Kathy Hochul teases late NY budget if Democrats don’t budge on charters, bail reform
ALBANY – Gov. Kathy Hochul effectively threatened Albany Democrats with a late state budget ahead of an expected rebuke of her proposals to overhaul cash bail limits and expand charter schools in New York.
“I would like an on-time budget – I’m not planning on one that’s not,” she told reporters Monday.
“But I also know that I’m here to do the work of the people of New York State, and they expect me to not leave town until the job’s done.”
Hochul notably held up the state budget for a week past the April 1 deadline in 2022 while pushing to roll back progressive limits on cash bail, originally approved by Democratic lawmakers in 2019, as she ran for a full term in office.
But this time around the state Senate and Assembly are expected to approve one-house budget resolutions this week opposing many of the key items in the $227 billion state budget she proposed Feb. 1.
Political experts say Albany Democrats have little incentive to give into her demands considering their legislative supermajorities, which could overrule Hochul on budgetary matters, and the perceived weakness of the governor after the Senate rejected her centrist pick to lead New York’s highest court.
“This is about who’s the boss,” political consultant Hank Sheinkopf told The Post. “They’re not going to bend to her because they don’t have to.”
That suggests trouble for the governor as she continues pushing amid rising crime to eliminate a controversial state law for serious crimes requiring judges to offer criminal defendants the “least restrictive conditions” ahead of their trials even when they could otherwise be held on cash bail.
Both state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) have previously questioned whether data shows a need to overhaul bail reform considering that crime has risen across the country.
Sen. Jeremy Cooney (D-Rochester) further highlighted a lack of legislative support for her bail plan last week after he flip-flopped on the matter following lefty criticism just hours after expressing support at a Rochester press conference where she praised him as “courageous.”
Hochul also faces tough odds with efforts to eliminate a cap on the number of charter schools allowed in New York City while also allowing so-called zombie charters to be reissued for other schools that legislative opponents proclaimed “dead on arrival.”
The governor will also have to play defense on items the state Senate or Assembly, which traditionally minimizes policy proposals in its one-house resolution, are pushing like “Good Cause Eviction” protections opposed by her real estate donors or efforts to raise taxes on the wealthy.
Some suburban legislators from both sides of the aisle have also raised concerns about a gubernatorial housing plan that could undermine local zoning laws.
“Hope springs eternal, except when it comes to the Legislature including changes to bail laws or the charter school cap in their one-house budget plans,” an Albany insider quipped.
But Hochul could play hardball with Stewart-Cousins and Heastie – the other two members of the so-called “three people in a room” who ultimately negotiate the budget – by delaying approval of a final spending plan and leaning on the executive powers in a process that has been dubbed “unbalanced by design” against the Legislature.
That could amp up pressure on state lawmakers to strike a deal with Hochul while avoiding a public standoff over the state budget, a situation that presents uncertain political consequences for both sides.
Hochul said Monday she is willing to go to the limit to fight for her budget priorities ahead of the formal introduction of the counterproposals expected from the state Senate and Assembly – while noting that this was hardly the first time she has squared off against Albany Democrats over the budget.
“Last year, our budget was nine days late for one reason,” she said Monday. “I said I’m not leaving Albany until I get substantial changes to the bail laws to make sure that serious crimes that were left out, are now covered and that we have discretion for judges.”
