The Mothership has landed in Albany: Where the state budget stands

A 30-day free trial awaits you in this edition of Capitol Confidential.

Good afternoon — it’s Monday and St. Patrick’s Day.

In today’s CapCon (featuring a free 30-day trial this month):

• With the Mothership now over, Hochul and lawmakers have two weeks from tomorrow to reach a state budget deal. Here’s where things stand.

• At The Capitol: What to expect Tuesday, including bills to change health care payments and raise the age of gambling from 18.

• New Bills of Note: Changing how the state reimburses elected officials’ legal expenses (Krueger), preventing utility rate hikes from tariffs (Hinchey) and the first look at child labor penalties in more than 30 years (Hooks).

• This Week in New York History: The first U.S. bank robbery, the start of Wells Fargo and the founding of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Names in today’s CapCon: Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, Sen. Liz Krueger, Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, Sen. Michelle Hinchey, Assemblywoman Larinda C. Hooks.

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Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie after the Mothership (Dan Clark/Times Union)

🗓️ A state budget deal by the April 1 deadline is realistic, lawmakers say

The state budget is due two weeks from tomorrow (Tuesday) and lawmakers said Monday they’re confident they’ll reach an agreement with Gov. Kathy Hochul by then.

“Certainly, we believe it’s realistic,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told reporters at Monday’s Mothership meeting. “Absolutely.”

This meeting might seem alien if it’s your first year in Albany. I’ll sum it up for you: the Democrats who lead the Legislature spoke in support of their priorities and Republicans spoke against them.

“I don’t know if you can have too much green on St. Patrick’s Day but the way these budget proposals spend money, they may be the exception to that rule,” Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay said.

Republicans, as was expected, have been critical of the level of spending in the one-house budget proposals from both the Assembly and Senate majorities. While Hochul’s proposed budget is $252 billion, the Assembly’s is $256.5 billion and the Senate’s is about $259 billion.

The thing about the state budget that a lot of people don’t realize is that, in terms of actual spending, Hochul and the Legislature are usually aligned on most of it. The same was true when former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was in office.

It’s the last several billion dollars that have to be worked out, along with the policy priorities they’re attached to.

“Oftentimes, the policy things that are put into the budget by the governor usually dominate. The numbers, to be honest, they are what they are,” Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie said after the Mothership. “But oftentimes the budgets are bogged down by the policy issues.

(Seth Wenig/Associated Press)

💵 Where revenue for the MTA stands as of now

One key sticking point that’s expected in this year’s budget negotiations would be a mix of both: a revenue stream for the state’s share of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $65 billion five-year capital plan. That’s really all that came up after the meeting.