The state budget is about three weeks late, the deadline being on April 1. Governor Kathy Hochul, who has been at odds with the State Legislature on a number of budget proposals, talked about her spending plan on Monday.
“Your family is my fight,” said Hochul at a rally in Rochester on Apr 21. “I didn’t know I’d have to roll up the sleeves so soon and really launch into a fight [but] this is for all of you and I will not sign a state budget — I’ve said this from the very beginning — that does not fight these federal changes and put New Yorkers first.”
Among a laundry list of items in the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, Hochul is pushing for middle-class tax cuts, expanding the Child Tax Credit over two years, providing inflation refund checks of up to $500, free school breakfast and lunch for students, full repeal of the State and Local Tax deduction, $370 million for public safety and law enforcement initiatives, and $77 million for cops in New York City subways.
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More controversially, Hochul’s plans call for changes to the involuntary commitment laws, which would impact street homeless individuals with mental illness; amendments to Kendra’s Law, which deals with individuals with serious mental illness mandated to outpatient treatment; and reforms to the state’s discovery law, which puts pressure on prosecutors to hand over evidence to defendants and their lawyer indiscriminately in court cases.
“You’ve heard the phrase discovery laws right? It’s just about the evidence of a crime that the prosecution and the police have amassed. And yes, in 2019 the whole system was skewed to help just the prosecutors. It was unfair against the defendant,” said Hochul, briefly addressing the issue, “but now reforms are put in place and now it’s swung the other way.”
State Assemblymember Nikki Lucas noted that plenty of politicians try to use the state budget as leverage to push policy. She said that her constituents weren’t excited about some of the proposals, such as the mask ban, the changes to involuntary commitment laws, the ban on cell phones in schools, and the discovery laws.
“We have to stand firm, especially in our communities that have been targeted and overpoliced. We need to decide what’s a good idea and what has consequences that may infringe on people’s rights,” said Lucas.
Other electeds and organizers, like State Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman and Senator Jessica Ramos, are worried about the funding for childcare. They’ve supported the Empire State Campaign for Child Care (ESCCC), which is a group of parents and child care providers demanding that the state fund the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), a permanent child care workforce pay equity fund, and statewide universal childcare.
“This is more than a procedural delay, it is an affront to the very spirit of co-governance, where each branch of government must do its part to serve the people, not concentrate power,” wrote Zinerman.
Ramos, who is a mayoral candidate this year, added that she has a few more budget proposals like getting rid of the state’s minimum wage requirements for child care subsidy access; baby bucks, or guaranteed income for mothers in need; reforming temporary disability insurance payouts, and expanding mental health courts.
Consequently, the New York City budget is also late. But, the City Council did put out a response to the mayor’s preliminary Fiscal 2026 budget report on April 1. There’s still discussion over funding for the city’s migrant shelters and immigration services, which haven’t really shown up in the state budget yet. They’re also worried that the “unpredictability and antagonism of the Trump administration, cast a pale over the city’s financial security.”
“As we’re witnessing the Trump administration continuously attacking our communities,” said New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) President and CEO Murad Awawdeh on April 21 at a rally at City Hall. “It is beyond time that we demand the city stand up and fight for every single person who calls this city home.”
In the meantime, the city’s immigration advocates are calling for at least $169 million in funding for immigration legal services, $10 million for the city’s Community Interpreter Bank and worker-owned language service cooperatives, $24 million for adult literacy, $4 million for Access Health NYC, universal childcare, legislation to support street vendors, expanding housing vouchers to all residents regardless of immigration status, and a ban on collaboration between city agencies and federal immigration enforcement.
The city and state executive budget negotiations are ongoing. Though, at least one poll speculates that the deal will be finished and inked by April 30 or the beginning of May at the latest.