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Nearly three weeks late, New York state lawmakers are poised to pass a new budget Friday or Saturday full of significant new policies on housing, health care, transportation, cannabis and more.
Some key details remained uncertain as of Friday afternoon, since a few bills had not yet been released publicly before their expected passage hours later. But a clearer picture has emerged about some of the major policies that were included in the $237 billion spending plan agreed upon by Gov. Kathy Hochul and leaders of the state Senate and Assembly.
Here’s an incomplete list of the most notable policies.
Probably in: housing deal
Barring a last-minute collapse, the budget will include the middlingly received housing deal containing a new tax break for housing construction, a version of “good cause” eviction protections, raising New York City’s cap on residential density, allowing bigger rent hikes for landlords who renovate stabilized apartments and incentivizing more office-to-residential conversions.
The new tax break, known as 485-x, was expected to provide tax relief for projects where affordable units are rented at an average of 80% of the area median income — with smaller buildings required to have a bigger share of affordable units. An agreement between the real estate industry and labor unions set a minimum wage of $72.45 an hour for construction workers on buildings in parts of Manhattan, western Brooklyn and western Queens.
The good cause eviction law will give tenants the right to dispute rent increases above 10%, or 5% plus the rate of inflation, whichever is less. It will not apply to units renting above 245% of fair-market rent — equivalent to $5,800 for a studio — or all rent-stabilized and income-restricted housing or buildings with 10 units or fewer. New construction would be exempt for 30 years, starting with buildings constructed in 2009.
Still unclear as of Friday afternoon, with no bill language released yet, was how the state would enforce a planned exemption for landlords who own fewer than 10 units. Hochul said Wednesday that tenants would be able to look at their lease to see whether they were protected, but did not specify how the state would get clarity on landlords’ often-hazy portfolio sizes.
In: reversing Medicaid cuts, saving SUNY Downstate
Budget documents spell out a deal to prevent the closure of SUNY Downstate’s University Hospital. The deal between lawmakers and the Hochul administration will halt the closure of the East Flatbush teaching hospital while officials appoint an advisory commission to examine the facility’s services and financial status, which will have a year to produce recommendations about the hospital’s future.
The health budget also reverses most of Hochul’s proposed $1.2 billion cuts to the Medicaid program, restoring $800 million for hospitals and nursing homes. Hospitals will get $525 million in Medicaid payment increases, while nursing homes and assisted living facilities will receive $300 million.
But it was still unclear by Friday afternoon how much of a Medicaid bump individual facilities will receive. Policymakers are still deciding whether to implement an across-the-board Medicaid rate increase or target payments based on each facility’s financial need, said Tim Ruffinen, a spokesman for the state budget office.
The final Medicaid rate increases also remain to be determined because they hinge on a state plan to tax health plans and bring in billions of federal dollars for health care. The budget directs state officials to submit an application to the federal government for a managed care organization tax, but wasn’t clear how much revenue the tax would generate or when it would be available to funnel back to hospitals and nursing homes. Legislators initially estimated that the tax could generate $4 billion a year, but the total will likely be less than that.
Hochul did uphold her budget promise to cut administrative spending in the consumer-directed personal assistance program, a $9 billion home care program that allows New Yorkers to hire family members or friends as caregivers. New York will appoint a single entity to manage payroll and administrative tasks for the 250,000 people who participate in the program statewide – a reduction from the 700 organizations that do that job currently. Hochul said that the move could save the state up to $500 million a year.
In: lower speed limits, maybe, in New York City
Lawmakers and Hochul have confirmed the budget will include Sammy’s Law, a policy long sought by safe-streets advocates that would empower New York City to set its own speed limits below the state minimum of 25 miles per hour.
The bill had faltered in several prior years amid opposition in the Assembly from driver-heavy districts in the outer boroughs. Assembly sponsor Linda Rosenthal told Gothamist that the deal will include a compromise that would exempt roads with greater than three lanes of traffic.
For any changes to take effect, the City Council and Mayor Eric Adams would need to pass their own law lowering the city’s speed limit.
The bill’s premise is based on research that shows people hit by cars moving below 25 miles per hour are less likely to die or be seriously injured. It is named after 12-year-old Sammy Cohen Eckstein, who was fatally struck by a van driver in Brooklyn in 2013 and whose family has pushed for the law.
In: weed-shop crackdown
Policymakers are taking a new crack at shuttering the illicit cannabis shops that have spread across New York City, undercutting the state’s legal weed market. The budget will allow municipalities to seek emergency court orders to shutter the shops, heeding requests by Mayor Eric Adams and his Albany ally, Assemblywoman Jennifer Rajkumar.
Landlords in the city that fail to start eviction proceedings against an illicit shop within five days being notified could also be fined $50,000. And the budget empowers the state’s Office of Cannabis Management to padlock businesses immediately after an inspection if they are found to be selling illicit products or peddling to minors.
“The illegal shops will not disappear overnight. But New Yorkers eventually will see a change in their communities,” Hochul said at a Friday press conference, where she held up a celebratory padlock alongside Mayor Adams.
In: migrant aid to New York City
In another partial victory for Mayor Adams, New York City will get $2.4 billion to cover the costs of caring for asylum-seekers — the same amount Hochul had pledged in her January executive budget, but less than the mayor had hoped for.
The new infusion will bring the state’s total commitment on migrant funding to $4.3 billion to date.
Probably in: mayoral control of city schools
Meanwhile, potentially the biggest unresolved issue as of Friday was whether to grant Adams an extension of his control over the city’s public school system. Adams’ request for a four-year extension was supported by Hochul but appeared to die during budget talks, only to be revived at the last minute as a two-year extension.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told reporters Thursday that the two-year extension remained under discussion, but might come with conditions, such as less control over an oversight panel.
In: Anti-shoplifting push
The budget will include many of the anti-retail theft proposals that Hochul had sought, despite resistance from lawmakers wary of toughening criminal laws.
That includes elevating the penalty for assaulting a retail worker to a felony, although it will be a Class E charge — less serious than the Class D Hochul had proposed.
The budget also includes $40 million to fund retail theft-prevention efforts in the State Police, local prosecutors’ offices and local law enforcement; and $5 million to create a $3,000 tax credit for small businesses that spend money on anti-shoplifting measures.
The provisions won praise from some local business leaders, including the Five Borough Jobs Campaign — a coalition that includes business improvement districts and chambers of commerce. Tom Grech and Randy Peers, leaders of the Brooklyn and Queens chambers, hailed the policies in a statement as “important steps.”
In: AI consortium at SUNY Buffalo
Hochul will largely get her wish to create a consortium focused on artificial intelligence, centered at the University of Buffalo campus of the SUNY system. The budget includes $250 million for the so-called Empire AI consortium, intended to fund new buildings at the SUNY Buffalo campus.
Private entities have pledged their own funding, with other schools like Columbia and Cornell universities also pledging to take part in the seven-institution consortium.
But the Legislature, concerned about oversight, won some concessions from the governor, Bloomberg reported. They include requiring Empire AI to submit a governance plan within a year and submitting annual financial reports to the state Senate and Assembly.
Caroline Spivack contributed reporting.
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Nick Garber, Amanda D'Ambrosio , 2024-04-19 21:59:27
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