New York State Senate Session - 03/26/2026

The Senate will come to order. Ask everyone present to please rise and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. In the absence of clergy, let us bow our heads in a moment of silent reflection or prayer.

With that objection, the Journal stands approved as read. Presentation of petitions. Messages from the Assembly. Messages from the governor. Report to standing committees. Report to select committees. Communications reports from state offices. Motions, resolutions. Senator Generis.

Good morning.

There'll be an immediate meeting of the Finance Committee, room 332.

Senator Sandidiz, turn to order. Senator Geneiros.

Secretary Reid, Senator Krueger from the Committee on Finance, reports the following bill. Senate 9002, a budget bill. Enact making appropriations for the legal requirements of the state debt service.

All those in favor of accepting the report of the Finance Committee, please signify by saying aye.

Opposed? Nay. The report of the report of the Finance Committee is accepted.

Secretary will read

Lay it aside. Senator Generous, that completes the reading of the supplemental calendar.

Secretary, ring the bell. Secretary Reid,

Some water, please.

Senator O', Mara, why do you rise?

Senator Krueger, it is opening day.

It is opening day. I yield for budget questions, not baseball questions.

All right.

Thank you. Okay. The debt Service appropriations are 10.6 billion, 3.7 billion of which is cash.

3.7 billion of which is cash.

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. If Senator Krueger will continue to yield.

Senator, how does that amount of debt compare to the end of fiscal year last year that we actually, the number we had in the debt service bill last year?

Through you, Mr. President, if the Senate will continue to yield.

Yes, sponsor yields.

So state supported debt outstanding is 61.6 billion from last year and 71.8 billion is estimated for fiscal year 27. But again, as we had a brief discussion about in the Finance Committee meeting, this bill is designed to complete our obligations for debt service for the coming year on money we've already borrowed and even spent, but also assumes a certain level of increased spending from additional debt taken on in the coming year. But we, of course, haven't passed those bills, so we don't actually know whether we would need to borrow that much money. And even though we are recognizing if we borrow that much money based on our estimates of where we will be in our final capital budget, then it will allow us to go forward and borrow based on what we put in our final budget. But if we have a smaller final capital budget than we are projecting, we won't be borrowing that money. Hence, we won't be taking on that much additional debt. And hence the money we need to borrow would be lower.

Sponsor, yield. Yes, Sponsor yields.

Mr. President, I agree there are different ways to think about how we do things, but to some degree, this bill, the way it is written, is making an assumption. Like if you go out to buy a house and you get pre permission on the mortgage amount from your bank before you've even found the house you might be buying, it gives you the ability to nimbly make an offer and go forward with buying your house because you don't have to start the process then. And I think we all know how long some things take to get done here. Sometimes things that you think are pretty easy and obvious are not so easy and obvious, particularly when you're dealing with two houses and a governor. So we actually think it is more responsible and prudent to some degree, get the mortgage arrangements set up in advance, even if we might not take out that mortgage.

Will the sponsor yield? Yes, the sponsor yields.

If I had a crystal ball, I can assure everyone here we will not have budget bills completed before the April 1 deadline. We are scheduled to be here Monday and Tuesday. There will not be budget bills. We are scheduled to be here the beginning of Wednesday. There will not be budget bills. And in fact, because it is quote, unquote, the beginning of a major Jewish holiday that night, April 1, is Passover, the first night of Passover. I don't believe we will be asked to spend an exceptional amount of time here that day because for many of us, including myself, it will mean not getting home for our first seder. Then Thursday, the next day is Holy Thursday. Friday is Good Friday, Sunday is Easter. Is there a holiday Saturday? Sorry. I guess we could come back for Saturday. Oh, wait. Oh, Greek. We have Greek Holy Week. So I'm predicting we're not likely to be here on anybody's major holidays starting April 1st for multiple days. Then we can come back the next week if called back by the governor, and continue budget bills. Obviously, staff, as much as they would not like to hear this, can be encouraged to be here working, even on the religious holidays. And I certainly hope we are not going to make anyone work their religious holidays. So that's the best I can offer us right now. All the days we won't be passing the budget, but we will still have it.

