Hochul blames the Easter Bunny

Apr 01, 2024

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By Jason Beeferman

With help from Irie Sentner

New from New York

Happening now:

No, there’s isn’t a budget deal, and the Capitol today was eerily quiet.
Opposition to SUNY’s ‘transformation’ plan for Downstate.
A pay raise for some New York City workers.
More money sought for TAP.

DAYS THE BUDGET IS LATE: 1

New York State Capitol Senate Lobby

The budget deadline passed at midnight this morning and lawmakers stayed home today, leaving the Capitol largely empty. | Jason Beeferman/POLITICO

A QUIET CAPITOL: State budgets are due every year by April 1. And, often, state lawmakers and staff are scrambling as that deadline approaches.

Not this year, though.

“It’s gonna be a little bit late,” Hochul said on Saturday at an Easter event at the governor's mansion. “We’re not hung up on trying to set records on this.”

The governor’s relaxed attitude toward the budget deadline is mirrored here in the halls of the state Capitol. Lawmakers won’t be back until Tuesday.

So today, the plush green couches outside the Senate chamber were empty. The state’s underground concourse lied barren with food court workers scrolling on their phones. And the halls of the mighty Legislative Office Building were as silent as they would be on any given summer day.

But Hochul is urging patience. She and plenty of lawmakers have long talked about having a good budget rather than an on-time one. Last year, a deal wasn’t struck until early May.

“So a few days here and there because of the religious observances, but my part is to make sure that we have a budget that works for New Yorkers,” the governor said Saturday. “A deadline that people get preoccupied with doesn’t serve that — especially when we have holidays. [I] asked my staff to not work on Easter Sunday.”

Playbook asked the spokespeople for the Senate and Assembly what the lawmakers and staff what they were hoping to accomplish today amid budget negotiations.

Their response? We’re still waiting.

Meanwhile, Hochul is working from the second floor of the Capitol today after the Legislature left last Thursday with no immediate budget deals.

“Governor Hochul and administration staff continued regular communication with the Legislature throughout the weekend as we work to craft a fiscally responsible budget that serves the needs of all New Yorkers,” said Avi Small, Hochul’s spokesperson.

But even though we’ve crossed that late-budget rubicon, don’t fret yet.

Former Gov. David Paterson, who knows a thing or two about (very) late budgets including one that carried on until August in 2010, agreed with Hochul’s approach. If the budget is a few days late, “It's not going to make a difference six months from now.”

“If they don't have a budget by April 10 or 11, then we could start to worry about whether they've become so locked into their positions that they're inflexible,” Paterson said.

For her part, the governor did squeeze in some work this weekend in between Easter celebrations: “I'll be having more meetings. We have calls all day today,” she said Saturday.

Had it only not been for the Sunday holiday, the budget would already be here, the governor assures us.

“If you did not have Easter Sunday being the deadline, I think we could have met it. I really do,” Hochul said. “But then we start getting into other holidays and, you know, religious observances, which we take seriously.” — Jason Beeferman

From the Capitol

SUNY Downstate University Hospital.

Student representatives for SUNY Downstate’s medical college and other health schools said the state’s plan would “cast a long shadow” over their clinical training. | SUNY

SUNY DOWNSTATE: Student leaders at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University are urging state lawmakers to oppose an Albany-initiated transformation plan that would effectively shutter the financially strapped Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, its affiliated teaching hospital.

In a letter shared with Playbook, student representatives for Downstate’s medical college and other health schools said the state’s plan would “cast a long shadow” over their clinical training, potentially compromising its quality and future job prospects.

“The messaging surrounding the transformation of the UHD consistently emphasizes that the school will remain unaffected in this transformation. This is patently false,” the students wrote. “Any plan to close the hospital will have profound negative impacts on the education and professional outcomes of current and future students enrolled in all colleges at Downstate Health Sciences University.”

The student leaders said the funding pledged for the transformation plan should be invested in Downstate’s existing educational infrastructure — for example, by hiring more faculty — rather than building new facilities for students. — Maya Kaufman

SNAP BACK: More pressure is being heaped on state officials to expand the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in a final state budget deal.

The Rochester City Council in a letter obtained by Playbook urged Hochul, along with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, to boost the minimum monthly benefit from $23 to $100.

