Senate & Assembly Budget Positions Unveiled

The eleventh week of the 2021 legislative session began with both houses dropping their one-house proposals over the weekend (March 6-7). The week also saw the hiring of an outside law firm by the Assembly to lead its Governor Cuomo impeachment investigation, an announcement by Senate Majority Leader that negotiations are nearing conclusion on recreational adult-use cannabis legislation, and in another sign that the state is moving on from pandemic era restrictions, the April reopening of sports venues to fans just ahead of the start of the 2021 baseball season.

FY 2022 Budget – The Senate and Assembly unveiled their one-house bills, setting the stage for what will likely be very intense final weeks of budget negotiations. Notably and unsurprisingly, both houses eliminated cuts proposed by the Governor and included a range of tax-based revenue raisers to provide funding for priority initiatives. Also, for the first time both the Senate (S2509B, Part Y) and the Assembly (A3009B, Part Y) included mobile sports betting in their budget proposals. On Monday, both houses passed budget resolutions outlining their positions and established the General Conference Committee (loosely referred to as the ‘Mother Ship’) and Joint Budget Subcommittees, which held their first round of public meetings on Wednesday. The Senate resolution R504 can be found here, and the Assembly resolution E107 here. The Assembly resolution includes a separate Summary detailing the house’s positions. Membership to the General Conference Committee and Joint Budget Subcommittees can be found here. As three-way negotiations continue, the next step in the process will be reaching a three-way consensus on available funds (avails) to close gaps, mitigate proposed cuts, and to finance priorities. The deadline for enacting the FY 2022 budget is by April 1.

Mary Jane’s Dance – Both houses of the legislature eliminated the Governor’s proposal legalizing recreational adult-use marijuana from their one-house bills introduced over the weekend. Instead, the legislature and the Governor are negotiating outside of the budget process, and earlier this week Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins said in a press interview that the only major hurdle remaining relates to cannabis use and impaired driving. The legislature’s proposal is the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act (S.854, Krueger/A.1248, Peoples-Stokes).

COVID – The Governor made a number of announcements related to reopening venues and related to efforts aimed at ensuring communities throughout the state have access to vaccines (see “From the Governor” for more details). General information related to vaccinations and the pandemic can be found here.

Assembly Impeachment Investigation – Assembly Speaker Heastie and Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Lavine announced Wednesday the hiring of outside law firm Davis, Polk & Wardwell, LLP to lead its impeachment investigation into allegations against the Governor. Meanwhile, the federal investigation into how the Cuomo administration handled reporting of nursing home deaths appears to be ongoing. Media reports are here and here.