Takeaways from the new state budget: 8 weeks late, Hochul gets her way

ALBANY — The 2026-27 state budget approved this week, roughly eight weeks late, will total $268.5 billion.

The election-year spending plan contains more than just funding for government, hospitals and schools. It includes substantial policy changes to the state’s climate law, puts limits on federal immigration agents and makes changes to the utility rate process and auto insurance aimed at making the state more affordable.

One of the most contentious parts of the budget was the negotiating process.

The spending plan was due on April 1. It was passed 57 days later — the latest it's been in 16 years.

The delay was largely a product of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s negotiating style and the inability for her and her fellow Democrats, who hold a majority in the legislature, to come together on policy.

The traditionally secretive negotiations between Hochul and legislative leaders, as well as their decision to waive the state constitutional requirement that allows the public to review the bills for three days before voting, have once again prompted calls to change the process.

This year those calls came from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as legislative leaders, who have said never again.

Here are some of the takeaways from the budget:

Hochul gets her way

For Hochul, it was another successful budget cycle as she notched major policy wins on nearly every priority issue.

She pushed through measures meant to reduce auto insurance rates over protests from the powerful state trial lawyers association.

She saw no real opposition to efforts to increase access to childcare and mandate prekindergarten statewide.

She got the legislature to largely capitulate on perhaps the most contentious issue, delaying parts of the state’s landmark climate law — which aims to fight climate change by lowering emissions.

And Hochul, who faces a reelection challenge from Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, managed to fend off calls for increased income taxes on wealthy New Yorkers. Instead, the budget enacts a tax on second homes in New York City worth at least $5 million.

The tax, along with the childcare expansion and billions of dollars in aid for the city, were also wins for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat and a political ally who could help boost election turnout.

Pension sweeteners included in the budget for more than 787,000 public workers hired after 2012 also could help her reelection campaign.

Budget gets later and later

In New York, the budget process is driven by the governor, who sets the agenda through an executive budget proposal in January.

The budget is largely negotiated behind closed doors. And to add to the power dynamic, if negotiations go past April 1, members of the legislature don’t get paid until a final budget is approved.

Some of Hochul's policy wins — such as changes to the climate law — were proposed well into the process.

This is the fifth budget that’s been late under Hochul.

It’s a stark contrast to her predecessor, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who prided himself on passing a timely budget.

Late budgets mean uncertainty for schools and local governments, who must estimate how much state aid they’ll receive as they create their own budgets and weigh what they’ll need to raise from taxpayers.

Hochul has said a good budget is more important than an on-time budget and has blamed the process and short timeline.

"It’s not realistic in one sense, but every year I’ll strive," she told reporters Thursday. "Talk to any New Yorker, first of all they don’t care ... they want to know, what are you doing for us."

Late budgets have become a sort of bargaining tactic for the governor.

"You cannot ignore the list of accomplishments in the last five years that have happened after that date," she said.

Lawmakers push back

Hochul has been criticized by good government groups and both Democratic and Republican state lawmakers for holding up the budget over policy.

"The governor’s gaming it to her advantage," Blair Horner, senior policy adviser with the New York Public Interest Research Group, told Newsday. "She could, if she wanted to, work to have on-time budgets, but she uses her power in the budget to have nonbudget policy objectives."

Horner took particular issue with adding policy in mid-process, especially the changes to the climate law, which came mid-March. Horner described it as an "egregious" example of executive overreach.

"The public deserves the right to know what the governor’s proposing before it gets voted on. It’s their money," he said.

There have been calls for reform for years, but lawmakers appear to be growing more and more upset by Hochul’s tactics.

Things came to a head publicly on May 7 when Hochul announced a "general agreement" on the spending plan, which legislative leaders immediately contradicted.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) said the governor refused to get into the money details until legislators agreed on her policy issues.

"I’m never doing this again," he said. "Budgets are supposed to be about money, not policy."

It’s unclear what that means for next year.

Lawmakers could take action by, for example, passing an amendment to the state constitution.

There’s no sign that any steps will be taken this year, when all 213 legislative seats are up for election in November.

"Despite all the grumbling they must be happy enough to not want to change it," Horner said.

What’s next?

The late budget also means less time for the Senate and Assembly to pass other legislation before the last scheduled day of the legislative session on June 4.

Leaders say they plan to be in session through June 5. Early voting for the June 23 primary elections starts June 13.

There are thousands of local measures and bills under consideration, including proposals to reduce plastic packaging, allow portable solar devices and ban the use of surveillance pricing at grocery stores and pharmacies.

One of the biggest priorities for Democrats will be pushing through changes to how the state draws its 26 congressional districts.

Two amendments to the state constitution are expected to be voted on, giving them options headed into next year, when they’ll need to pass once again in order for it to go before voters in November 2027.

One would tweak the way the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission works to avoid deadlock along party lines, and the other would make more wholesale changes to the process.

The push comes as Republican states aggressively redraw their congressional lines in an effort to control Congress.

Newsday's Steve Hughes contributed to this story.