The Governor has continued to have his daily press briefings. The briefings have mainly focused on the latest developments related to the Coronavirus in New York including emergency preparedness and latest numbers. However, there were a few items of note we wanted to pass along. The Governor announced yesterday, and issued an executive order last night, that will move the Presidential primary, previously announced special elections, and other previously delayed local races, from April 28 to June 23, which is when the state and federal primary elections will be held.
The Governor also discussed New York’s financial situation during the briefings. He reiterated that the New York financial numbers do not look good because there is no revenue coming into New York right now, but there are still significant expenses being incurred. He also noted that there was no state support included in the federal stimulus bill, so the state cannot rely on federal money to help fill any budget gaps at this point. He stated that this means there will need to be significant budget cuts across the board. We don’t yet know what these cuts will look like or how he is proposing the cuts be achieved.
The Senate announced that they will be in town today for a majority conference to discuss the budget and then a 3:00 p.m. session. The Senate will likely pass a resolution to allow for remote voting of their members at this session. At this time, an agenda has not been released. The Senate will then be around all week to start passing budget bills as they are ready. The Assembly will be returning to session tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. to vote on their resolution allowing remote voting for members.
At this point, budget negotiations are still happening, so there are no budget bills ready for a vote. We don’t yet know if the Senate and Assembly will agree with the Governor about cuts or how those cuts will happen. We also don’t have final word on what will happen regarding the various policy proposals proposed by the Governor though we do know that he is still pushing to have those included.