This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. Sign up for their newsletter here.
NEW YORK STATE · April 20, 2024
Your One-Stop Guide to the 2024 New York State Budget
A version of good cause eviction and new hate crimes are in; new taxes on the wealthy and education cuts are out. Here’s where things landed in this year’s budget.
By New York Focus , New York Focus
The Division of the Budget staff were dressed in pink. Clustered around a pink chair in the New York State Capitol basement’s indispensable Dunkin’ Donuts, they giddily proclaimed their cause: “Wear pink!” Separate offices within the DOB compete over rates of staff participation, they told New York Focus — like a high school spirit week. As one staffer put it: “It keeps us going.”
Spring in Albany gets off to a slow and arduous start, demanding long hours and whatever motivation budget process participants can muster. The big, eventual promise is a multi-billion-dollar spending package, 10 omnibus bills stuffed with legislation, and some sense of agreement over where New York is headed — at least for the next fiscal year. And now, right on its characteristically delayed schedule, it’s here.
This year’s final budget came together with relatively little fanfare. While some issues saw outcry — rollbacks of rent stabilization, proposed cuts to Medicaid, the death of a major climate proposal — this year’s battles appeared less pitched than many. Is it because it’s an election year, and New York’s Democrats want to project a united front after their disastrous showing in 2022? Or because leadership has tightened its grip on leaks to the press? Is there really just not much to note?
It certainly isn’t the latter. And New York Focus has been keeping a close eye on the state budget fight. We’re identifying the essential changes that readers should know. Peruse our table for a breakdown of state spending, and consult the list below for more detail and analysis of key items.
Jump to topics: Topline spending | Housing package | Education funding | Health services | Drug policy | Climate and environment | Criminal justice | No new taxes | Economic development | Rules of transportation | Everything else
This was a live post updated continually from Saturday, April 20 to Thursday, April 25. Updates are now closed. See you next year.