“Higher SNAP benefits during the pandemic helped reduce poverty and food insecurity rates across the state,” they wrote in the letter. “When a program is successful, as SNAP emergency allotments were, it is imperative that we continue to provide New Yorkers with that successful support.”

Supporters over the last several weeks have sought to build statewide backing for the measure and increase its chances of being included in a final deal, which is still days if not longer away. — Nick Reisman

FROM CITY HALL

Mayor Eric Adams takes a selfie with delivery workers.

Effective immediately, the city’s minimum pay rate for app-based restaurant delivery workers is increasing to at least $19.56 per hour before tips, Mayor Eric Adams announced. | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

PAY RAISE RALLY: Mayor Eric Adams marked the first annual minimum pay boost for app-based food delivery workers in the city today at City Hall by gathering with several deliveristas — some of whom wore the bike helmets and rain jackets they use for their grueling work.

“We celebrate another victory for the working people of our city,” Adams said. “Our delivery workers have consistently delivered for us, and today we are delivering for them.”

The minimum hourly rate is now $19.56 and will be adjusted annually for inflation.

And while the mayor was joined by Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga and his close ally Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, missing from his news conference were representatives of the City Council, which passed the package of bills improving wages and conditions for delivery workers in 2021. The Adams administration rolled back the minimum rate about a year ago.

The mayor did share some of his experience as a one-time dishwasher, and he regularly tips food workers, including vendors on the street, between 15 percent and 20 percent. — Emily Ngo

On the Beats

Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D-Albany) talks with reporters.

Assemblymember Patricia Fahy lauded the proposed measures included in the Senate’s and Assembly’s one-house budgets that include the Tuition Assistance Program's eligibility increasing from four to five years. | Hans Pennink/AP Photo

TAP TAP TAP: Higher education chairs Assemblymember Patricia Fahy and Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky pointed to a new report that highlighted a trend of disinvestment in the Tuition Assistance Program, saying more aid is needed for the program for college students.

According to the report from the The Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities in New York, the TAP program for middle and lower-class students has seen a decrease in the amount of aid provided since 2001— the last time the income limit for the program was raised. Per capita spending on grants has decreased 18 percent.

There are currently 196,000 TAP recipients, which is down from the 2010 number of 330,000 TAP recipients. The income limit for TAP eligibility is $80,000 per household.

“This report confirms that disinvestment in TAP correlates to less students taking advantage of student aid and ultimately exacerbates the trouble trend of dropping enrollment due to affordability,” Fahy, the Albany-area Democrat, said in a statement.

She lauded the proposed measures included in the Senate and Assembly one-house budgets like the extension of TAP eligibility increasing from four to five years, as well as increasing the maximum award and income eligibility. — Shawn Ness

NYC POVERTY: After a scathing study found that an additional 500,000 New York City residents are impoverished, many lawmakers have differing opinions on how to fix it, POLITICO reported today.

The study outlined three main policies to right the city’s course: fully refundable tax credits, housing vouchers and childcare subsidies.

The Senate’s Housing Committee Chair Brian Kavanagh, as well as Sen. Jessica Ramos, are both supportive of housing vouchers, and Kavanagh is a champion for the good cause eviction measure to boost tenant protections.

But Senate Deputy Minority Leader Andrew Lanza thinks burdening residents with public subsidies is not the right approach.

“Obviously breaking the backs of taxpayers hasn’t done anything, We need to make New York state and New York City more viable for businesses and families. We need to create economic opportunities,” Lanza, a Staten Island Republican, said. “We've got to stop driving hard-working New Yorkers and business owners and entrepreneurs from this state.”

Richard Buery, the CEO of Robin Hood, as well as Ramos and Kavanagh, are confident that the Legislature will be able to pass the reforms this session. Although Ramos doesn’t have faith it gets done — specifically in regards to the 421a tax breaks for developers — unless the governor is on board.

“I don't know that the Legislature would do that on its own. I think we would want to have the governor on board,” Ramos said. — Shawn Ness

AROUND NEW YORK

— Chinatown residents say demolition work on the Manhattan Detention Complex is causing damage to a neighboring community center and other quality of life challenges. (New York Times)

— An ethics complaint was filed against Hochul and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie for attending a Bills game at the state’s luxury box. (New York Post)

— A Hudson Valley cannabis company is suing the state over a rule that recreational cannabis shops have to be at least 1,000 feet apart. (Times Union)

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