Thank you, Senator. Mr. President. Senator will continue to yield.

I understand what you described. Do you then anticipate us the Monday after Easter being here voting on budget bills or being in session?

Thank you, Senator. Mr. President, the Senate will continue to yield.

As the fiscal year ends next Wednesday and that evening is the start of Passover and we're going to be off until some point the next week, we'll need an extender. When do you anticipate? There have been discussions with the governor of when that extender will come and what period of time that extender will cover.

Mr. President. Senator, continue to yield.

Senator, how would you characterize the working together of the two houses and the governor at this point on the outstanding issues and what are the major outstanding issues that are being dealt with?

Thank you, Senator, on the bill.

Thank you, Senator Krueger for those. And it's clear and it's not unusual at this stage of the budget that there are a lot of unresolved issues. Certainly we would prefer to have them worked out by the end of the fiscal year and that would be more prudent fiscal practice. And it's critically important that we obligate ourselves to pay the debt services that are coming up after the end of this fiscal year that ends next Wednesday. And I fully support our committing ourselves to that debt service. What I do not support is padding this by an extra $10 billion for projects that we don't even know what they are yet, when we could easily be coming back throughout the rest of the budget process and amending this from just covering what needs to be covered and then amend it to add what then has to be covered out of the new budget. And I think that would be the better way to go. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mr. President. It's good that we have one part of the budget that we've started today to debt service. That's kind of probably the easiest part of the budget. And I think most of my constituents by this time know because over the years we've had a lot of late budgets going on. This is a constitutional mandate. Probably the most important thing we do here is put a good, balanced, on time budget for our constituents which keeps them here and incentivizes people to come to New York State. And April 1st is the deadline. I have to tell you, nobody in my district, I think you'd say this too, to a great extent, goes to work, sits there, has their bosses, give them a deadline to complete a project and says to them, I'm definitely not going to complete that project by the deadline you've given me and expects to come back and get paid the next day or actually show up because they still have a job. Now over the years, and I think I've been Here a while, in fact, longer than anybody's been in this room. And historically the media and all of our constituents have been trying to figure out who's in charge of delaying in making us have late budget. Sometimes school districts say we have to go out and borrow because we have school budgets coming up and everything. Who's responsible for the most important constitutional duty. We have to put forth a good balance of the budget in a timely fashion which protects our constituency. And over the years, Democrats have blamed Republicans, Republicans have blamed Democrats. I can tell you this, our side of the aisle in our conference, we happen to be Republicans. Never controlled all levers of power for the number of years I have been here or you have been here. Never. Now you could say we controlled a Republican Senate, but at that time you've either got a totally Democratic assembly and we had George Pataky here one day, but we never had all levers of power. Who is responsible for this budget heading towards and as defined by our leader in finance. We're going to be late. Wait a second. It's not April 1st yet. When my people are working, they say to the boss, I'm going to be late. What are you telling me? You're going to be late. You got time left to go. You control all levers of power. You control the Senate. One vote shy of a super majority, super majority in the Assembly. The governor is your affiliation. You couldn't do a balanced, on time, good budget for your constituents in the timely fashion. You had a whole year. Don't be pointing towards this side of the aisle because you're late with the most important job you're expected to do constitutionally. You know, my dad said to me, most important lesson, he worked in the foundry for 30 years. Most important lesson he gave to me is 90% of success is just showing up and getting the job done when you do. You can't cut and run. You gotta show up and do the job your constituents elected you to do. There's only one finger being pointed towards this lateness. You couldn't get the job done. The media knows it now. Your constituents know it now. We know who are in charge of late budgets. The leader has said it now of finance. It's going to be late. We're shocked. It's going to be late. Well, there's nobody to point towards for not doing your job. How about those conference committees? Aren't they great? I had one. We got a great leader. I love my leader in the conference committee. She's on your side of the aisle. Love working with her. I was a teacher at one time. I say that aloud. Senator Lew likes to hear me say that. $39 billion, one of the largest parts of the budget. One meeting they said, hurry up, don't say too much in this. The purpose of conference committees was to engage elected officials, senators and assembly people to help the governor move forward whoever was in place with a balanced budget. Your constituents don't deserve us standing up here a week before the deadline and saying we can't do it. You're in charge of everything, but you can't do it. Well, now the media knows who can't do it. You control it all. Nobody on this side of the aisle stopped this budget from being on time. Nobody on this side said, we're only going to have one conference committee. I don't know what the other committees, maybe you had two, three. If you really want to engage yourself, you wouldn't have one meeting. You wouldn't stifle discussion at that one meeting. You