OPINION: New York's late budget is evidence of a broken process
May 20-We tend to believe that a good state budget is more important than one that's delivered on time. But c'mon, this is ridiculous. As of this writing, New York's budget is about seven weeks beyond its constitutional deadline, with no end in sight, and lawmakers have had to pass 13 separate emergency extenders to keep state government operating. The consequences of this blown deadline aren't trivial. Consider that local school districts sent their budgets out to voters with state funding essentially written in pencil, because school officials can only estimate how much they will receive. This, folks, should not be considered normal. This is no way to pass a budget. This is no way to run or fund a government. As is unfortunately typical, a significant chunk of the problem rests with Gov. Kathy Hochul's decision to jam the budget with policy proposals unrelated to state spending. Car insurance reform is one example. Protections for undocumented immigrants are another. Those and other proposals may be good policy, but they make the budget process longer and more complicated than it needs to be. Stuffing unrelated legislation into the state's spending plan - a gubernatorial tactic meant to maximize leverage - means debate on each policy gets short shrift. It also means that once a budget agreement is reached, lawmakers will be forced to vote on an onslaught of bills without the time needed to consider or even read them. Again, this is no way to run a government. You may remember that Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, triumphantly announced two weeks ago that a budget deal had been reached. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie immediately refuted the governor's claim, and time has proven him right. The budget wasn't done then, and it still isn't done now. Ms. Hochul's premature pronouncement looks more absurd by the day. Mr. Heastie had additional complaints. Like so many legislative leaders before him, he said the budget should focus on spending, not policy, and that the process is fundamentally broken. Mr. Heastie was right on both counts, but such complaints are familiar and annual, and little ever changes. If Mr. Heastie and other lawmakers are serious about fixing the process, they should propose steps toward doing so. As it happens, this budget is the latest since 2010, when it took lawmakers and then-Gov. David Paterson until August to reach an agreement. Democrats controlled the Legislature then, but the party had only a narrow and deeply fractious majority in the Senate. That gave Republicans a role in the process and forced Senate Democrats to reach a near-unanimous agreement on a budget plan. Democrats face no such "difficulty" now, given that their wide majorities in both the Senate and the Assembly make the lateness of this year's budget impossible to justify. The party owns this dysfunction - which, we'll say again, is no way to run a government.
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This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 8:43 AM.