On Monday, April 10, legislators returned to Albany to take up a new round of budget extender bills, as New York State entered its second week of negotiations past the state’s statutory April 1 deadline for on-time budgets. The Hochul administration and leadership in both the Senate and Assembly continued their negotiations through last week to find agreement on the larger framing issues of the discussion: proposed amendments to the state’s bail reform laws, and consideration of Governor Hochul’s housing policy package. We understand that those leadership discussions have been fruitful and that the parties continue to make progress toward a workable compromise.
Last Monday, April 3, the Governor and the legislature enacted a set of budget extender bills providing authority for the state to continue spending for its operations through April 10, while leadership negotiations were ongoing. The extender legislation passed to the legislature today provides both similar authority to continue state operations through April 17 and some interim funding to support health care providers who have seen changes to their revenues under the state’s recent transition of its Medicaid pharmacy benefit to fee for service under the NYRx program. With these budget extenders passed, legislators will return to their districts until next Monday, and talks will continue in Albany among the leadership toward a larger framework for budget negotiations.
The Manatt team will continue to monitor budget negotiations and legislative activity and will provide updates as additional information is available.