would work earlier on time because you control and can do it. I'll be honest, we can't do it. We got a lot of good ideas to keep people in New York. Maybe this is the reason why we're number one in out migration. And I talk about that a lot. If there was ever an indictment on the failure of policies and agendas in late budgets, it's people walking out of the state and voting with their feet. Now I want the viewers to know this body, the assembly, one party, one affiliation, we were in the majority one time here, but we weren't in control of all levers of power. And there was a difference of agendas and policies. Well, probably difference with you, but you've got to settle it because you control all levers and they deserve it when you told them, won't be any more late budgets when we're in charge in all three houses because that darn majority in the Senate, those Republicans are holding up this thing. Well, that darn majority isn't here anymore. And you didn't get the most important thing you were elected to do done in a timely fashion according to what has been said. So I suggest you don't want the staff to go home. We shouldn't go home. You should stay here in Albany. Stay here in Albany because a lot of my constituents work overtime. You know, I remember my dad, two, three o' clock in the morning, he'd come in or they'd call him four or five, three o' clock in the morning, going to ge, there was an explosion. Working in one of the most difficult conditions you could ever think of. He succumbed to stomach cancer. You know why? Because he sucked up red hot molten steel. Asbestos, no OSHA regulations, died of stomach cancer. And you talked about that the other day and that was a good bill. I supported that bill. Even now we don't have enough regulations in that. I don't know what the regulations here. It's not red hot smokes and steel, especially in here. It's sunlight. You've had sunlight for over a year to get yourself in place to pass a good on time balanced budget, which your constituents deserve. So the media knows now. The constituents know now. You control it all, baby. Control it all. So don't cut and run. Stay here and get the job done. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you Mr. President. On the bill. The budget's due in six days. You're bringing us the debt service bill today. This will allow us to pay what we owe and apparently borrow for what we don't know that we owe yet. I want to read something, Mr. President. State debt levels and processes have been debated in New York State for many years. New York's high and growing debt burden and its impact on taxpayers have been points of concern for the state's budget practices. Excessive debt also contains efforts to improve the state's credit rating. In recent reviews, Standard and Poor's stated that New York's moderately high and growing debt levels were a factor that would preclude a higher credit rating. Moody's ranks New York as having the second largest total debt burden of all states, following California. The major credit rating agencies have also commented on New York's past history of inappropriately using debt to finance operating expenses, often in response to economic disruptions. Efforts to reform state debt practices and debt limit can be traced all the way back to the 1800s when a constitution institutional change was made to require voter approval for issuing general obligation debt. The state's infrastructure needs have evolved in tandem with the modern economy and are now vastly broader in scope, complexity and magnitude than in the 19th century, requiring an expansive capital plan state borrows to finance such spending needs. With public authorities increasingly being utilized to circumvent the constitutional requirement for voter approval of state debt. Backdoor borrowing by public authorities bypasses the public's vested interest in limiting state debt levels, which in turn has led to a high debt burden. High debt levels in the modern era eventually led to the Debt Reform act of 2000, which imposed caps on state debt outstanding and debt service spending however, loopholes in the act were exploited over time to circumvent the limits. Increased projections of state debt levels, coupled with persistent concerns regarding the state's capital planning process and its shortcomings for effectively prioritizing projects, give taxpayers good cause to be concerned. And in the conclusion, the complete state debt reform must adhere to a roadmap of principles encompassing these four overarching goals. It must be comprehensive and binding. It must be accountable to state taxpayers and voters. It must impose responsible and sustainable affordability limits and practices and it must allow flexibility for potential emergencies of modern times. Achieving this reform will confer an enduring benefit on the people of New York through a sustainable and affordable debt limit and help to ensure the prudent use of limited public resources. That wasn't me who wrote it, Mr. President. That was Democrat Tom DiNapoli, the New York State Comptroller. So when the budget is due six days from now, New Yorkers don't know what's in it. As was already pointed out, we haven't even convened open conference committees to discuss many of the issues that have been brought forward since the governor first introduced her budget. But here today, you're asking to borrow an additional $10 billion for a budget that we haven't seen. You control the Senate, you control the assembly, you control the governor's office. You should have listened to the comptroller two years ago when he wrote that you're spending more than we can possibly afford and you're planning to spend more than our future can afford. You're borrowing on the backs of New Yorkers futures and you're ignoring the advice of the comptroller who watches over the books. You cannot make New York more affordable by spending, by taxing, and by borrowing more and more each year. If you could, then New York State would be the second most affordable state in the nation. But you all know that we're not so on this unaffordable debt, Mr. President, I vote no and encourage my colleagues to do the same.

