On Monday, April 15th, two weeks after the budget deadline of April 1st, Governor Hochul announced she and the legislative leaders had “the parameters of a conceptual agreement” on a final budget. However, final budget bills weren’t introduced until the early hours of Thursday, April 18th. The Legislature then spent Thursday April 18th, Friday April 19th, and part of Saturday April 20th debating and passing the budget. Some of the most notable provisions to make it into the final budget include:
Housing
- Creating a new 485-x tax incentive for affordable housing;
- Extending the 421-a incentive for projects already underway;
- Making it easier to convert unused office space into affordable housing units;
- Eliminating outdated density caps in New York City;
- Creating a pilot program for basement apartments in New York City;
- Protecting against deed theft;
- Protecting tenants from price-gouging;
- $650 million for pro-housing communities;
- $500 million to build up to 15,000 units in state-owned properties; and
- Incentives for multi-family housing and accessory dwellings.
Fighting Crime
- Cracking down on organized retail theft by increasing penalties for offenders who assault retail workers, providing a $3,000 tax credit for business owners to invest in security resources, and providing $40.2 million for retail theft enforcement;
- Combatting illicit cannabis shops by authorizing the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) to padlock businesses for a year, allowing local governments to pass laws to execute padlock orders, and establishing fines for landlords who knowingly rent space to retailers who are selling cannabis illegally;
- Expanding the number of offenses that can be prosecuted as hate crimes;
- Investing $35 million in Securing Communities Against Hate Grant;
- Initiating new efforts to fight toll evasion on New York roads and fare evasion in subways; and
- Investing $7.1 million to provide intensive supervision of individuals on parole, expand transitional housing opportunities, expand college programming to all state prisons, and provide transportation for visitors to and from state correctional facilities in an effort to reduce recidivism and improve workforce reentry.
Education
- Investing $35.9 billion in total school aid, including $24.9 billion in Foundation Aid;
- Lowering the inflation factor in the Foundation Aid formula for the 2024-25 school year;
- Commissioning a Rockefeller Institute study to examine the Foundation Aid formula to prepare the state to make changes during next year’s budget; and
- Ensuring all school districts in the state utilize instructional best practices grounded in the Science of Reading.
Healthcare
- Securing $200 million in Medicaid savings through fiscal intermediaries and by cracking down on CDPAP fraud;
- Expanding Medicaid coverage for seniors and pregnant individuals;
- Investing $7.5 billion in the state healthcare system over the next three years by amending the state Medicaid Section 1115 Demonstration program to support actions aimed at advancing health equity, reducing health disparities, and strengthening access to primary and behavioral healthcare;
- Maintaining the commitment of $3.9 billion to support distressed hospitals and the $20 billion investment for building new healthcare infrastructure;
- Increasing the home care worker minimum wage;
- Instituting first-in-the-nation paid prenatal leave;
- Requiring employers to provide time for nursing mothers to express;
- Increasing access to postpartum depression care;
- Authorizing New York to pursue federal approval for a managed care organization tax; and
- Investing $150 million to build pools throughout the state to help New Yorkers learn how to swim
Mental Health
- $19 million to support mental health services for school-aged children;
- $55 million to establish 200 new inpatient psychiatric beds at State-run facilities;
- Mandating hospital screen patients for mental health concerns before discharge; and
- $31 million to expand mental health services for first responders and individuals who work in the criminal justice system who are struggling with mental illness;
Economic Development/Consumer Protection/Innovation
- Extending alcohol to-go for 5 years;
- Allowing movie theaters for apply for full liquor licenses;
- Increasing paid medical and disability leave for the first time in 35 years;
- Protecting New Yorkers from medical debt by prohibiting low-income New Yorkers from being sued for medical debt and capping monthly payments and interest;
- Banning insulin co-pays for New Yorkers on a state-regulated insurance plan;
- The “Stretch Limousine Passenger Safety Act”; and
- Establishing the Empire AI Consortium.
Once the Assembly finished their work on Saturday, April 20th, the budget bills were delivered to Governor Hochul’s office where she signed the Article VII bills, which generally consist of the policy provisions in the budget. The Appropriations bills, State Operations, Capital Projects, and Aid to Localities are still awaiting signature, as the Governor can veto line items in those bills.