ALBANY – State budget talks appeared revived Wednesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s surprise pied-à-terre tax proposal — but several sticking points remain, including her pitches to implement protest buffer zones around houses of worship and to reform auto insurance.
Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) acknowledged “incremental progress” was being made in negotiations behind closed doors, including inching closer to a deal on new anti-ICE measures proposed by Hochul.
“I think we’re all negotiating in good faith,” Stewart-Cousins told reporters, just days after her deputy, state Sen. Michael Gianaris, exchanged high-profile barbs with Hochul’s team, dubbing her the main impediment to moving forward the $263 billion package that was due April 1.
The senate leader expressed optimism about Hochul’s pitch to slap multi-million dollar second homes in New York City with a new tax.
“The pied-a-terre is something that we’d considered and pushed our house before,” she said.
Stewart-Cousins wouldn’t go as far as to say that the proposal will quench lefty lawmakers in her chambers’ desire to hike income and corporate taxes in order to send even more cash to the city – to the tune of an extra $2 billion, per the senate’s largely symbolic one-house budget proposal.
“This is one piece of that conversation,” Stewart-Cousins said, not slamming the door shut on more handouts for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has claimed the city faces a $5.4 billion budget deficit.
Stewart-Cousins said that the Legislature and governor have moved towards compromises on two major issues that were at an impasse – delays to the state’s controversial climate law’s mandates and new policies meant to further restrict local governments’ ability to work with federal immigration enforcement agents.
“That one is actually getting to a place,” Gianaris (D-Queens) told reporters of the anti-ICE measures Monday.
Many lawmakers, including Stewart-Cousins, want New York 4 All a bill being pushed by the furthest left pols that would effectively implement statewide sanctuary policies.
“Many of us would like to see it go farther, but there has been back and forth, and some give and take.” Gianaris said.
Still, Stewart Cousins admitted there’s little hope of resolving talks ahead of the three-week-late mark next Tuesday.
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Hochul and lawmakers remain far apart on her proposed changes to liability statutes meant to change the definition of “serious injury” as to cut down on car accident fraud and thus theoretically lower insurance rates on everyday drivers.
New issues are also starting to bubble towards the surface of the closed-door negotiations, such as resistance to Hochul’s pitch to restrict protests with 25 feet of a house of worship in response to antisemitic demonstrations outside of synagogues, including a particularly rowdy November protest outside the historic Park East synagogue in Manhattan.
Hochul doubled down on the proposal during an event Monday, even though a similar measure recently passed by the City Council is sure to see a First Amendment challenge in court.
“I believe I have the right to protect people’s constitutional right to freedom of religion so if that has to be tested in court, bring it on,” Hochul said.
Lawmakers are set to vote again Thursday on another stop gap spending measure to keep state workers paid, though it’s unclear how long the measure will last.
“We don’t know. See you next week though,” Stewart-Cousins said.
– Additional reporting from Haley Brown