Thank you, Mr. President. On the bill. Play it again. Last year this budget was six weeks late. It's proposed. Your proposal is 270 billion with a B dollars. That is more than Texas and Florida combined. That is one and a half times per capita the state of California. Just a couple weeks ago, Siena had a poll out, respected poll, trusted poll, established poll. And I hope everyone knows what I'm about to say. But in case you don't, I'm going to say it again. Because it should be setting off alarm bells in your conference room and the conference room down the hall and down on the second floor. One in three New Yorkers polled in that Siena poll said they intend to leave this state in the next five years. For those of you that are slow on the math, that's 6 million people that the Siena poll projects will leave in the next five years. They are not leaving because of cold weather. They are leaving because this state is contributing to a failure of our economy. They can't afford to live here. And I'm going to spend time now here at the end of March because you got six days until this budget is late to do some honest reflection. Why are New Yorkers saying they're going to leave? They are fleeing. One in three say they're going to leave in the next five years. A budget more than Texas and Florida is combined one and a half times per capita. California's budget. That ignores the state's own experts on what the energy crisis is doing in New York. That the CLCPA is going to jack people's costs $4,000 a year in a couple years and give us $5 a gallon gas and you're content to stay the status quo there? Please, for the love of God and for our constituents. One in three New Yorkers are saying they want to leave because they don't want to put up with it. I'll be voting on this bill and the rest of them unless I see significant changes. Thank you Mr. President.

Section two, this actual express Immediately call the roll Dabo Juniors Krueger or Sukho

Thank you Mr. President. And thank you colleagues. So I would wish we had an on time budget. I've lived through endless years under both Democrats and Republicans. But we didn't have on time budgets. What I know, unlike Washington D.C. also controlled totally by one party, the Republican Party. They're not paying federal workers and expecting them to show up for work or paying them half the costs. That's outrageous. We in New York have mastered a system where we pay our bills even when we're still debating pieces of the budget. We pay our workers. We don't leave anybody hanging. We can explain everything to people. And frankly, when I was in the minority for 17 years I wasn't saying Democrats will get everything done on time. I said Democrats will get better budgets that matter to people. And I believe that New Yorkers want better budgets that matter to people, not what date is on the bill. So yes, I would prefer that with a governor and two houses, all of the same party, we might be able to get things done faster. But I'll still stand by getting better results is much more important than getting on time. Frankly, when we don't get the budget done on time, we don't get paid. Everybody else does. I think everybody here knows that. Finally, quickly, despite the argument we just heard that people are not happy with how we spend money or that we borrow money. In fact, Wall street, which lends us the money, actually continues to increase our credit ratings. Yes, they went down during COVID for real reasons related to Covid, but since 2020, when they did downgrade the state's rating, Moody's upgraded New York state last in August 24th. We have excellent credit ratings from Fitch, Kroll, Moody's and S and P. We get a small A1 and a A plus from each of those agencies. And in fact, Moody's reiterated just a few weeks ago that citing a stable outlook based on the state's strong reserves, budget flexibility and sound management tools, we are fully confident with the state's ability to be borrowing the amount of money they have been borrowing and for paying and improving our infrastructure. And the drop in 2020 was specifically related to Covid, which has all been readdressed. We are far more worried about Federal Reserves and the ability of the federal government to make good on their payment schedules. And that is where the concerns should lie. I am concerned about the federal changes and very concerned that with the loss of federal money already and the potential for even greater amounts of loss of money, I understand that the responsibility for this legislature and this government will continue to put more demand on us and more drain. So several of my colleagues have already said they won't be voting for the other budget bills when they come, and that is their right. But I hope that they are consistent that they will also vote no on the capital bill, because I think most of us like to go home and talk about how much good we did when we passed more money for our school districts and our construction projects at home. But I hope that people are consistent. If they're saying no and everything else, they better not just pass the bills that they think get them credit at home. I AM A yes, Mr. President.

