“The troubling trend with New York’s budgeting seems to be the higher the spending number gets, the more backward the process becomes. We’re two weeks past the April 1 deadline. We’re about to set another record-high for state spending. And this afternoon, 213 legislators are going to vote on budget bills before Governor Hochul and Majority leaders do us the courtesy of providing a detailed financial picture.

Before any budget bill comes to the floor, the 2024-25 financial plan should be made available for the public to see and for lawmakers to review. The fact that this basic procedure isn’t the norm demonstrates how dysfunctional our process has become.

Passing a state budget is among the Legislature’s most critical responsibilities. But we will be expected to cast votes today based on a wink and a nod, rather than on specific facts and figures. This kind of approach is how businesses go bankrupt and how households go broke. It’s insulting to this legislative body and to the millions of New Yorkers who actually subsidize the state’s spending plan.

Albany’s practice of backroom deals and lack of communication with appropriate counterparts is completely irresponsible. Over the next few days, we will hopefully see receipts on how the governor and the Majority plan to spend nearly $240 billion.”