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New York state lawmakers passed Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $237 billion Fiscal Year 2025 Budget — the largest in the state’s history — Saturday.

The budget, approved nearly three weeks late, includes “record levels” of investment in infrastructure, education, local projects and economic development for Onondaga County, State Assemblymember Pamela Hunter said in an April 20 news release.

“While the budget has gone on longer than expected, it has allowed for me to further advocate for our local communities, schools and businesses,” Hunter said in the release. “My colleagues and I passed a budget that, along with local investments, also includes funding for critical programs that provide services within our communities every day.”

The Daily Orange broke down the key aspects of Hochul’s FY25 budget, which include housing, education, crime, health care, mental health, cannabis, infrastructure and transit and climate change.

Housing

Outside plans to build more housing in New York City, a new 421-p tax incentive mandates that $650 million in discretionary funding go toward Pro-Housing Communities with $500 million allocated to build up to 15,000 new homes on state land.

The budget also includes stronger protections for tenants and homeowners against evictions and deed theft. It also includes “anti-price gouging measures for renters” and reinforces a law that says “squatters are not tenants.” The budget also combats housing discrimination against “Section 8 voucher recipients and affordable housing providers.”

More than $600 million in capital funding will be used to support housing statewide.

While Hunter said this year’s budget has “many accomplishments to celebrate,” she said she is not satisfied with the budget’s provisions to protect tenants and increase affordable housing.

“Syracuse residents have endured some of the highest rent increases in the country, and the protections outlined in the budget are not equivalent to Good Cause Eviction protections or address pressing housing instability,” Hunter said in the release. “Our families need relief now.”

Education

Hochul signed “Back to Basics” legislation to improve statewide reading proficiency by ensuring that state schools use “evidence-based reading instruction.” She also “secured provisions” to increase the affordability of college for New York students and “expand pathways” to higher education.

The education agenda also includes:

• $36 billion in total aid to schools, including $24.9 billion in “Foundation Aid”
• $1.29 billion for SUNY and CUNY capital projects
• $409 million for SUNY and CUNY operations
• The minimum award for the New York State Tuition Assistance Program was raised from $500 to $1,000 and increased student income limits for TAP eligibility.
• A study by the Rockefeller Institute of Government to “examine Foundation Aid and prepare for formula changes next year”

Melinda Person, president of the New York State United Teachers, said in an April 21 news release that union advocacy by NYSUT and nearly 700,000 members across the state helped “win a budget that supports public schools, colleges and the labor movement.”

Person said the budget will support current educators and attract new educators. The additional funding will “boost the impact” of colleges and universities, she said in the release.

It will also restore “the majority” of proposed cuts to public school funding and importantly, she said, will begin updating the Foundation Aid formula to ensure that every New York student has access to a “sound, basic education.”

“New York can and will lead the country with strong communities, engaged citizens and a world-class workforce. Our union advocacy in this year’s state budget puts us on the road to do just that,” Person said in the news release.

Crime

The budget makes “major” investments and reforms aimed at improving public safety and combating theft, hate crimes, gun violence and domestic violence.

New York will continue to prevent and reduce gun violence, with $347 million allocated toward its efforts.

The budget encourages a “crack down” on retail theft with a $40.2 million investment to expand law enforcement and increase penalties for people who assault retail workers, and offers a $3,000 tax credit for business owners to invest in security.

$35.8 million will go toward the prevention and prosecution of domestic violence crimes.

To “fight the rising tide of hate,” $35 million will be allocated to expanding the list of hate crime-eligible offenses. It will also be used to invest in the Securing Communities Against Hate Grant that “protects houses of worship, religious schools and other at-risk sites.”

$7.1 million will be used to reduce recidivism — convicted criminals’ tendency to re-offend — and improve re-entry into the workforce for convicted individuals. This will be accomplished by providing “more intensive” supervision of people on parole, increasing college programming to state prisons, expanding “transitional housing opportunities” and providing transportation to and from prisons for visitors.

Health care

A “historic” $37 billion will be invested into Medicaid to improve the fiscal sustainability of the program. The investment will support the “health care safety net,” transform the health care delivery system and expand access to services.

The budget also allocates $7.5 billion in federal and state funding to promote statewide health equity.

One of Hochul’s priorities is to improve maternal and infant health care outcomes. The budget makes New York the first state in the United States to establish statewide prenatal care coverage. The budget gives pregnant women greater access to prenatal care by granting up to 20 hours of leave for eligible employees to attend appointments. The existing 12 weeks of paid family leave are not impacted.

