bail law, one of the most
politically explosive issues in Albany, took a toll on other policy
issues, forcing Ms. Hochul to compromise heavily in order to claim
victory.

The governor had sought to eliminate a cap that would allow over
100 new charter schools — which are privately run, but publicly
funded — to open in New York City, a proposal that met with a swift
backlash from top Democrats, as well as teachers’ unions. In the
end, Ms. Hochul accepted 14 new charter schools in New York City
by reviving “zombie licenses,” or permits awarded to schools that
had closed, and a total of 22 across the state.

Democrats also found common ground on a plan to raise the state’s

minimum hourly wage by two dollars to $17, up from $15, by 2026 in
New York City, Long Island and Westchester County. It would hit
$17 by 2027 in the rest of the state, and future increases statewide
would be pegged to inflation.

The move riled Republicans and some business groups who said it
would lead to job losses, and upset progressive Democrats and
major unions who have clamored for an increase of as high as
$21.25, saying the city’s minimum wage would still be lower than
other cities, like Seattle and Los Angeles.

It appears that the budget agreement will result in a hodgepodge of

other Democratic priorities, from a ban on natural gas in new
buildings to funding for free meals for school children, to a pilot
program to make free five bus routes in the city.

The deal also included a lifeline to salvage the finances of the city’s
transit system, which is projecting a deficit as a result of reduced
post-pandemic subway ridership levels.

The budget, her office said, provides new funding for the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority through a lump-sum
payment of $300 million from the state, an increase in the payroll
tax paid by big city-based businesses and a slice of future revenues
from soon-to-open casinos. In a partial win for Mayor Eric Adams,
a representative for the governor said that the city would need to
contribute $165 million, significantly less than the yearly $500
million payment Ms. Hochul had proposed.

Ms. Hochul also said that lawmakers had accepted her proposal to
significantly overhaul the state’s approach to mental health in part
by freeing up 1,000 psychiatric beds for people who are mentally ill,
a move the governor described as “a monumental shift.”

The deal, she said, also gives the state more tools to fine and close
down illegal shops selling weed that took root in New York City
during the slowdown in issuing licenses to dispensaries.

On other fronts, the governor’s priorities unraveled.

These included her ambitious housing plan, which called for the
construction of 800,000 new units over the next decade by allowing
the state to override local zoning laws. Lauded by experts who said
it would help reverse the state’s housing shortage, the plan faced

intractable resistance from lawmakers, forcing Ms. Hochul to back

away from it during negotiations.

Lawmakers managed to knock down other divisive ideas, including

Ms. Hochul’s proposed tuition increases for in-state students at city
and state universities, a change to the way the state measured
emissions , and a ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes that was
opposed by Big Tobacco and had divided Black leaders.
Lawmakers did agree, however, to raise taxes on cigarettes to
$5.35 a pack, up from $4.35.

Ms. Hochul, for her part, managed to fend off proposals that had
been championed by Senate and Assembly Democrats, including
efforts to increase income taxes on the superrich and a tenant-
riendly measure opposed by the real estate industry that would
have limited a landlord’s ability to raise rents.

The governor has made crime a cornerstone issue since taking

office in 2021, but it took on greater importance after her
Republican opponent, Lee Zeldin, seized it to drive his campaign —
narrowing Ms. Hochul’s margin of victory to the single digits.

The governor’s changes to the bail laws, which she has repeatedly
said were her biggest priority, built upon adjustments she had won
last year, when she allowed judges to consider factors like the
severity of the crime, and whether or not the accused had access to
a gun, when making decisions on whether to hold defendants on
bail.

The effect of those changes was limited, because New York law
said that judges can use the “least restrictive” means to ensure
defendants returned to court. But this year’s proposed changes
would, for the first time allow judges to set bail with public safety in
mind.

A bright spot for progressive Democrats was the inclusion of two

climate measures favored by environmental advocates.

The first will ban the use of natural gas in new buildings beginning
at the end of 2025. The ban, which would not apply to current gas
stove owners, is seen as a critical step in reducing the state’s
dependence on fossil fuels, and meeting emissions-reduction goals.
A second measure will allow the New York Power Authority to
build and own wind and solar projects to boost clean energy
generation.

Explore Our Coverage of the Hochul Administration

New York’s State Budget
Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers have reached an agreement on a budget
that would change the state’s bail laws , increase the minimum wage and provide
funding for New York City’s transit system.
Under the budget deal, New York would become the first state in the nation to ban
natural gas in new construction .

The budget deal contained a series of hard-fought wins for Hochul, but left her
without a grand policy achievement to trumpet.

Housing Crisis: The disintegration of Hochul’s grand plan to address the state’s
dire housing shortage was a significant setback for the governor.
Evidence Law: New York City’s five district attorneys released a statement voicing
their opposition to suggested changes to the law that governs the way case
material is shared with defense lawyers . The proposal had won Hochul’s support.
Tax Breaks for Movies: The governor is pushing to increase incentives for film
and TV productions to $700 million a year.
Adam Sullivan: A strategist based in Colorado has leveraged a close bond with
Hochul to become a powerful political force in New York . But skepticism is
mounting over his judgment and distance from the state.

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