As you may know, my day job is training young journalists in the Capitol as a part of this 48-year-old program known as Legislative Gazette.

The semester ended a couple of days ago for us, so the students didn’t get a chance for closure on the state budget being approved (it was due April 1, and rarely is hammered out in time — but this year, the delays are lasting even longer than usual).

I wasn’t there yesterday, but did listen to the audio from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s press conference where she noted she is close to a deal with the leaders of the Assembly and Senate to finalize this $268 billion annual spend, but also said that negotiations may take up to a week more.

This year, there are a lot of sticking points. Maybe you remember my present-tense essay-style coverage on January’s State of the State? In it, the Governor outlined a rather bold agenda; lowering car insurance rates, free childcare for those who need it, limiting ICE in the state, creating more affordable housing and more.

Since then, Hochul also had new NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani convince her to partner on some projects, and allocate some money to the city to help fill a budget gap (estimated at $5.4B). A lot of the free childcare and affordable housing initiatives are happening there, as well, blurring the line a bit as to what’s state money and what’s city money.

While she doesn’t share the mayor’s vision on adding an additional millionaire/billionaire tax, or taxing corporations any more than now, she is pushing in the budget to put an added tax on the wealthy’s second homes (properties valued at $5M+). One of my students, Emily Salazar, wrote a good piece on this.

And Hochul is also moving to roll back previous climate change initiatives; a more moderate, perhaps even conservative position in this blue state.

(Yes, it’s an election year, but her GOP opponent, Bruce Blakeman, is polling horribly with a tone-deaf MAGA platform in a state Trump easily lost.)

While the budget has yet to be finalized, my inbox filled with criticisms of Hochul’s plan from various interest groups. For example:

• Rebecca Garrard, Co-Executive Director at Citizen Action of New York, said:“Governor Hochul is celebrating a $268 billion budget deal — the largest state budget in New York history — while refusing to ask the ultra-wealthy to pay their fair share. Hard-working New Yorkers are over burdened, while billionaires and wealthy corporations continue to profit. Working families across this state are struggling with impossible rents, rising healthcare costs, and utility bills they cannot afford. One-time rebate checks won’t help when bills are due. New Yorkers waited more than five weeks past the budget deadline for a deal that fails to meet the urgency of this moment. New Yorkers deserve more than delayed negotiations, backsliding on legislation, and watered-down compromises crafted behind closed doors. They deserve investments that tackle the scale of inequality driving economic hardships in our communities.”
• Brahvan Ranga, Campaign Manager for Invest in Our New York, said: “Today, Gov. Hochul signaled she is ready to sell out New Yorkers to her billionaire donors yet again. Her ‘agreement’ does nothing to fill the enormous federal cuts that will strip hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers of their healthcare and food assistance, fund truly universal childcare statewide with living wages for workers, address the soaring cost of living, or tackle our state’s affordable-housing crisis. Instead of making the ultra-rich pay a little more in taxes to fund public goods across the state, Gov. Hochul is gutting the strongest climate law in the nation, doing Uber’s bidding by making it harder for car-crash victims to recover financial compensation, and laughing at local lawmakers across the state urging her to tax the wealthy to help fund their communities and boost access to housing. Her inclusion of a pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes in New York City is a step in the right direction and reflects the immense pressure our movement has built, but it would not do nearly enough to close the city’s deficit or provide any revenue for the rest of the state.”
• Natalia Aristizabal, Co-Executive Director of Make the Road New York, with 30,000 members, said:
  • On immigration:

    “The budget the governor announced fails to do anything to address the informal collusion between local law enforcement and ICE, which is the primary way that New Yorkers are being caught in the dragnet of the Trump administration’s violent mass deportation regime. This is a massive gap and puts New York far behind other states in protecting their immigrant communities.”

  • On taxing the rich:

    “New Yorkers are struggling under a crushing affordability crisis, struggling to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table. This will only deepen in the coming months as federal budget cuts will slash at the social safety net and cause nearly half a million New Yorkers to lose essential health insurance. But instead of providing relief for working families, Governor Hochul has once again capitulated to billionaires and corporations by failing to enact popular, common-sense proposals to tax the ultra-wealthy. While her pied-à-terre tax will generate some revenue for New York City alone, it falls woefully short of the money needed to fund a state that works for everybody.”

  • On climate:

    “New York already passed the strongest pro-climate legislation in the country; and rather than build on that success, the governor chose to rollback this monumental package and give in to the Trump administration and fossil fuel industry.”

  • On health:

    “We are very disappointed that in the budget the governor announced, the State has yet to put forward a solution to protect the nearly half a million New Yorkers who are set to lose their health insurance on July 1 due to federal cuts. This will have life-altering consequences if it is not remedied immediately in the final budget. We urge lawmakers to include the less than $400 million needed in the final package so that all New Yorkers have access to the healthcare they deserve.”

Yikes. It’s not easy being governor.

To her defense, Hochul did come off as upbeat and defiant in her press Q&A yesterday. She noted K-12 public schools should see a 2% increase in funding, and that, in fact, her budget will protect immigrants being targeted by federal ICE agents, noting church services in immigrant communities is way down, as congregants fear services being raided. She also said state residents should be getting state rebate checks related to higher gas and energy prices, money from a surplus in the general fund totaling $1B.

Want bullet points? Here are the myriad subheads to the press release Hochul’s office issued:

While income taxes aren’t being raised on the wealthy, they also aren’t being raised on everyone else, either. “I’m very proud of this budget,” she said.

And while her getting car insurance rates lowered — New York has the among highest rates in the nation ($4000 annually on average) — may seem like a no-brainer, as you can glean from the special interest group statements above, there are powerful lobbies against it.

One statement I received lauded the governor on this:

• José Bayona, spokesperson for Citizens for Affordable Rates (CAR), said: “This agreement is a big win for New Yorkers struggling to get by in the midst of an affordability crisis. For too long, drivers in this state have been paying nearly double the national average for auto insurance, while broken systems and rampant fraud have driven costs through the roof. Governor Hochul and lawmakers have taken decisive action to address the root causes of this crisis. By strengthening enforcement and modernizing outdated rules, they are helping put money back in people’s pockets. These reforms will bring real relief for working families and mark a meaningful step toward making New York more affordable.”

In the end, a budget will be hammered out, and there will be winners and losers, and lots of statements filling my inbox, and that’s OK. In this day and age, federally and locally, there seems to be more of a public expectation for political leaders to do something, anything; be controversial, and defiant.

Darren Johnson is a longtime journalist and journalism faculty member fighting to keep independent journalism alive and vibrant. Contact him at [email protected].