The budget also includes legislation to protect low-income residents from medical debt lawsuits. It bans hospitals from suing patients who earn less than 400% of the federal poverty level, or $120,000 for a family of four. The legislation also expands hospital financial assistance programs, limits how much monthly payments and interest can be charged for medical debt and implements other protections to mitigate the “deleterious effects” of medical debt.

The budget authorizes New York state to “engage” with the federal government to develop methods to maximize health care revenues in support of the Medicaid program, and includes a tax on Managed Care Organizations.

The health care agenda also includes:

• $3.2 billion to support “distressed” hospitals throughout the state
• $825 million to temporarily increase reimbursements for hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living programs
• $315 million to give health insurance subsidies for low-to-middle-income New Yorkers enrolled in qualified health plans
• $300 million to support a new “Healthcare Safety Net Transformation Program”
• $200 million in “Medicaid savings through improved oversight and efficiency in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program”
• $148 million to increase the rates of primary care delivered by way of the state’s Patient-Centered Medical Home Model
• $116 million to fund “various Aging and Public Health programs.” $27 million will go to Department of Health nutrition programs and $10 million will go to the New York State Office for the Aging to “finance additional unmet need services.”
• $19.5 million to support a 5% increase for in-person services under the Early Intervention Program, and a 4% rate modifier for rural and underserved communities

Mental health

The budget builds off of Hochul’s multi-year, $1 billion mental health plan — which aims to address the “unmet mental health needs of many New Yorkers.”

The mental health agenda also includes:

• $84 million to increase reimbursement for mental health services provided at certain sites
• $55 million to create 200 new inpatient psychiatric beds statewide and three additional 25-bed “transition to home” units
• $90 million in opioid settlement funding to continue to disburse funds from settlement agreements with opioid manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies
• $33 million to “improve engagement” with individuals involved with the criminal justice system who are living with mental illness
• $20 million for school-based mental health clinics to improve student and family access to services
• $19 million to provide “critical care” for young people not in school, including increasing treatment resources for youth in community and residential settings
• $2 million to increase mental health support for first responders, including suicide prevention

Cannabis

Hochul pledged to “end the proliferation of illicit cannabis operations” and the budget includes reforms that allow the Office of Cannabis Management to “do just that.”

The cannabis agenda includes:

• Authorization of the OCM and localities to “padlock” stores selling illicit cannabis and posing an “imminent” threat to health and safety immediately following an inspection
• “Cracking down on landlords who turn a blind eye to the illegal activity under their purview”
• Creation of a statewide task force to close illegal stores
• Expansion of local authority so cities and counties can adopt laws to regulate unlicensed cannabis operations

Infrastructure and transit

The budget builds off the $33 billion, five-year Department of Transportation Capital Plan and other investments that have expanded subway service, filled potholes and reconnected “communities divided by highways.”

The budget includes:

• More than $8.7 billion to support mass transit operations statewide, including $884 million in support for non-Metropolitan Transportation Authority transit systems
• Almost $7.7 billion for the third year of the five-year DOT Capital Plan. It will be used to improve highways, bridges, rail and aviation infrastructure, non-MTA transit and DOT facilities. $1.3 billion will go toward improving local roads and bridges.
• $598 million for the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, $140 million for state touring routes and $100 million for Hochul’s Pave our Potholes Program
  Enforcement of statewide toll and fare evasion

Environmental initiatives

The budget includes measures to “accelerate” the state’s transition to clean energy, plant 25 million trees and “safeguard” clean water.

The budget’s environmental initiatives include:

• $500 million for clean water
• $400 million for the state’s Environmental Protection Fund
• $200 million for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
• $100 million to fund the celebration of the New York State Parks’ 100th anniversary
• $150 million investment in the New York Statewide Investment in More Swimming to “address the disinvestment in swimming facilities and lifeguards in underserved communities”
• $40 million for the creation of the Resilient & Ready Program
• $15 million to provide localities with tools to “fend off” floods and electrical outages during storms
• $15 million to plant more than 25 million trees across the state by 2033

“We are delivering a common-sense agenda that makes New York safer and more affordable,” Hochul said in a Monday press release. “I promised to fight for New Yorkers and tackle the thorny issues, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”

Published on April 22, 2024 at 10:55 pm

Contact Ahna: arflemin@syr.edu