Tonight, at midnight is the official budget deadline for the State of New York. While it appears unlikely that all bills necessary to enact a state budget will be completed by this midnight deadline, progress is being made, and we anticipate that the final bills will be released and voted on in the next day or so.
During his daily briefing today, the Governor was asked about the budget negotiations. He indicated that the negotiations were happening but that there were no final numbers yet because there was no final deal. He also stated that it was unlikely that legalization of recreational marijuana will be included in any final budget deal. It does appear that some changes to the bail reform law will be included.
There is also still the open question of what will the funding numbers look like and how will cuts to various areas be handled. The Governor stated that he has been told that the federal government will be doing further legislation that will include funding for state governments to cover loss of revenue. However, he stated that until this was actually done, New York cannot do a budget that relies on any federal funds. It appears that funding may be held at the current spending levels and language will be included that will give the Governor flexibility on when and how to make cuts as needed should federal funds not be released or not cover the lost revenues. We should have the answer to this and other questions in the next day or so.