Even by Albany's standards, the late night scene below the New York State Capitol is unusual.
Members from the Parliament and Senate finally passed the state's $254 billion budget Thursday night, gradually flowing to lower levels in the Capitol, charging their long-term overdue salaries from the Payroll Office.
In New York, if the budget fails, state lawmakers won’t receive their salary the same way they did on April 1. But after five weeks without a budget or salary, both arrived on Thursday.
But lawmakers are not the only ones who benefit from the formal adoption of the budget.
Ms Hochul soon celebrated the expansion of the child tax credit, more school funding, and some other plans she said would make the state more affordable.
Here are some more interesting provisions on the budget.
Legislators help themselves
One quirk of the state government is that legislators have the right to write or modify laws that regulate their actions without withdrawing them. This year, lawmakers have made the most of this power, making some significant changes to how they collect external revenue and raise funds.
In 2022, lawmakers raised their salaries by $32,000 to $142,000, while also adding an external income cap of $35,000. The Albany Times United Nations reported this year that nearly 40 lawmakers earned more than that limit.
After several unsuccessful court challenges, the revenue cap should have taken effect this year. But lawmakers include a provision in their budget that would delay enforcement for two years.
In these ways, lawmakers have changed the state’s campaign financing matching system. Currently, donations with matching programs greater than $250 are disqualified; the agreement states match the first $250 of all donations to a maximum of $1,000.
Election officials can now pay $50,000 for future campaigns. These and other adjustments seem to be designed to help incumbents.
If the Trump administration targets state officials, lawmakers also create a $10 million Slush fund to pay private lawyers.
You get a refund, you get a salary increase
Ms. Hochul has been eager to hype her “inflation discount” – $2 billion will be paid to New Yorkers to pay up to $400 per household and $200 per person. But the budget also contains many other financial interests of the people across the state.
For example, the daily salary rate for state court jurors is increasing to $72, almost doubled the current amount. This is the first time that New York has increased the daily debt ratio for jurors, since 1995 Gov. George E. Pataki signed legislation that raised the civic duties from $15 to $40 within three years.
Laguardia and some workers at Kennedy Airport have received extensive benefits and salary packages that can help address some of the staff shortages that are plaguing air travel.
Help for online shoppers
It's a familiar frustration for online shoppers: products that are nearly impossible to return, or subscriptions that are almost impossible to cancel.
New York's budget includes new measures to help shoppers, including tasks for businesses to provide transparent refunds and return policies. The state will also ask companies to provide clear instructions to terminate the subscription and provide advance notice of subscription renewal and its costs.
The state is also tightening about “buy now, pay later” companies and other companies. These companies will require permission from the Department of Financial Services, which requires companies to comply with state laws regarding advertising, interest rates and debt collection.
State police may be older, prison guards are younger
One of Albany's biggest and most destructive developments this year was a wave of wildcat attacks among correctional staff, which led Ms. Hawkell to call about 6,000 National Guard units to oversee the state's prisons. About 2,000 officers were fired due to unauthorized strikes, exacerbating an already large shortage of staff. The state currently has 4,500 fewer correctional staff than the budget allows.
Ms. Hochul and legislative leaders are trying to address issues in the new budget, which includes language that allows young people to become corrective officials and eliminate state residence requirements. The budget also allows up to three state prisons to be closed by next April.
Another change raises the highest age for state police recruits. Now, when they join, their age can be as old as they were at 43, from 39.
Continue to suppress artificial intelligence
The state legislature has been looking for more ways to regulate AI as it becomes more ubiquitous in our lives.
The budget includes a regulation that requires AI chatbots to detect when people express suicidal thoughts.
The New York Times reported in an October Florida case that the mother of a 14-year-old boy said her son was obsessed with a role-playing chatbot before his death. Now, chatbots must remind users to communicate with humans every three hours.
Legislators have also changed the child pornography law to ban AI creation and distribution of materials from minors. They also added nearly $100 million to ongoing AI research at state universities.
