Five Weeks Late, a $254 Billion New York Budget Still Has Its Charms

The late-night scene beneath the New York State Capitol was unusual, even by Albany standards.

Lawmakers from the Assembly and Senate, having finally passed the state’s $254 billion budget on Thursday evening, streamed down to the Capitol’s lower levels to collect their long overdue paychecks from the payroll office.

In New York, state legislators do not receive their salaries if the budget lapses, as it did on April 1. But after five weeks without a budget or a paycheck, both arrived on Thursday.

Lawmakers, however, were not the only ones to benefit from the budget’s official passage.

Ms. Hochul was quick to celebrate expansions of the child tax credit, more school funding and a litany of other programs she said would make the state more affordable.

Here’s a look at some of the budget’s more interesting provisions.

Legislators helped themselves

A quirk of state government is that lawmakers have the power to write or amend laws that regulate their own actions, no recusal required. This year, legislators took full advantage of that power, crafting several significant changes to how they can collect outside income and raise money.

In 2022, lawmakers raised their salaries by $32,000 to $142,000 while also placing a $35,000 cap on outside income. The Albany Times-Union reported this year that nearly 40 legislators had outside incomes above the limit.

The income cap was supposed to go into effect this year, after several unsuccessful court challenges. But lawmakers included a provision in the budget that would delay enforcement for two years.