Thank you. First of all, I want to thank Senator Krueger for her honesty because the governor was in Syracuse yesterday saying we're going to have an on time budget. So I'm not sure where she got that information. Clearly not from Senator Krueger. So that being said, today's debt bill, I realize the narrative is you need to vote for this because this is debt we're already obligated to. Well, we're authorizing $9 billion in new debt and retiring $3 billion in debt. You know, I get notices from credit cards all the time saying we've increased your credit limit. Congratulations. That doesn't mean you go out and charge the credit card up to full because they increased the credit limit. So that's kind of what we're doing here today. Meanwhile, we know that while we're borrowing more money, the Hochul administration continues to not address fraud, waste and abuse, $2 billion in Medicaid payments to people that don't even live in New York State. So we're borrowing money to subsidize fraud, in my opinion. So I'll be voting no. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. First, I want to, for the record and for the aforementioned, many countless viewers who are tuning in to these proceedings, correct the record on one point. I'm surprised that for a colleague across the aisle who's been in the legislature for 43 years, 43 years, does not know that we did not have the full year to negotiate a budget and be done by April 1. Article 7, Section 2 of the State Constitution makes it very clear that an executive budget proposal comes to us by the third Thursday, or Tuesday rather, in January. If it's a new governor, they have till February 1. We've had two months, not a full year. So just to correct that one point. But the more important issue is that, yes, we may well be past April 1st by the time we're done. Yes, Democrats are in the majority in both houses and a Democrat is in the governor's mansion. But the reason we may wind up past April 1st is because we are not a rubber stamp. Despite the fact that one party is in control of the legislature and the governorship and the other side should be grateful that we are not a rubber stamp. We actually have disagreements. There are points of contention that we do not just give in to. And that stands in stark contrast to our federal government, where when the executive says Jump. The legislature just responds how high? We should all be grateful we do not operate that way. And yes, it might yield a budget that is a little past April 1, but it yields a better budget as a result. I vote yes.

Who's going to be the chamber historian when I'm gone? Let's talk facts. When the two of the three players in the budget process were Republicans George Pataki and Joe Bruno, the budget was routinely late. Not by days, not by weeks, by months. August, August. Senator Tesko, you were around those days, you remember? Yes, August. Four times the budget went to August under Republican dominated budget process. You want to say, well, it wasn't all one party. Okay, let's look at what all party control is responsibly and irresponsibly here. We haven't had government shutdowns. Budget's late. A few days, couple weeks maybe. But we end up with a budget, the state continues to function. You want to see what irresponsible all party control looks like? Try waiting in line to get on a plane. These days, Republican control of the federal government is complete. They have shutdowns every couple of months. People's lives are affected, People are not getting paid. And if you want to take a trip, good luck to you. We're going to do this the way we've always done it, which is in the best interest of the people. As Senator Scouves mentioned, we're going to stand up for the people we represent, we believe in. We're going to end up with a good product. And if it's not done on April 1, it'll be done shortly thereafter and the state will just keep on functioning just fine. I vote yes, Mr. President.

657 voted in a negative R. Senators Borrello, chan, Hellman, Lanza, O', Mara, Ort, Steck, Tedisco, Walzig and White. Ayes 47. Nace 10.

Is there any further business at the desk?

I move to adjourn until Monday, March 30, 3pM with intervening days being legislative days and Mr. President. Let's go, Mets.

Met.